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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hurry Up and Wait

That is the motto here at the hospital. We had to leave our house yesterday morning at 6:15am in order to arrive here by 8am when we were supposed to check in. Guess what time the chemo finally started? No really, guess.

4pm. Yep. Really.

It was finished by 7pm. Jacob needed to urinate every two hours afterwards (to empty the bladder as they don't want that toxic stuff sitting in his bladder, damaging it). Which means that ALL night we had to get up every two hours to make him pee. Which means little sleep. So you would have thought that they would have gotten his chemo started earlier so that he wouldn't have had to wake up over and over again at night. Sigh...it's just the way it is here. Just like the fact that I asked the nurse for a report of his last CT scan and she came back saying her printer wasn't working but she would get it to me. She hasn't gotten it to me.

Now we are waiting for the doctor to come by on his rounds so that we can be discharged. More waiting.

We are in isolation since Jacob has had a cold this week. They did a swab to test if he has RSV or the flu (highly doubt it) and I haven't heard the results yet, of course. Which means that anyone coming in the room, or anyone leaving the room, has to suit up in a gown, gloves, and a mask. I understand that it is to protect the other patients from a possible virus but you would think the test results wouldn't take so long to get back. Oh, wait, I forgot where I was for a moment. Of course they would take long!

That has been our last 27 hours. Waiting, and more waiting. I can't "wait" to go home!

3 comments:

  1. Ergh... Hospitals are so frustrating. I feel your pain! :( Praying for you & your family. Hope you can get back home SOON!

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  2. ((hugs)) Reasons for the waiting (although they are frustrating):
    They have to have fresh height and weight measurements to get the chemo ready. Chemo pharmacists are usually only there during the day. They mix the chemo specially for each child. Thus, the delay and the night-time urinating (frustrating for us night nurses too--we want you all to be able to sleep!).

    The swabs take 24-48 hours to come back (sometimes up to 72 hours). It has to grow in a solution and then they have to test it to see what it is. The waiting part is for it to grow.

    I'd ask again for the CT report. Most likely the nurse got busy after she tried to print initially and has completely forgotten.

    We're always waiting for the doctors. ;-)

    ((hugs)) and Prayers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know it's not the fault of the nurses, I just get awfully frustrated at the whole system of things sometimes. Whether it is an all day wait to get chemo started or a two hour wait at the pharmacy. It's always wait, wait, wait!

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