Lucas Chronicles: Back in the hospital

Tonight I am home with just Franco.  Lucas has been readmitted into the hospital.  We spent Friday and then again Saturday night in the Emergency Room.

The above sentences were all I got to type before I passed out on the couch from apparent exhaustion on Sunday night.  For those of you that didn't know, we had to take Lucas back to the hospital both on Friday night and again on Saturday.  Friday he was having some labored breathing and we didn't like what we saw so we went in.  They ran blood tests, listened to his lungs, and even took a chest x-ray.  Every thing came back OK so they let us come home.

On Saturday afternoon, after he finally woke up he had visible tremors in his hands.  I noticed while he was trying to eat a piece of pizza (not rice!!)  I called the hospital and they said to bring him in, but nothing else was wrong and I don't want to make Lucas suffer in the ER every time we don't like how he looks.  So I waited and then the tremors traveled through the rest of his body and I called the hospital again and said the same thing.....bring him in so we can be sure.  This time I did.  Rina was dealing with both benefits that were being held for Lucas (a separate post for that, i promise) so I told her, "I'll just take him, don't worry, we'll be home in a few hours."  That was at 730pm.

10.5 hours later we were finally admitted back onto the 17th floor.  Here's how we got there....

Upon arriving at the hospital, Lucas and I parked and loaded up the stroller and my backpack which has become Lucas' hospital bag, basically.  Signed in at the ER desk and before we could walk to triage (just a few steps away, mind you)  out comes our Super Nurse Danette!!!!  I was SOOOOOO relieved to see her and she gave me a big hug and tried to get Lucas to smile (didn't work).  She scooped us up and off we went. Weighed and temped, and onto our room.  At the same time another nurse, asked where Danette was taking us and she said "I've got them, Danette" to which Danette replied "OH NO, I know the family, he's mine!!"  The other nurse, said "me too".  I turned around to see Anna, our clinic nurse from this past Tuesday.  She was super also!  It was great to have two awesome nurses fighting over taking care of Lucas!!  Needless to say, Danette won.

Once in our room, the Bear wants to watch TV and is actually calm about being back in the hospital.  The usual barrage of poking and prodding take place.  I also explain that Lucas has been protecting his belly and won't let anyone touch it.  So they poked and prodded some more, OF COURSE!! and the one doctor actually got Lucas to let him touch his belly because he made a drum sound with his fingers on Lucas' stomach and he actually laughed.  That was short lived, but enough for the doctor to order an Ultrasound.  4 hours later..... the ultrasound technician arrives.  Did I mention Lucas was finally asleep?  The technician said, "oh good, he'll just sleep right through this." Who was she kidding????

As soon as she lifted his gown, he was awake yelling at her.  I started by supporting him on the bed and holding his hands up so she had access to his belly. At one point, I asked if he wanted me to sing.  (only your two year old son would want that!!)  And he said yes.  So for the next 25 minutes I sang Hush little baby, over and over and over until the technician was done.  Amazingly, it kept him pretty calm.

So that test was over and Lucas was able to go back to sleep.  Rina was finally home and we were still waiting for a decision.  Around 2am the surgeon on duty came in and said I want to do a CAT Scan to see if we can get a better look at his belly because the ultrasound didn't show anything except for a little intussusception.  Luckily, I didn't have a chance to research this as everyone a the hospital said they don't treat and it will work itself out, but very well could be the cause of the stomach pain he was having.  So we waited another 2.5 hours for the scan to take place.  We get to the scan room and walk in and it painted with Ferris Wheels and rocket ships and steps were painted on the floor right up to the platform where Lucas lays down.  AS I picked him up, he woke up and was not happy.   I laid him down on the sled and the tech secured him.  He fussed for a minute, but I just reassured him this was going to be OK and would be over very soon.  HE said, OK. and just held my hands as he went into the machine.  I was so proud of Lucas, I could have cried.  HE never yelled, or screamed or even moved.  He just watched the lights go around in circles and then we were done.   Still sooo proud of him!!!

Well back to the ER and still asking if we are going home or getting admitted.  We waited another 2 hours and they confirmed the intussusception but the Appendix appeared to be fine.  Either way, they wanted to keep him for observation because the cancer won't let his body respond the way it should.  At 630 Sunday morning, we finally get up to the 17th floor and get a room.  They let us sleep for about 3 hours until the vitals routine begins again.

To be continued...... I need to get some sleep.  I'll finish telling you about Sunday and Monday tomorrow!!