After receiving six hours worth of chemo Tuesday night, Sam awoke Wednesday with some nausea. He knew, however, that today would be the day he would get to go home and that made him feel a little better. :) Jere gathered some of our items and headed out for the car…
Meanwhile, nurse Renee began prepping Sam for his trip home. After disconnecting Sam from his IV fluids, she cleaned his port site and covered it with a new bandage. Sam was not a fan! He will go home with his port needle since he will be receiving fluids for the next five days at home to continue to flush his kidneys from the chemo drugs. He has severe “port anxiety” and hates when anyone touches it and guards it with his life! He is so frightened that it will get pulled out or dislodged somehow and he is very protective of it. (I think I may have failed to mention that this did indeed happen one time, so a little anxiety about it may be appropriate!) It is not uncommon for him to try to wear the same shirt he is wearing when his port line is placed for the entire time he is accessed. He wants no one near it.
He said the solution they use to clean the site was stinging him. :(
Before we leave, we take one more stroll around the fifth floor, looking for Sam’s friend Jalyne. Jalyne is Sam’s age and was diagnosed a month after Sam with the same type of cancer. As we walk about scanning the rooms, it is hard not to become emotional at what I see. Each room filled with children- some babies and toddlers in cribs, some Sam’s age and some in their teenage years-all with cancer and fighting this disease. Most have lost all of their hair and they look so frail laying in their hospital beds. The constant sound of IV’s beeping cannot be ignored. I hear one nurse from one of the rooms remind a child to try not to touch his epidural. A child in so much pain that he has to have an epidural??? Others are getting sick, others are trying to sleep and others cry out in pain or because they are scared. These children should not be here. They should be out enjoying the summertime sunshine, laughing, playing, swimming with their peers. Instead, they are here trying to get well. This has been our reality.
Finally we find Jalyne’s room and snap a couple of pictures of the two of them together. They are so cute!
Can’t leave the fifth floor without a mask!
Sam realizes that this is his last chemo overnight in the hospital and is happy to tell everyone about it. It has been a long eight rounds and it is hard to believe he is almost finished. Two more chemo doses to go and he will be done!
Hugs,
Erica
no comments