Long night in the hospital with Ellie...

I am writing my update today from a hospital bed in the oncology department of Children’s Memorial Hospital.  So last night Ellie was just really lethargic and she threw up again so we contacted the oncologist on call at CMH.  He was slightly surprised that the nurse didn’t have us come in the day before (Friday).  I spent most of my day on the phone with the nurse on Friday because Ellie was throwing up.  Well anyhow she started to complain of headaches also. 

The Oncologist on call told us to come in to CMH immediately and go through the ER.  He was concerned of obstruction of the spinal fluid.   Well who would have thought there would be traffic at 10:30pm at night on the way downtown?  Well there was, the weather I’m sure didn’t help.  When we got here we sat in the ER waiting room for a while and then was taken to a room.  Well if you want to call it a room.  Dave and I joked around that we were in the janitorial closet.  Actually it was the supply room.  I can see why they need to redo the entire hospital after seeing the ER what a mess.

Anyhow they took Ellie back for a Catscan, which came up clear (Thank God).  Then they drew blood and discovered that she was dehydrated (no surprise there).  They then took her for an x-ray of the stomach.  Well she was very constipated from the meds she had been taking.  So they gave her one of those lovely things that goes in your but forgot the name.  Well it did the trick.  Unfortunately they have to keep her overnight for observation because of all her underlying complication with the brain surgery, spinal tap, & Port surgery.  The Oncologist resident came in around 3:30am or so.  At this point Ellie was sleeping and boy did she rub me the wrong way.  She got up in Ellie’s face to wake her up and tried shinning a bright light in her eyes.  Show of hands does anyone in the entire world like to be woken up by a complete stranger with a bright light shining in your eye after being up for most of the night poked and prated?   The best part was when she was irritated that Ellie was crying.  Just saying, don’t think a children’s hospital is for her. 

Finally we got a room at 4:30am and by the time they were done checking her in it was 5am.  Walking into the oncology wing of the hospital, it hit me hard that this is just the beginning of a very long year of many hospital stays.  We are rooming next to a teenager girl that is having chemo treatments also.  The rules are so different on this floor.  They have extra veneration to keep the germs from settling I guess.  But it’s a very different feel than the Tumor word on 3 west.  But I guess we are on our way to the next step of our journey.  Dave and I have not had any sleep at this point.  So Dave slept in what is called the quiet room, while I slept in bed with Ellie.  Or if you want to call it sleep.  I was woken up several times from the sound of her IV beeping and then 7am I woke up for good. 


Good news is that the doctor informed us that they think we will be going home late this afternoon.  I CAN NOT WAIT.  My bed and pillow have been calling my name.  Well our Sunday is pretty much shot.  We had planned on going to Church and cleaning the house.  Oh well House will just have to wait another day.  And we will just have to pray from home tonight.  So all and all allot of drama for a little poop.