Saturday, February 7, 2009

Quarterly Check-up

It was time to return to St. Jude this week for a marrow biopsy and check up. Chet is now as tall as I am, and he is thrilled to have official documentation of that fact.

We didn't take many pictures this time. We were all just tired after the week before and the long drive down. We were so happy to be there, though, with hot water in the showers and electricity!

On Thursday Chet has biopsy and marrow aspiration. He wants me to bring the camcorder next time because sometimes he says some funny things when the medicine kicks in.
They always get him hooked up to all his heart monitors, his IV bag, and his ET finger first.

Then Martha gets him turned to his side so he is ready. Sometimes he stays there as the medicine takes effect.
Then the anesthesiologist gives him one medicine to prevent having the sleep meds from burning. After that goes through, she adds the sleep meds, and it doesn't take long to kick in.
Here is Chet getting glassy-eyed.
He usually just drifts off at this point, but this time he rallied a bit to say "I can see the world." I love when he does stuff like that.
Once he is out they put on an oxygen mask, but this time he wasn't quite under completely and he raised his hand to knock the mask off.
But that was as far as his rebellion ran. His hand fell to his chest, and he was off seeing the world in lala land. I just want to point out how big his hands are. He wears a size 11.5 shoe. He is like a puppy who is growing into some really big paws.
After he is out, Beth and I have to leave. I can't stand just standing outside the door, though. At this point Beth and I usually go get a drink and grab her a snack bag.
When we get back, I watch him through the recovery room door until he wakes up. Then they open the doors and let us back with him.
He is getting used to these and doesn't notice much soreness anymore. After his biopsy, we came back to the hotel where the Grizzlies basketball team was there to meet the kids.
I was shocked that Beth was willing to talk to the mascot.
Then we headed back to our room where we spent the rest of the night watching TV. The next morning we went back for the follow-up appointment, but not all of the results are back yet. His platelets have fallen about 20,000 in the last month, though. Right now they are at 38,000. If they drop to 30,000 he won't be able to fly to Vegas next month. I am hoping they are just low because the week before was rough. Hopefully they get back up a bit quickly.
We will go back again in 3 months as long as nothing else happens between now and then. Even though we don't have the results back yet, his doctors think he still staying stable. Honestly, if he didn't have a couple of life-threatening diseases he would be one of the healthiest kids I know!

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