8 Hours Later

It's a chemo kind of week. I have today and Doug has the rest of the week. Jenson and I head to the oncology clinic in the morning.

Jenson has several extra things going on right now which I need to talk to the doctor about:

1) Fevers ever since he broke his wrist over 6 weeks ago
2) Ears (he has been pulling on them lately)
3) "Tummy hurts" - new comment from Jenson over the last couple of days

Dr Cavalier walks in with the blood count report in hand. I can immediately tell something is up by the frown on her face. Jenson needs a blood transfusion. Well, that explains why he has seemed so tired lately. Poor little thing.

We talk about the fevers. They are strange since they have been there consistently since he broke his wrist. We are both leaning towards they are disease related. They take blood cultures just as a precaution.

She then looks in his ears. Ear infections and puss in both ears. Antiobiotics coming our way.

She examines his organs around his tummy. The liver and spleen feel okay. This comes as a big relief given the first two rounds of bad news. We also suspect disease flare up is the likely cause of the "tummy hurts".

A couple hours later we start the chemo treatment. This chemo is a slow drip over 2 hours. The machine finally beeps that the treatment is over.

Then we start the blood transfusion which will take about 4 hours. Jenson is amazingly patient while sitting in the treatment chair watching Cars multiple times throughout the day. He naps several times - low hemoglobin will wipe you out.

My dad comes mid-way through the blood transfusion and brings me a late lunch. We are talking about what an amazing little kid Jenson is - how patient he is with all the hospital poking and proding, what a bright attitude he has about life despite he has been through more in his short life than most people go through in a lifetime, and how well he adjusts to whatever is thrown his way (today as a perfect example).

The reality is, this is his normal. It is all he has ever known. It makes me glad he hasn't known anything different so he doesn't know a different normal and at the same time sad he hasn't known anything different.

8 hours later we leave the hospital. Certainly not what we expected for the day, but this has definitely been the theme of the journey we are on over the last few years.

As we drive up to our house, we see Sydney sitting outside on the steps waiting for us. She smiles a huge smile and chases us up the driveway. So cute! A nice warm welcome home greeting.

Less than 10 minutes after being home, Jenson walks over to me and says "tummy hurts". I ask him where, and he points to a spot on his right side about 2 inches over and down from his belly button and says "Right here. Tummy hurts here."

I have Doug look up the location of the appendix on the iPad. It is in that exact spot. I say out loud, "Seriously. Seriously?" in frustration thinking we are likely on our way back to the hospital - this time the ER.

We first have to call the on-call oncologist. She takes a look at his blood report and says his blood results would not indicate the appendix as an issue. She tells me to push on that spot and see how he responds. He lets me do it without freaking out- a good sign. She suggests having Dr Cavalier check him out again at tomorrow's appointment.

Crisis averted for now, but the mystery is still unsolved.