Christmas Appointment

Ian's last appointment was on Tuesday right before Christmas. He was going to have both the vincristine (chemo) put into his port as well as an LP (where they put chemo into your spine). We arrived bright and early for our 6:45 am appointment with Ian fasting. We were in the bigger clinic that day but he wasn't in the mood to play in the playroom; I guess he must have been a little more nervous than usual, so we hung out in our clinic room. Ian did a few Christmas crafts while watching the movie of choice for the past year- Star Wars. Ian is given a Twilight which doesn't put him under, but it keeps him from remembering the LP. For whatever reason, he couldn't relax and was agitated that day so they were unable to do the LP. He was worried about having to get a poke again so they kept his port accessed so that he would be ready to go the next day.

We had to return on Wednesday the 23rd so that they could give him some drugs to knock him out. I always get nervous about them putting him under; it wasn't general anethesia but it was with propophyl. Why does that drug sound familiar you may ask? It got a lot of publicity these past few months being Michael Jackson's former drug of choice. Not exactly the connection that you want to come to mind, but being the worrier I am, I just can't help myself:) Once again, he had to fast and we were the last appointment of the day at 3:30. I had to get pretty creative to keep him from realizing how hungry he was.

They actually had us be at the hospital at 12:30 in case there was a cancellation or an earlier opening but unfortunately that wasn't the case. We had fun playing by doing more crafts, puzzles, and board games. While we were waiting, Ian was given a stocking full of toys, crayons, coloring books, etc. He was so excited about it and it served as a great time killer. So many people are so wonderful and thoughtful bringing things for the children at the hospital especially around Christmas. Thank you to all of you; you know who you are!

After playing for three hours, we went into the room where the anesthesiologist would be and he chased and popped bubbles for a good 15 minutes. Since he already had a needle in his port from the day before, they gave him the medicine and he was out in about 3 seconds. I was escorted to another room where I had to wait for Ian to wake up. It only took about 15-20 minutes before they came and got me. Ian said, "I was really tired so I took a nap. Is my back test all done?" Mission accomplished!

He was offered a sprite as well as his choice of Teddy Grahams, fruit roll ups, and goldfish. He chose all three- can't say I blame him. I would have too and I wasn't fasting:)

I didn't know how he would be feeling on Christmas day because he is usually wiped out for a few days following his treatments. Aside from being a little paler than usual with dark circles under his eyes, he did really well. I don't know if he was going off Christmas adrenaline or not but he definitely enjoyed Christmas day (more on that to come in a following post).