We remain cancer-free!!!

The Boy had a chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound today. They like their patients to be NPO for a little while before these tests, so we had 7 AM breakfast deadline for a 1 PM appointment. Full disclosure: we started breakfast at 7 and finished at 7:15, but they are never right on time. They were pretty close, thankfully.

The ultrasound tech was actually an intern, and while her manner and sensitivity was perfectly appropriate, I think she took at least twice as long to get everything. Then, of course, came the wait while they sent the images upstairs and got the word as to whether the testing was complete. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them saying they need to see something again because the picture didn't come out properly, which didn't happen. It's just the WAITING.

From there, it was on to x-ray, where the student tech clearly had no idea how to deal with small children, especially ones who hadn't eaten in 7 hours. But that's why they're learning. They need to experience actual procedures with actual people in order to figure out how to get things right. He wanted The Boy to take his shirt off and put on a gown (despite the fact that he was wearing a plain shirt with no buttons or pictures or anything on it) but when he got the shirt off, he started fiddling around with something or other, and I had to ask him "do you want him in a shirt or a gown--make up your mind because he's little and cold." The supervising tech actually helped The Boy to stand for the x-ray properly while the frightened bunny student tech pressed the buttons. Being pregnant, I wasn't able to be right with The Boy, but thankfully, they let me stand in the back next to the guy pushing buttons, so I was able to see The Boy and the pictures (which looked fine to me but I'm not a professional). I told The Boy that I could see his bones.

After that came the long-awaited cheese sandwich in the cafeteria. He kept telling the techs that he wanted a cheese sandwich, and finally, we got him one. They make a very nice grilled cheese on Texas Toast. I got chicken, and we shared some fries and some fruit plate. The Boy ate more at lunch today than he'd eaten for pretty much the entire week, as he had been sick for awhile. With nothing exceptional, just some sort of random little kid virus.

We stopped at the outpatient pharmacy to refill his Enalapril prescription (Medicaid+hospital pharmacy=free and easy medication compounding), and then it was upstairs to the clinic. He was in a much better mood for these proceedings than he was for the others. Amazing what NOT having an empty stomach will do for one's disposition. He remembered that after vitals, he gets a lollipop, which we didn't start until his finger stick next door was in progress. Even though he only does this stuff every 3 months now, I think the habits are so ingrained that he'll just remember how to do it.

He's weighing in at around the same and measuring a little taller than before. 34 pounds and 38.5 inches tall. Still not incredibly big for his age, just average. Maybe he'll grow a bit more later, or maybe he'll be the short one in the family.

Since it was Valentine's Day, he got a little present (a 100 piece puzzle that he picked) and a goody bag. Good day to come to the clinic. In the goody bag was a package of crayons, and once we got to the room to wait for his doctor, he asked for some paper so that he could color. One of the pages that he produced was the word "Love" in his cute little handwriting. I asked him to write his name on it, which he did, and we gave that one to his doctor.

Good news from the imaging, as I mentioned in the title. The doctor said that in the interest of full disclosure, they did say that there was a spot where his left ureter was removed (as part of the left kidney) that was worth watching, but the doctor said he thinks he has seen that spot before and that they believed it to be a little cyst covering up where the opening used to be. So we're all clear.

The only thing that he found was an ear infection. I asked him to take a close look because The Boy was really angry today about having his hearing aid put in on the right side. As in, he seemed to be in real pain rather than just giving me the business about putting in his hearing aids. Sure enough--ear infection. We got a prescription for that since we were already there, although I'll be sure and call his pediatrician's office tomorrow and let them know. That wasn't the cause of all of his problems, because he wasn't upset about his hearing aids on previous days.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you take someone to the oncologist and they find an ear infection, you're in pretty good shape considering what oncologists normally find in their patients.

I'm not looking forward to the gastrointestinal side effects of the antibiotics for him, and I'm hoping that yogurt and some rice cakes will help counteract that.

Meatball woke up at 1 AM with a raging fever. Excitement there, too. It's also the first time that he'll have to get through an illness without being able to nurse. I was continuing to nurse him even while being pregnant, but about 2 weeks ago, he was done, because there wasn't anything left for him. He'll be 2 when the baby comes, and if he'd like to resume, I won't say no, but I have a feeling that he's done for good. Anyhow, he has still been eating and drinking without issue, so I'm not too worried about his nutritional and hydration needs being met. It's just that with a nursing child you have that extra insurance.

Next month, The Boy has his appointment with the kidney doc. Hopefully we're still good in that department as well.