Pediatric Surgery, known to we hospital insiders as “Peed Surge,” a place I’ve visited far too many times over the past three years … is somehow where we ended up yesterday. No, there is not another freak accident to report, just a freaky sort of day, where everything seemed upside down and backwards and I […]
There were a lot of other doctors’ appointments that took place on Thursday and Friday … or didn’t take place. The vein mapping for placement of a dialysis catheter was postponed. It had been double booked with the chest CT, which obviously took precedence especially due to the concern with the liver. The vein mapping, […]
Yesterday went mostly well. “Mostly” because there’s never been a time we’ve had scans when the response is simply, “Perfect, great, everything’s just ducky. Go on your way now, you healthy normal people.” No, not quite that. First, he had the follow-up with the radiation oncologist which was fine (a lot like what I said […]
Well, a few stitches can’t slow this boy down. Aside from missing his last week of swim lessons (which he did not complain about), he’s doing everything normally: running, playing, climbing. Here he is at Horseshoe Lake Park a few days ago climbing higher on the rope structure than he ever has before. The boys […]
Austin’s appointment this afternoon with the orthopedic surgeon went well. We soaked his hand in sterile water and peroxide until we could peel the bandages off and the doctor was quite pleased with how it looked. He could tell right away from the way Austin was holding his fingers that there was no nerve damage […]
You’re not really gonna believe this one. Back in the winter, during those long dark days spent cooped up in the hospital, Austin announced that when his PICC line was removed he wanted to go to Kalahari. No, not Africa; the “world’s largest indoor water park” located about an hour west of us. We’ve been […]
Three years ago today Austin was diagnosed with cancer. The whole thing started on July 30, 2007 when we were admitted to the hospital. We were staying on the pediatric oncology floor, so you would think I would have known my child had cancer, but I swear nobody actually said that word until Wednesday, August […]
No, I’m not talking about LeBron James or witnessing greatness. I’m talking about our big decision. The Decision. And we’ve made it. Mark and I both feel comfortable leaving Austin’s kidney in until we have a real reason to take it out. We will continue to do abdominal ultrasounds once a month to watch for potential […]
We could tell Austin’s life story through his hair. At birth, he, like his brother before him, had a head full of dark bushy hair. (And yes, for what it’s worth, I did have heartburn.) At about six months he, like his brother before him, exhibited classic signs of male pattern baldness: It slowly grew […]
Today was fine. Long and boring and exhausting the way that standing around an airport doing absolutely nothing all day can be exhausting. And that’s what we did: nothing really, except roll spirals of Play-Doh and paint with watercolors (I on paper, Austin on his legs). But he was a trooper. Not a single peep […]