Two Hospitals in One Day

Two appointments (sort of), two different hospitals, all today, and not exactly planned that way, of course! The whirlwind of tests and scans to prepare for transplant has begun.

This morning we left the house quite early to head to San Francisco for a blood draw for labs that are needed in preparation for transplant. It was a long drive for such a quick thing, but it had to be done in the SF lab. Luckily, I was able to talk with one of the transplant doctors for a while to answer more questions. The doctor examined William and noticed his heart beating a little fast and that he looked a bit pale (I think William is always a bit pale), so our plans changed a bit. We were planning on a Tuesday blood transfusion, but since the weekend was long, his blood levels were already borderline, and he had a lot of blood drawn today for labs, the doctor wanted a transfusion today. So I called our hospital in Sacramento and arranged to come in straight from San Francisco for blood. Oh, the life. But at least on Tuesday we will have one less thing to do at the hospital. And hopefully we can make it home within 13 hours from when we left home this morning.

Yesterday was the kickoff to our week or so of transplant prep actvities. For starters, William had another bone marrow biopsy and aspirate to test for any remaining cancer cells in the bone marrow. We anxiously await the results on Tuesday. (Darn 3 day weekend). It went smoothly and William was thrilled with Child Life's new acquisition: an Ipad! And they even loaded Angry Birds in HD just for him! We make each biopsy "fun" by video taping how long it takes the Propofol to kick in. William plays Angry Birds and tries to see how many birds can be launched from the time the injection begins until he's out. It's usually 1-2 birds.




Here's the rundown of the remaining fun activities: PFT (pulmonary function test), MIGB injection, audiogram, EKG, ECHO, MIBG scan, CT scan, 2 clinic visits, and as afternoon trip to SF for me and Ryan for the consent conference where we hear all the risks in detail and sign all the papers for transplant. Then we have the weekend at home, (exhale), before heading back to SF on Monday the 24th to begin our month long (hopefully not longer) hospital party, (inhale and hold it).