On the Up and Up!

It was great to sleep -- I didn't even ask about sodium levels all night, even though they were taking blood samples every two hours.  So it was a great surprise to hear sodium levels had gone from 124 to 127 overnight.  The rest of the day was spent waiting for Brendan's sodium levels to rise.  Brendan was told he had to be in the "normal" range -- between 133-139 -- before he could go home.  Hillary, the child life specialist, came and made Brendan a chart to mark his progress.

Not knowing how long it would take to get Brendan's sodium up, I figured I better get laundry done. Thinking we would be home by Tuesday, we were both running out of clean clothes.   Besides, it was time to wash his pillowcase and blanket after being in PICU.

I ran into the pet therapy dog owner on my way to get the laundry.  I told her I knew a kid who would LOVE to see them!

Brendan:  The dog's name was Ivy, and she was adorable! She would lick your face if you got close enough and  had really long, smooth hair.
I was talking the the lady who had brought the dog, and I told how much it helped, just bringing a dog around to a few kids. She seemed shocked that it meant so much and said that I was the first person to tell her that, and that had really made her day.

 With sodium levels rising, blood draws were changed to Q4 (tested every 4 hours instead of Q2 - every two hours).  Brendan heaved a sigh of relief since there was talk about pricking his finger instead of drawing from his port.  The nurses were getting concerned with the infection risk of opening his port line so often.

Today Brendan's nurse was training a nursing student.  So Brendan got checked over twice.  She had to laugh when Brendan told her what she was doing wrong when she took one of the blood samples.  When we were talking about her training, she said it is hard when the cancer kids know more than she does.

 This was how excited Brendan was to do his math today. . .

Mitch, his covering nurse, came in and told Brendan that his sodium levels would rise twice as fast if he ate salty foods in addition to the sodium fluids he's being given through his feeding tube.  Brendan thought about it for awhile, then ordered chips.  He checked the labels to see which chips had the most sodium.  (Doritos do -- but he ate the Lays).

 Brendan:  This afternoon I met a guitar player named Bim who said, "Hey, where are you from?"  I told him.  He said, "I know where that is! We used to go to Porcupine and jump off the rocks there."  He was excited when I told him I knew how to play the ukulele.  He asked what songs I played and I told him about some of the songs dad had been showing me and playing with me and he was like, "Man! We're connected or something.  I know those songs too!"  When he was young he had an old record that had the song "Battle of New Orleans" on it and he'd listen to it all the time.  So we sang a couple songs together before he had to leave.    

 As we headed back to our room, we stopped to look at the bell.  This is the bell the cancer kids ring when their treatments are all done.  Brendan just said, "I can't wait to ring it!" as we walked on down the hall.

 When we got back to our room Brendan got to FaceTime with Loren and Jamie.  It was fun to catch up on all the news and see Lydia.

Tonight Brendan's tech played hangman so he could guess the name of his incoming nurse.  They sure know how to make things fun here.  Brendan guessed "Larry" but found out later her name is Karen.  But now he calls her Larry.

Word just came that Brendan's sodium levels are up to 131.  Here's to a good day tomorrow!