Saturday, January 19, 2013

My New Dragon

My kids bought me a Dragon for Christmas.

Not the fire breathing kind, but the word processing kind.


 I really wanted this program after I saw this exciting commercial a few times.

    

It's taken me almost a month, and a lot of help from the oldest son and the hubby, but my Dragon is finally up and running.

I haven't seen any pirates yet, but who knows what could happen?

Stay tuned to see what fun my Dragon and I are going to have together. We did just manage to write this entire blog post, almost hands free, in less than two hours.   It's only going to get better from here on out.

Today I am grateful for

a helpful husband.

Kleenex and store brand mucus relief medicine.

good deals at the grocery store.


Thursday, January 10, 2013

A Shot in the Dark

Shad has to have a shot 24 hours after his last treatment with each round of chemo. Yesterday the doctor didn't want them to have to wait around in the hospital until 8:00, just for the shot, before they could go home so the oldest daughter was given a couple of options:

A. she could come back Friday morning by 9:00 and one of the nurses could give him the shot or
B. she could take the shot home and give it to him herself.

The son-in-law would have most definitely chosen option A, since he isn't a big fan of needles, but he was on an underway and not available to consult or to be a possible shot shooter. The oldest daughter knew she didn't want to give the shot either so she chose option A.

When the youngest daughter and I got to the hospital and the oldest daughter shared her decision with us, I said, "Well you know your sister has given your dad his insulin shots on occasion and she is pretty good at it. Maybe she could give Shad his shot."
 She chimed in, "Yeah, I could do it."
 "Really?"
 "I think so."

We threw the options back and forth for a while.  None of us really wanted to come back to the hospital the next day, and the youngest daughter was willing, so the nurse was informed that mom had changed her mind and the shot would leave with us.

For some reason, when the shot instructions were actually given before our departure, the delivery time had changed from 8:00 to 11:00 PM. We decided that maybe this was better since there was a possibility that Shad would even stay asleep until the shot had been administered. Obviously Shad doesn't enjoy getting the shot, but the anticipation is usually worse for him than the actual delivery, so we were hoping we could perhaps make a quick, surprise attack and then it would be over with before he realized what had happened.

Shad went to bed around eight and when the time came for the shot the youngest daughter got out the information sheet to review the directions. There was even a handy-dandy picture to show her exactly what to do.


It was determined that the shot would go into his thigh and we all quietly went upstairs and proceeded to carry out "Operation Shot in the Dark".

Unfortunately things didn't go quite as we had hoped. As soon as his mom started to pull down his pajamas to expose his leg Shad woke up and wanted to know what she was doing. Believing that honesty is the best policy, she informed him that we had to give him a shot - the doctor said. Shad started to cry. The oldest daughter started to cry. I grabbed his arms, his mom grabbed his legs, and the youngest daughter inserted the needle, pushed the plunger, and was done. A band-aid was quickly applied as Shad and mommy continued to cry. The youngest daughter and I quickly exited the room while the oldest daughter stayed to console Shad.  He was mad at her, since he assumed that she was the one who had administered the shot, and let her suffer for a few minutes, but it didn't take long for him to go back to sleep.

Fast forward to today.

Shad seems to have survived the middle of the night adventure and isn't holding any grudges toward any of us. I am adjusting his pants and he informs me to be careful because the band-aid on his leg might pull.  Curious about what he remembers, I ask, "Why do you have a band-aid on your leg?".  He thinks for a minute and then says, "Why do I have a band-aid on my leg?"

We all plead ignorance. Honesty may be the best policy, but in this case we felt the less said, the better.

The youngest daughter and I are both happy with the Option B choice.  The oldest daughter is still undecided if it's the route she will go with next time. I guess only time will tell if there will be an "Operation Shot in the Dark - Take 2". The youngest daughter is going to be around for a few more shots though, so at least it's an option.

Today I am thankful that

Shad is home from the hospital and doing well.

the youngest daughter is willing to attempt new things and has a dad that lets her practice giving shots.

I got to fly home from California instead of drive.  The actual trip is a lot quicker.


Saturday, January 5, 2013

Big Steps for a Little Boy

Today Shad and his mom and dad said they wanted to come down and meet us when we got to the hospital. When we called to tell them that we were almost there, they said they were on their way, moving slowly, but surely. First we heard Shad yell "Grandma!" at the top of his lungs and then I located them in the very far distance.


It was hard to see him, but I sure could hear him.

As they got closer I was VERY surprised and VERY excited to see that Shad was WALKING!


When we left after Christmas he was walking a little bit, but only very short distances so this was a BIG difference.

On the way back to the room Shad was chasing a little white bird "fluff" and he got moving pretty fast (relatively speaking).


Every time he would try to step on it it would float a little bit further away.


It was pretty entertaining watching him - scurry, stomp, step, scurry, stomp, step, scurry, stomp.  Finally the air from his foot pushed it forward quite a ways so I decided to catch it for him - scurry, stomp, step, scurry, stomp, step, scurry.

Apparently I looked even more entertaining than he did.

Good thing the camera was in my possession.

I am so proud of this little boy!

Aunt Kevra made him this cute Mike Wazowski  hat.  I love it!
He is so willing to do hard things.  Way to go Shad!

Today I am thankful for

every step in the right direction.  Shad is making progress in so many ways.

the move to a bigger hospital room.  The nurses moved Shad as soon as one was available "due to our frequent flyer miles."

lots of together time playing games



and watching HGTV with my daughters. The oldest daughter came home with us tonight to get some sleep and to go to church in the morning.  Thanks son-in-law!

Friday, January 4, 2013

Patience

Today I found myself back sitting in a hospital room waiting with Shad to start his 3rd round of chemo.

He and his parents arrived at the hospital this morning around 9:45, about the same time the youngest daughter and I drove out of the driveway to head to California.  They were pretty sure that they would actually get to stay this time, after being sent home on Monday and Wednesday because his counts were too low to start the Chemotherapy.

Shad was given the thumbs up and they were taken to a room around lunch time, right around when the youngest daughter and I were waiting in the longest, slowest line at the Wendy's in Yuma to purchase our value items from the value menu.

When the youngest daughter and I arrived at the hospital around 5:30, after a stop at the oldest daughter's house to unload and unpack for a little while, Shad was still receiving his pre-chemo hydration and was scheduled to start chemo around 7:00.

Shad was put into one of the smaller rooms in the ward today, because all the other rooms were full.


This  room has two doors.  The first enters into a small room with a sink, trash, supplies ... and then the second door opens into his actual room.

Every time the nurse would come into the outer area Shad would look up and excitedly exclaim, "Chemo time!"  Then the nurse would come in and he would questioningly ask, "Chemo time?"  and the nurse would say, "Not yet. This is just to get you ready for chemo or I just need to check your pee pee or I need to see why your machine is beeping..." and he would say, "Oh, OK."  (This happened EVERY time someone came into the room.  I lost count around 15.)

During one of these visits the nurse reported that there was a little blood showing up in Shad's urine and they were going to send a sample to the lab.  This is pretty normal since he has the catheter tube, but protocol says it needs to be checked out and run past the oncologist before the chemo can start since one of the medications can cause bleeding.  She let us know this might slow down the start of chemo.

Shad's dinner arrived and we spent some time getting him to eat and some more time listening to him explain all the reasons why he shouldn't eat any more and a little time all sampling the food he chose not to eat.

Then we spent some time discussing what WE should eat.  The son-in-law's vote is always for Mexican food, but the oldest daughter was not in the Mexican mood.  We aren't the best decision makers and so we finally decided to try to come up with a genre (the school teacher's word) of food that sounded like what we wanted. Immediately the son-in-law chose Spanish.  Shad, who had been entertaining himself with his i-pad and seemed to be ignoring our discussion until then, piped up "That's Mexican food" and the girls in the room all laughed and thanked him for watching out for us so his dad didn't trick us.

We finally decided on pizza and wings and eventually agreed on where to get it from, what kind we wanted, how to order it, who was going to go get it, and which car was going to be driven.  The two daughter's left to get the pizza,  the son-in-law returned his attention to the football game and I enjoyed having Shad show me all the new things that have been added to his i-pad since my last visit.

His mom found a Disneyland app that takes you on a little tour of all the attractions.


You can click on the various places and play a short game or experience part of the ride...

Wow! Woody is really moving on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
 It is fun, but made Shad wonder when he was going to Disneyland again.  He was content with the answer, "When you aren't sick anymore."

Shad has lots of movies on his i-pad.  He likes to watch them, applying the skip button liberally, and it seems that at the moment his favorite part of any movie is the closing credits.  He can watch those over and over again and either hums the musical score or sings along if there are words.  Wall-E is his current favorite.  "We're Going Down...".

Shad also has some doctor/hospital related videos that he enjoyed sharing with me tonight.  One of them, a music video, shows a little girl who is sick hanging out in her room while her friends are playing outside her window.  I don't know what the song is called, but the refrain that plays numerous times, accompanied by a catchy little tune, says "You've got to be patient to be a patient."

I enjoyed my i-pad/grandson entertainment and then I enjoyed my pizza.  The nurse came in and said she had talked to the oncologist and he wasn't worried about the urine culture and that she could go ahead with chemo, so she started the pre-chemo meds and told us the night nurse would be in in a while to begin the chemo.

We were left to our own devices for some time, our electronic devices that is.


Shad on his i-pad, the girls playing Skip-bo together on their phones, the son-in-law watching the TV and me with my camera.  Then the night nurse arrived with the message that she just had to double check the chemo bags and she would be in to start.  "Yeah! Chemo!".  The first round of chemo in the 5 day series lasts for about 4 hours so we were happy that it would be starting soon, around 8:00, so it could be finished at a somewhat reasonable hour.

About 15 minutes later the nurse returned, a little flustered, with the unfortunate news that one of the chemo bags had leaked all over inside its Ziploc and that it would need to be replaced with a new bag.  However, the pharmacy was closed for the night so they were going to have to call a pharmacist to come back to the hospital to make it.  She wasn't sure how long this was going to take, but she needed to stop the pre-meds and put Shad back on fluids again.

I felt bad for the nurse, who obviously was upset at the delay. As she worked on changing out all the bags, I had to smile as Shad's i-pad provided the background music, "You've got to be patient to be a patient", over and over again.  Apparently you also have to have patience to be a nurse, or a parent or a grandma too.  I think we are all going to learn to be a little more patient in 2013, whether we want to be or not.

Patience is a good trait to have though, so this is probably a positive thing.

Chemo finally started about 11:30 and ended in the wee hours of the morning.  It was a long night for Shad and the oldest daughter.

The rest of us were lucky enough to be home patiently sleeping.

I think the son-in-law was probably grateful for the small room, with only enough space for one pull out chair bed, tonight.

Today I am thankful for

one on one time with the youngest daughter while we drove to California.

a husband that stays home, works, and takes care of things while I go play with the grandson.

Shad's positive attitude about the hospital and chemo and everything that goes along with it. He is truly amazing.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Distracted

So today is a new year with a clean slate to fill.

























 I have been thinking of some great resolutions.

 Some positive changes I want to commit to.

 But, for some reason, the leftover Christmas goodies are still proving to be a big distraction.

 My focus isn't really where it should be.

 I think Ormie and I could be soul sisters right now.

    

Bet you can't guess what I need to work on this year.

Hope 2013 is going well for you so far.




















Today I am thankful for

leftover potatoes that made making dinner quick.

the hope and excitement that comes with a new year.

Dropbox - it makes sharing photos with the oldest daughter a fairly easy experience.