Eric and I went to Little Rock Thursday (the 2nd) for his 6 month checkup. We left at o'dark 5:30 am so we could get checked in early to begin the day. He had to have an IV put in to get blood counts and for the contrast to be "pushed" for the CT scan. It took 2 trys for the stick, the first vein blew and she had success on the 2nd. Thank God! That's why we put Emla (numbing cream) on BOTH hands. The nurses feel bad when that happens but Eric handled it like a champ. Then we headed to the Heart Station where he got an Echo of his heart. It's pretty cool to watch and the only pain is when he pulls off the pads they hook the wires to on his chest. He doesn't mind this one, private room, quiet, dark and he can turn the tv to whatever he wants! From there we headed to Radiology and the CT scan. Just a minor glitch there when she couldn't get the IV to flush meaning there was a problem with the IV. So she called her nurse who untaped everything to find the needle was completely crooked in his hand. (They are plastic at Children's) So she got that straightened out and we had good flow both ways. Thank God that's all it was, it would not have been pretty for a new needle stick down there. Once he bleeds he bleeds ALOT! I put on the 40 pound apron thingy and read him "Jeff Gordon" during the scan to take his mind off of "just laying still". Eric does great every time.
Next we headed back up to clinic to see the doctor. Of course it's crazy in the Oncology clinic. Unfortunately there are lots of kids with cancer. I started talking to one sweet little girl with a mask on while we were waiting. Her name was Maddie and she was on IV chemo in her port which had tubes running to a backpack her mom was wearing. So they were quite literally attached by tubing. She was 5 years old and sooo cute! We kept seeing them in the elevator, hallway and Radiology. Every time I would say "IT'S MADDIE!" I know she was smiling under her mask, her eyes told me so. Her mom was too. Anyway, back to the regular program........Dr Succente was busy doing a procedure so I asked if we could go to PFT's and come back when we were done. (We've waited a long time before). Eric did his Pulmonary Function Tests and was disappointed that he could only do the first one. I didn't go in with him (first time for that......neither of us liked it) but the clinic is small so I could hear everything. She had to make an adjustment to the machine so she brought him out to me for a drink and a rest and his face was red so I know he was working hard. We finished there and went back to clinic to see the Dr. Didn't wait too long this time and saw a new Assistant. When you've built a repoire with the Dr's, you don't like someone new. But Dr Succent came in and we got the low down from her. CT looked good, Platelet count was 300,000 (GREAT), Echo looked good and she didn't have the results of the PFT's. WOOOHOOOO! So we were good to go. It was about 3:15. Not bad huh? Praise God for great reports!
Eric didn't want to smile for this picture until I said "are you glad to be leaving?"