We had an 11:30 appointment at the Clinic yesterday morning, and the plan was that we would be admitted to the 7th floor of the hospital from there. I expected the process to go pretty much like it did July 12 for Round 3; go to the Clinic, see the doctor, have labs drawn, and then go up to the 7th floor soon after. I guess technically that is how it happened yesterday too, but it took a whole lot longer! We were there All. Day. Long. Around 3:00 pm I started asking if they had any idea how much longer we'd have to wait; we were told the bed wasn't ready yet and they didn't know how long it would be. Finally, sometime around 4:30, we were told we could go home, and they'd call us when the bed was ready. I was so irritated that we spent the day sitting in the waiting room, and no one told us we could go home until the bed was ready until after we had been there for five hours! That is a very long time to occupy and entertain a toddler! Poor Collin was exhausted, and didn't have much of a nap the entire day. I had spent the weekend trying to get things done at home, and it would have been nice to spend Monday at home playing with both my kids instead of wasting the time sitting in a waiting room all day. So at 4:30 we left to go home. On the way home I called the Clinic back and asked why at that point we couldn't just stay home and then be directly admitted right up to the floor the next morning; they said we could do that, but they couldn't guarantee they'd be able to hold the bed overnight; if someone needed it overnight, we'd end up being in the same situation Tuesday. So, we ate dinner at home, and then went back to the hospitsl after they called to say the bed was finally ready. By the time we got there, it was around 6:00 pm. Moving in was chaotic; I was trying to get things unpacked and situated in the room so I could function, the nurses were trying to assess Collin and do their admission stuff, Bill was parking our cars after we had gotten all the stuff up to the room, Neya was trying to play on the iPad but was constantly asking questions, my Mom was trying to entertain Collin, and Collin was fussing because he was exhausted. It was crazy and stressful. Next time I will take the last appointment of the day so we don't sit in the waiting room all day long, or I will take an early appointment and then go home until they call to say they're ready for us.
The pre-hydration fluids were hung at 9:00 pm, and had to run at least two hours. Before the chemo could be started, Collin's output had to be checked to make sure his kidneys were functioning properly. The amount of output had to be greater or equal to the amount of input he was receiving. Normally this is not a problem. But since we sat in the Clinic all day, Collin didn't eat or drink normally, so even though he was getting a lot of IV hydration last night, his diapers weren't wet enough for several hours. The fluid was going in, but not enough was coming out; I think he may have been a little dehydrated. Around 3:00 am he was given Lasix (a diuretic), which made him finally go enough that his chemo could be started at 4:00 am. The Cisplatin was run over six hours, until 10:00 am. So Collin didn't have a restful night's sleep last night; between trying to get our stuff situated, the constant activity with trying to get his output where it needed to be, and hearing the door to the med room slam closed every time a nurse went in or out of the room (which is on the other side of our wall), I think I was lucky if I got two hours of sleep last night (not consecutive hours either!) Good times! We've only been here for twenty-four hours, and already my patience is wearing thin. I knew there would be a constant stream of people coming in and out of our room all day and night, and I knew that every time my poor exhausted child would finally relax and get to sleep that someone would be coming in and waking him up. I know he has to be here, but it doesn't make it any easier.
Around 11:30 this morning, Collin started vomiting. I had to change his clothes a few times through out the day because of it. He did take a nap after lunch because he was given Benadryl to help with the vomiting. Luckily, this evening he seemed to feel much better, and ate his dinner (and dessert!) very enthusiastically. Neya was feeding him a chocolate chip cookie dipped in chocolate pudding, and he had as much fun playing with it as he did eating it! Then he had a great time playing with Neya. Now he is sleeping, and I hope he can have a few hours of rest before the next chemo drug is given at four tomorrow morning (the chemo drugs are given 24 hours apart).
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