Consolidation - Day 8

I realize it is Friday and we had treatment on Tuesday. Sorry!

So we started the day bright and early at 8:00 am. We had to be to clinic at 8:30 because JP was supposed to check in at the operating room at 10:15 for an 11:45 procedure. We were just doing the lumbar puncture again with the chemotherapy into his spinal fluid, but the RTU was full so they had to send us to the OR. Let's just say we are so grateful for the RTU! We had one of our longest days at the hospital, yet the least amount of "stuff" done.

At clinic they have this table set up for the kids to do crafts while they wait. JP always looks forward to this, probably because it's the only place I've let him use "sizzizz" (scissors). This week he made a beautiful flower for his Elsie girl and drew some cool trucks with his daddy.

One thing I love about Primary Children's is their Child Life Specialists. They are basically the toy specialists. They have access to any toy imaginable and their sole job is to make sure each child has something to play with that will make them smile while in the hospital. JP took a bit to warm up to our CLS, but I think a lot of that had to do with the steroids he was on. Now he likes when she pops in the room because he knows she's about to bring out an awesome race track. I think if I were to do it all over, I might like being a CLS. I don't think it would be easy seeing kids with life threatening diseases day in and day out, but I think it must be so rewarding being able to see these kids smile for just a little bit while they are going through yucky procedures.

Sometimes JP only cares about the iPad (who can blame him) or taking random pictures and self-portraits with our camera. He gets that from Colette. Here's some of his finest work from Tuesday:

Dad checking the Braves score:

 Mom looking her best:

And the one-armed shot:

Other times JP likes to hide in his dad's arms and then scare me when I'm least expecting it. Fortunately for me, I happened to be holding the camera waiting for the scare this time!

Here's our cute kiddo getting ready for the OR. When we go to the RTU, it's so quick and easy. We get vitals done then they take him back, put him to sleep, do the procedure and we're back with him helping him wake back up and this all happens within about an hour. He doesn't even have to change his clothes!  This week, we checked in at 10:15, were taken back to a room, saw a few doctors, got a new outfit on and waited until 12:15 when they took him back. At about 1:00 we were with him waking up but it was almost 2:00 before we left the hospital. Ugh, almost 4 hours to do what only takes 1 - 1.5 hours in RTU. We are so happy we are in RTU next week! One of the doctors even told us they hate when one of the "Onc" kids (oncology) has to come through because it's so much more time consuming for such a simple procedure. We totally agree!

When we got home, we had some angel mail waiting for us and JP was pretty happy most of the day. He hasn't really been eating but that is a side effect of taking oral chemo every day. He feels yucky and doesn't want to put food in his tummy because it already doesn't feel good. His favorite food this week is chips and salsa, we really struggle getting him to eat anything else. At least he's asking for apple juice, chocolate milk and Sprite so he's getting a few calories...

And finally, just a cute picture of both kids totally engrossed in a puzzle JP is doing on his iPad. JP always says, "Elsie sit by me!" or "Elsie watch me!" so she is sitting or laying next to her brother more often than not. I love it.