A very long day...

Yesterday was Alex's Port Placement procedure.

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am for check-in. So, we dropped Tessa-Lynn off at my Mom's house the night before, and dragged ourselves and Alex out to the car at 5:45am. It was in the 20's, and snowing - wonderful...(ugh)

We made it up the hill, and got checked in right away, and then waited about 45 minutes to be called into our room. Once in our room, the doctors decided they didn't need to do another chest X-ray, since we had done one last Thursday. The doctors showed us the newest X-ray, and the mass is gone! Amazing!

The doctors gave Alex some "calming" medicine in his PICC line, and he started to get goofy. They then wheeled him down the hall, and we waited. We ran down to the cafeteria to eat some breakfast, and then came back to the room. About 45 mins later, the doctor told us everything went well, and that Alex was in the recovery room. The Port placement went perfect, and they had taken out his PICC line.

When they finally wheeled him into our room, they told us that they gave him 4 doses of Morphine to calm him down after waking up from the anesthesia (he doesn't seem to like it very much). So, he slept for a few hours.

About 1:30pm we finally made it home. Mom dropped Tessa back off with us. Alex asked us to call Grandma on the way home and make sure she was bringing his baby home.

Alex didn't want to eat, and just sat down to watch some Scooby Doo. About 3pm he said he didn't feel well, and I asked if he needed a bucket to spit up in. He said "no, not like that". I just thought it was the anesthesia, and gave him a blanket, on the couch, and he fell asleep. I woke him up at 5:30. A few minutes later, he asked me to take his temperature. As it soared above 100, I called Eric up from downstairs, and called the doctors office. It finally stopped climbing at 102.4. The doctor told us to come in to the Emergency Department at Doerenbecher to get checked out. So, we packed up everything from the night before, dropped Tessa-Lynn back off with my Mother, and headed back up the hill.

We were seen almost immediately, and they told us they wanted to run some blood cultures. Well, guess what? His PICC line was gone, and his Port had only been put in 11 hours earlier - ugh! So, they lathered up the Port area with Embrel cream (a numbing cream), and waited about 45 mins. Then, they had the most experienced IV tech access the Port - No problem (whew!).

The doctor was the same one who broke the news to us that it was cancer back in November. He said he had been following Alex's case - he seemed really taken by him. He had Alex's blood checked for bacterial infection, and gave him a broad-spectrum antibiotic through his Port. They also gave him some Tylenol for the fever. Eric went to the cafeteria, and got some food for us, since we hadn't eaten dinner yet before we left.

Alex started perking up, and at about 10:15pm, we were able to go home. According to the Emergency Room Doctor, this is going to happen a lot...ugh...

No fever today - just a bit of a runny nose. We went sledding for a few minutes outside, but have spent most of the morning inside.