A crazy week of hospitals....

What a crazy past few days.  On Tuesday, Ellie started Taekwondo Day Camp.  It took a long time to get into the camp but after a while she would go in and do some of the stuff.  She didn’t last very long each time she would get so tired fast.  Around 1:30pm, I was eating lunch with my Mom, Sister, & Kids when my mom got a phone call from my Grandma.  She was calling to tell her she was being rushed into surgery and that she had a hernia that was dangerous.  She couldn’t even give my mom details because the doctors were wheeling her into the operating room so she had to go. 

If you knew my Grandma Bob she is a very strong lady and healthier than anyone I know.  She is never sick and surgery is unheard of from her.  My mom and I rushed to Hammond, IN where the hospital is to see what was going on.  As we arrived a few hours later we gave the front desk her name and they said they didn’t even have her in the system.  My first thought was what if she died in Surgery and we went here.  It was such a long walk to the surgery waiting room.  We arrived and Grandpa was surprised to see us.  She was in recovery and they informed us they took her appendix out also.  We walked up with her to her room.  St. Margaret’s hospital of Hammond, IN was the worst hospital I have ever been in and if you ask anyone I have been in more than 10 hospitals in the area and in my lifetime.  The nursing staff was the laziest and worst staff I have ever experienced in my life. 

My Grandma had to ask for pain medication and the nurse told us it would take about 10 min.  An hour later I had to go find the nurse and she was like oh yeah its right here, I’ll be in a minute as she was just socializing with the other nurses.  20 min later she arrived to give her the pain medication and yet she stopped to socialize again standing outside the room with the medication.  Best part was when she was putting it in my grandmas IV it was hurting her so badly and the nurse was like whatever.  I can tell you the IV was no longer in correctly and needed to be replaced but the nurse insisted it was fine.  Well my grandparents do not want to bother anyone so they do not ask for anything from the nurses unless they come in and see her which never happened.  We had to leave at night to prepare for our Chemo today but my sister went to sit with her today and my grandma went a couple of hours without any hydration after not eating for three days because the nurses once again, her hand swelled up from the IV because like I said it was not put in correctly.  LAZY never ever go to that hospital.  Needless to say I am heading there tomorrow to sit with my grandma and demand her to be properly taken care of all day. 

So as far as today and Chemo at Children’s Hospital, traffic on the way down and way back was horrible it took over 2 ½ hours to get back home 55 was a parking lot.  Ellie did ok she had a rough day today she cried allot and asked many questions about why her.  She always says “I must be stupid, because that’s why I have to go here every week” It breaks my heart to hear her talk like that.  We started the day off at Children’s doctor facility down the street from the hospital to meet with her neurosurgeon for an hour or so.  We then continued onto the hospital where we began the long day of Chemo therapy.  When we met with Dr. Goldman today I actually got a little biology and history lesson.

 He informed me that Chemo therapy was stumbled upon when Mustard gas was used as a chemical warfare agent during World War I and was studied further during World War II. During a military operation in World War II, following a German air raid on the Italian harbour of Bari, a group of people were accidentally exposed to mustard gas (there stockpiled by the allied forces) and were later found to have very low white blood cell counts.It was reasoned that an agent that damaged the rapidly growing white blood cells might have a similar effect on cancer. So there is your free history lesson. 

We also met with the Social Worker, Art Therapist, and Child Life Specialist; just to name a few to help her cope with her sadness today.  We have several new tools we are going to try out.  The social worker suggested Ellie bring another kid with her to the hospital and she should get to pick out the kid she wants to bring with.  So next week she choose my three year old nephew, Kenton.  It should be a very interesting day.  But anything is worth a try.  I just have to remember she is going through so much and we need to do whatever it takes to make it more pleasant for her.   So for now I will say goodnight for I have another day sitting at the hospital tomorrow.