Scan + Escape

Jo Ann pulled the overnight shift last night. Pablo slept fine, but she had a very tough night. At some point Sunday afternoon, we got a roommate—a boy younger than P who is loud and had piles of people in the room much of the day and evening. This happens. Children are loud, especially when they can't eat because of a surgical procedure the next morning, which was the case with our roomie.

Pablo will have an MRI and a CT scan this afternoon, and he will sedated. So he had an eating restriction as well. Most of the time he is OK with it. At five years old, he is old enough to understand. Plus, he's been through sedation a couple dozen times, so he's had a lot of practice. He knows that there's a beginning, a middle and an end to the process. And the end means one thing: food!

The MRI will give Dr M a 3-D view of all the relevant areas of Pablo's body. The CT scan will shoot only his chest—to verify that there are no growths in his lungs.

Today's schedule also includes another blood transfusion. Jo Ann told the nursing staff that she was going to unplug Pablo and walk him out of there today and that she wanted to do the transfusion in the oncology clinic downstairs. And their response was? 'OK.' I wish I'd have been in the room to witness that exchange!

The general plan for today is to pack the room and load our bags into the car. Pablo's scans will take probably 90 minutes to two hours combined. We will have food ready for him when he wakes up. We'll go immediately to the onc clinic to meet up with a bag o' blood. P can eat while he's being transfused. Depending on the drip rate of the blood bag, it will take between three and four hours. Which puts us in the parking lot to drive home sometime after 6 p.m.

Even though I slept at home for the first time in four nights, I feel like hell. Why? I stayed up too late reading the damn Joe Eszterhas book 'Hollywood Animal' that Butch lent me on Saturday. Can't put it down. Plus, I have this unrealistic habit of trying to make up for lost time when I get out of the hospital. I know better than to attempt that, but I do it anyway. Today I am paying for it.

More later.