Giggles to Tears and Back Again

This morning we slept in.  Yep.  It was Sunday and no one came in early except the new tech to get Brendan's weight.  Dave, the nurse, was back with Brendan this morning and he came in and told her not to wake up Brendan.  "Let him sleep as long as he can, because when he wakes up he'll be all over me to get him out of here!" he told her.  True.  The minute Brendan woke up he asked Dave, "So when can I get out of here?"

Here was Brendan this morning when he woke up.

Discharge papers were already being made up.  Blood had already been drawn for sodium and electrolyte checks. And, having learned from last time, we gave the case worker the heads up yesterday to start working on preauthorization with the insurance company for the vancomycin (antibiotic).  Then it was a waiting game.  Brendan kept himself occupied as long as he could.

 I kept busy quizzing Dave about what to do if we ever experience another seizure.  And what to do about the rash on Brendan's skin.  And he taught me about what to expect with skin and problems with radiation and chemo.  And what may be causing pain in his stomach. And how to manage nausea in a better way.  And what we might could do to avoid C Diff in the future.  It was a great learning session.

 Routine mouth care. . .

 . . .and weight checks.

 The oncologist on call this morning finally came in and we visited about sodium levels, bi-weekly blood draws, future chemo treatment plans, and how to get the antibiotic Brendan needs without the $700 out-of-pocket cost. They were working on it.  Apparently getting vancomycin for kids is expensive.  But getting it for adults is pretty cheap.  Getting it in an IV form is very, very cheap -- (well, in comparison).  So the doctors called over to the U of U hospital pharmacy and worked out something so we could compound the antibiotic from an IV form to an oral liquid form.  Uh-huh.  I'm finding they can work things out when they need to.

But all this finagling was taking time -- more time than Brendan wanted to give.  Pretty soon he was in tears when it looked like it would be afternoon before we could get out of the hospital.

 New socks arrived.  The nurses fought over who would get these cool Thor socks with capes.  But soon everyone agreed that Brendan should get them.

 Time for more Battleship.  We had to start a new game.  Brendan looked at the blog last night and saw where my ships were hiding :)

 All the waiting around paid off, though, when the LDS elders brought the sacrament to us. (With Brendan in isolation, we couldn't attend meeting in the auditorium.)  It was great to feel the warmth of the Spirit as promised.  We both shed tears of joy.

As the elders left, the prescriptions were suddenly ready to be sent to the pharmacy.  We packed our bags, de-accessed Brendan's port, and signed discharge papers.

 It was good to see Brendan's smile back.

 And it was good to see Primary Children's Hospital in the rear view mirror!

 Brendan has waited all week to get under his electric blanket with his feet on the heater vent.

 . . .And play games with the family.  It was everything he's dreamed of all week.  He hated missing Loren and Jamie leaving this week, as they headed back to school.  But now he is home for two whole weeks (barring any problems).  He reminded me on the way home that this will be the longest time home since his diagnosis on October 8th, 2015.