Clinic Day aka Traumatic Tubie Encounter

 

The whole family went with Charlie to Chemotherapy yesterday. Chad and I figured it has been months since we have been together and the nurses might like to see how big and mobile Daniel has become. The appointment was at 8:30am and we rolled into clinic with the kids and necessities in a red Children's hospital wagon. Our first wagon ride with both kiddos I might add.... They have a new procedure in clinic as of 8/15 that they have to have the FULL blood results back including a test for elevated liver enzymes before giving any chemo. This takes our normal hour long visit up to just shy of three hours! I am not complaining, I think it makes perfect sense to check for liver damage before administering more harmful, liver damaging chemicals. In hindsight the 3 hour visit was NOT the one to take the whole family to. I titled this entry Traumatic Tubie Encounter due to the fact that Charlie's port access was about the worst EVER. First it took him about 25 mins to stop crying, spitting, yelling and hitting before he calmed down enough to take his shirt off and prep for the "poke." Then Sally inserted the special needle and nothing happened. Nothing could go in through the need and nothing (blood) was coming out. So Sally had to pull the needle out of our now screaming and crying child and try again.... and again.... and finally she called for another nurse and they got it all working after 4 tries. During this time Chad is basically bear hugging Charlie in his lap trying to keep him still enough for the nurses to go after him with a 22g steel needle. Needless to say it was very loud and very hot in the little exam room with Sally, Kerri (other nurse), Chad and Charlie. Daniel and I took our Que and left the room during the horrible encounter. Daniel tends to feed off of Charlie's emotions and the last thing we needed at that point was 2 wailing kiddos. In the end Charlie got his blood work, received his Chemo and ate pancakes during the visit. The picture above shows a tired Chad comforting two little boys in the exam room after the big ordeal. Next month 9/12 is the start of a new cycle and Charlie will have a lumbar puncture and chemo in his spine like he does every three months. I think we are going to go back to "practice tubies" a few times a week to see if we can diffuse this bad memory and make the next visit a bit smoother.