hang around day...

So, yeah, we have been here since 8:00 AM and he is only getting his chemo now. And yes, it is 4:30. When we arrived, there was an issue with his VAD; the nurse couldn't get any blood out of it, so they had to send Noah for a chest x-ray to make sure it was still in the right place (it is) and so they decided there was probably a little clot at the end, so the nurse put in a very powerful anti-coagulant to get rid of it. He finally had bloodwork done at about 10:20, then he went for his Lumbar puncture at 11. It was funny, the Willistons gave Noah the Planet Earth DVDs (he was very excited and has wanted to watch them all the time since we got them) and he chose one to watch during the LP and all the people in the room were so excited! Both nurses and Doctor Lucy said, "we get to watch Planet Earth?!!" Every time we met a new person, he or she would tell them what was going to be playing and they would have the same reaction. It was hilarious! And then, he was sedated, so he doesn't even remember any of it, lol! He was totally groggy until after 1, poor guy....
The Chemo he just got is one that can damage his bladder, so he had to be sufficiently hydrated to take it. The problem was that on procedure days, he has to have no food or drink for 6hrs, so he had had nothing to eat or drink since before bed last night, which meant he was dehydrated to begin with. It took a long time to get him to where he was hydrated enough to have the chemo. Thankfully Uncle Charles came to play this afternoon for a while. We had a nice chat for a while, and then it was time for a rousing game of Yahtzee. Noah was in a very good mood, so it was full of silliness! The nurses also have to monitor him for 4 hours after giving him the chemo so we will be here at the hopsital until around 9 tonight.
One more thing, Noah has started coughing, but doesn't have a fever, which means we cannot stay at RMH and he will not be admitted because he isn't that sick, so we have to move to Easter Seals at 9:00 tonight. Not sure how we are going to do that yet, but hopefully it can be done quickly and easily. (Taxi?) We can come back to RMH as soon as he is deemed safe to be around the other kids.
On that note, there is a boy from Smithers at RMH this month! The Wacholz (I am not sure if I spelled it right...) family is here with their son, who is 11. That was fun.
**edit**
It is now 9:00 and we are still at the hospital; Noah still has at least a half hour more to hydrate. I went back to RMH and brought all of our stuff to Easter Seals so now we can just take a taxi to Easter Seals and drop into bed. I am exhausted. Strange, when all I did was sit around all day! Noah almost has a fever - he is pretty consistently at 37.7 or 37.8. If he was 38 degrees, he would be admitted. I was selfishly praying for that all afternoon - I didn't/don't want to deal with all the hassle of moving and all the cleaning that entails!
Tomorrow Noah has to be here for chemo at 11,and we can't really be in public at EasterSeals either, so tomorrow will be a good day to do some school work. I forgot to bring his schoolwork today (*hangs head* sorry Tom...) so we will try to make up for that tomorrow.
Well, I have to go and give Noah the first dose of the chemo drug he will be taking almost every day for the next three years. Poor guy, he is so tired and isn't feeling too great either - I thought this phase has the drugs that will make him sick and it looks like I was right.
It begins.