Monday, November 22 - Day +40

Collin's clinic appointment this afternoon went very well. He was in a very happy mood, and was waving to everyone who said hi to him. Our oncologist said this was the best she's ever seen him since she met him in April. He waved to her when she came into the exam room, and even held onto her hands and walked around the tiny room with her. Despite the fact that the nurse got one of the single-lumen repair kits and was going to get creative with it to fix Collin's line, the doctor decided to just have it taken out since he's doing so well. She said she usually ends up just taking them out because they get a hole in them or get infected, so she wanted to remove Collin's before it becomes infected. Since he had just eaten lunch and didn't have the empty stomach needed for anesthesia, the surgery to remove the Broviac will be done tomorrow morning. I am surprised to realize that I have mixed feelings about this step! I remember how much I hated the Broviac in the beginning, and hated Collin being hooked up to IVs all the time. But somewhere along the line, without even realizing it, I came to appreciate and rely on the Broviac because it meant Collin didn't have to be stuck with needles all the time, and it allowed him to easily have all the medications he needed. Taking care of it, doing the dressing changes, flushing both lumens every day, etc. became routine. So as much as I am excited to finally say "bye bye tubies!" (which Collin was repeating during his sponge bath tonight) and see Collin finally get to have tub baths again (one more step toward normalcy!) there is a little part of me that will miss the darned thing! Of course, in a few weeks, after he is healed from the surgery tomorrow, he will get his new mediport put in so that blood draws and eventually maintenance chemo can be done easily, but from what I understand the port will require less care, and he'll still be able to get in the tub with it!