This is the view from the imaging waiting room. Eli will be excited when he sees how much snow has come down while he’s been watching movies in the MRI. Yes, it is that time again–periodic scans to make sure the cancer hasn’t returned. This time, the correct amount of time was scheduled, so no hectic, frustrating week trying to get it all figured out. We even, accidentally, made it here early, in spite of a certain 2 year old who started throwing up this morning.

The staff even gave a small, careful, demonstration of the magnetic field of an MRI machine. I also met the GE representative who is on site to train the technicians on the new software. I mentioned the issues with the cooling system not coming back up on the other, brand new, MRI at the hospital we ended up at last time. She said that has been resolved. Yay?

This hospital does not have nurses who can access Eli’s port on Mondays and Fridays, so, after multiple training sessions at the clinic, I accessed Eli’s port at home. Eli complemented my abilities and I was satisfied. The hardest part was gathering all the supplies before putting sterile gloves on.

Of course I forgot to get out the Opsite dressing, clave, and caps.

Peter got the Opsite out of my purse for me, but once I realized I needed the clave and caps, I just got them myself, rescrubbed, and put on fresh sterile gloves. Sigh. If Eli let’s me access him on Wednesday for his PET/CT, I’ll do better.

Good job, Mom! I’ll add port accessing to my list of superpowers.

Noah the Boss Update

Coming out of the anesthesia was particularly difficult for Noah.

He was nauseated and seeing double. He finally got some anti-nausea meds, which helped him go back to sleep. That was about 8pm. This is him at 11pm:

Yes, wide awake, hungry, and wanting to watch a movie. We finally settled back in bed about 2am. I, being the mom with amazing superpowers, thought to order him food and keep it in the fridge until Noah was ready for it, since hospital room service doesn’t serve pizza at midnight.

He was ready to go home the next morning. We never needed narcotic pain meds and he only took one dose of Tylenol at home.

Prayers

Some virus or two have been going through our family during the last 4-5 weeks. Some have had one, others the other, and some have had both. I think Eli and I are the only ones who haven’t had either. This has been a recurring theme this last year. I’m going to give God credit for our good health. I am worried about getting through this week in wellness. Adam is currently sick with virus #2 (cough, viral conjunctivitis), so I know that I have been exposed, but not sure if I’ll get sick or not. I need to stay well so I can get Eli to his PET/CT and somehow take care of the family even though I am still recovering from a little surgery of my own (it was time to take care of issues leftover from birthing 9 babies).

The point is, we need prayers. Prayers for cancer free scans, prayers that Eli and I stay healthy, prayers that the others finally get over the illnesses they have been dealing with. 🙏

Thank you!