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| Darth Vader Yoda Mickey Mouse got to come with us |
That evening we checked into the hospital at 7:00. Unfortunately they were pretty busy, so we were put into one of the smaller rooms. There is only one bed in those rooms with only enough room for one pull out chair/bed. There are also two doors, less lights, and a smaller main area window. Shad was already accessed from that morning so it was pretty painless to get him hooked up to the fluids. We played pool ball, and other toys for a bit, and then got him ready for bed. It was decided since Trevor was going to be out of town the next two nights I would go home to sleep that night, so once Shad was in bed I left.
The next morning my mom and went to the hospital with my dad and Jayce close behind. By the time we got there Trevor and Shad had already gotten the birthday legos out to put together. They were about halfway done with the rancor pit. One of the nurses had brought a cake in for Shad's birthday which was pretty sweet. Once Trevor and Shad finished the lego, Trevor and Jayce got ready and left. About 10:30 the nurse came in to get Shad all hooked up to monitors and prepped for chemo. Unfortunately the monitor wasn't working so she had to go in search of another one. She was able to find one, and they got him all hooked up. Chemo started about 11:00. The first day he gets his Taxol which is run over 24 hours. This is probably the hardest day for him, because he is not allowed to get up at all. He and I (mostly I) started in on his other birthday lego, Jabba's Palace. About 3 hours later that was finished. We played cars memory, and disney headbandz for awhile, and then my mom and I left and went to Joann for a bit. She wanted to look for some fabric for a baby blanket she was going to make. I bought some yarn for a project I have been working on, and that was about it. We picked up some dinner and then headed back to the hospital. When we got there grandpa let us know that Shad's resting heart rate was kind of low(normal for his age is between 80 and 120, at the time his was between 60 and 80), so they doctors wanted to do an EKG. The nurse had come in to do it, but the machine wouldn't work. She let them know that she needed another one, and they said that they would get on that. They weren't too worried because he was still perfusing well, and his pulse ox was still good. His blood pressure was good as well.
My parents left around 8:30, and they still hadn't come to do the EKG yet. Shad was asleep, and I surfed the web and watched some shows for a bit. About 9:30 the nurse came in with the EKG machine. She got Shad all hooked up, at some point during the process he woke up. He thought all the wires were awesome, and when she was finished the nurse even let him help with pulling the wires off. They told us they would show it to the doctors, and then they would come in at some point and let us know what they thought. By this point his heart rate was even lower, fluctuating between 50 and 70. The nurse came in a bit later and let me know that the EKG had looked fine. They still weren't too concerned. He isn't hooked up to monitors all the time, so they thought that possibly his resting heart rate was normally low and we just didn't know. About 11 I got in bed, but was having trouble falling asleep. Every time the heart rate went below 60 the machine would beep and flash an orange light. Eventually I dozed off, and was awoken after only a few minutes by a doctor who was examining Shad. She let me know that they were a little concerned because his heart rate was staying lower and lower, his blood pressure was beginning to lower, and his respirations were low. At that point she said that they thought he was ok, because his pulse ox was still good, he still seemed to be perfusing well, etc. Of course being the mom, there was no hope of sleeping after that. I laid on the bed and watched that monitor for the next several hours. Luckily, the nurse had talked to me, and I knew that she was out at the nursing station watching the monitors as well. She told me that she was going to bother the doctors as much as she had to to make sure he was taken care of and safe. That was very reassuring for me. They called the oncologist to see if they should take him off the chemo, but the oncologist thought he was ok at that point. A little while later after a lower blood pressure, and lower heart rate the nurse and a doctor came in to let me know that they were going to stop the chemo. He had already had more than 2/3 of the drug, and the doctor thought that would be an adequate dose. Once they got it turned off, and the regular fluids going I watched the monitor awhile longer. He seemed to be doing a little bit better, so I was finally able to calm down enough to fall asleep. That was about 5:30. Shad decided that he wanted to be awake and ready for the day about 6:30, but I gave him his ipad and he was content to watch a movie in bed while I dozed a while longer.
More to come...
