May 9 - Infusion #27
Well this morning's infusion started out as an adventure! We got over to the hospital and parked on the purple floor at request of Levi. We were a little early due to a scheduling issue, but that is fine. We weren't rushing at all and were taking plenty of time. We finally got to check in and were waiting in line, the receptionist called us over and we headed over to the desk. I was ahead of the boys and reached the desk first. I was in the middle of saying Levi's name when all I heard was *Bang/Crack* and then screams! I turned around and Levi was on the floor screaming. Jay scooped him up as quickly as possible trying to comfort him but he wanted nothing to do with Jay, I scooped him out of Jay's arms, told Jay to finish registering us and I hurried down the hallway to the clinic with a screaming child in my arms. Everyone waiting at the adult clinic gave me lots of looks. I turned the corner to the youth clinic and the nurses were waiting wondering who was screaming. His head was already swelling up so they were off to get us ice. They immediately put us in the jungle room and wanted the ice on his head for 20 minutes. We got Levi calmed down some and then found him planes and a juice box. He settled down in my lap. He wasn't excited about the ice but the movie kept him occupied enough to let me keep it there.
The ice was definitely making the swelling go down! so glad we got it on quick! He has a pretty nasty cut and is going to be decently bruised for awhile.
Jay made it down the hallway and explained to me that Levi tripped over Jay's foot trying to turn around and since he was holding cranberry he had no hands to try to catch himself and his head just smashed into the lower part of the desk. Poor guy!
He bounced back fairly quickly though and it wasn't long before he was all giggles and smiles again and asking for a snack!
Before we unhooked the Benadryl it's potty time. When we came back into the room from potty Nurse T was on the phone, she said that her son's school had called and she needed to go pick him up. She would get his port accessed and the Benadryl started but then would have to turn us over to Nurse K. The access went fairly well though you could tell that Nurse T was a little distracted, completely understandable! Dr. V came in to look at Levi. He wanted to check out his head and make sure that we didn't need stitches. He said it was a nasty cut but it was straight and not gaping so it was fine as is. Just make sure we kept it clean and allowed it to heal. Levi was done watching his movie and wanted to go play. So off we went to the playroom. He had a non-riding pole so he had to push it, he did really well with it.
The trains were all set up on the table as another little guy was playing and Levi was very excited to join in and play with them! Levi was definitely digging at his port much more then normal. I checked him a couple times but he looked fine. Since I knew it was only Benadryl going in it couldn't be a reaction so we just kept telling him to leave his button alone.
Then he was off and playing with the star and reading books. He doesn't stay on any task for long! But he was having a blast! He was also continuing to dig at his port.
Soon his Benadryl was done and we were back in the room to start his plasma. He still wouldn't leave his port alone and I decided to mention something to the Nurses before we had a LONG infusion of saying "don't dig at that" and "don't touch that". The blood return on his port was doing great and there was no bumps or anything. The skin around his port did look a little puffy but nothing awful. We were all feeling around his port to see if it felt swollen when all of a sudden the port moved! Pots are a godsend, but they are the weirdest thing ever! After the port moved it all looked much better, but Levi was still digging at it. Nurse K had come in to help Nurse S with the plasma start as they have to double check everything. We decided to take the dressing off of his port prior to starting the plasma and seeing what was up. We would much rather access again now if we need to instead in the middle of an infusion. We started peeling back the dressing and he was not happy about that, it was sticking much more then normal and pulling funny. About halfway through removing it I realized that the only dressing was a tegaderm, there were no IV3000's underneath the tegaderm. Once we realized this and got it fully removed we redressed it with 2 IV3000s and then a new tegaderm and he never touched it again the rest of the infusion! We have heard from other moms that tegaderms have caused issues with their kids, but have never experienced it as very little of it touches his skin usually, but it's definitely true, those things are an issue! Not sure if it was itchy or sticky or what, but he was not having it!
After we got that all situate he settled into the chair and we turned planes back on! And he got another snack. We got his plasma started and he was all into playing with his tube but leaving his port alone so I'll take it!
After the initial craziness of the morning the infusion seemed to go fairly quickly. It's always the same rate, but seems like it takes hours and hours some days and seems like 20 minutes other days. But really it's always 75mL/hr for 15 minutes and then 125mL/hr for the remainder and his bags are always about the same size. Just depends on his mood to determine if it's going fast or slow!
Counts came back at 194! A pretty big drop since Thursday but still a great number since we are getting an infusion!
Jay headed down to get lunch and Levi set and ate!
The infusion was done! YAY! Levi wanted his 5 minutes in the playroom so off Jay and Levi went to play!
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| Watching the truck unload it's cargo! |
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| Helping the baby! |
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| Doing the babies blood work! |
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| Accessing the babies port. |
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| Trying to show the baby how to ride on their IV pole! |
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| Realizing that he is too big for the babies IV pole. |
After the playtime was up we were out the door to head home. Since we had all the craziness of the head bonking in the morning, plus the nurse who had to leave, and the tegaderm issue we were behind schedule. Thankfully we had left Jay's car in Concord because there is no way I would have made it all the way home and then back to Concord for class! Jay was tired so I drove to Concord while he snoozed and Levi crashed too. It was a quiet drive. We got to Jay's car and Levi did not want to leave me. It was a rough transfer into Jay's car but we made it and Jay and Levi headed home.
Next plans: Blood work on Thursday and infusion again in 3 weeks!
