Packing our Stars

It’s that time of year again. We head into the hospital tonight after dinner to hydrate Austin for a CT scan tomorrow. His last was in the end of June and if this one comes back clear, we’ll be able to wait six months until the next (a welcome break to be sure).

We’re going to try this one without sedation, now that he’s three, which I think should be fine. The real reason we’ve been sedating him is so they can run a tube down his throat and give him the contrast he needs to “drink” for the abdominal scan (NG tubes are not easy to do on an unsedated child, I can tell you from experience). But this time they’ll mix it with Gatorade and let him sip away for a few hours, which I imagine he’ll enjoy since it’s the only thing he’ll be allowed to eat or drink all morning. Then Mark will stand on one end of the machine and I’ll stand on the other and we can even hold his hands while he moves through it. He’s done that part unsedated once before when he just needed a chest CT (which doesn’t require drinking the contrast). He’s also scheduled for an ECHO in the morning to check for possible heart damage from one of his chemo drugs.

We’ll hang out in the hospital for six hours after the scan to continue IV hydration and should be home tomorrow evening. The boys have both been promised a hospital cafeteria corn dog for dinner tomorrow, so they are plenty excited!

This afternoon, Braedan and I will make another glittery wishing star to hang from Austin’s ceiling and then it’s back to the old routine: wish, worry, wait … and exhale with relief when the good news is announced. Thanks to all of you for doing the same.