Its finally Friday! The collection is being scheduled for tomorrow. His white count is starting to tick up, but the numbers aren't quite where they need to be. They are confident that he will be there tomorrow, and are making arrangements and putting him on the schedule for tomorrow. Great news! So, finally, please pray that the harvest is successful, that we only need one day of collection and that there are no complications that arise. If all goes well surgery has already been in to talk to me about removing the cumbersome catheter in his neck and getting a central line put back in on Monday. Hallelujah! And then we'll have 5 days off until we start round 5 on Saturday.
What a week it has been. Yesterday Drew was probably the most miserable he's been. He got sick a couple times and had to have the feeding tube re-place. Between the catheter in his neck, the IV in his hand, the shots each night and blood draws at 5AM, he and I both have had it. We had to have a new IV line put in since we lost the first one in the afternoon yesterday to boot. We went to bed anxious to get the day over. Then at 11PM he started whining pretty incessantly. I called the nurse in who took vitals, we asked him where it hurt, which he just laid there and whimpered. We chalked it up to the same old same old, but when he kept going and couldn't be settled, I asked for the doctors to be paged so I could have them check him out. Well he couldn't really find anything obvious and we talked about different pain meds to manage the bone pain, when I picked him up to hold him and saw his arm (it had been kind of under his blanket). Apparently this new IV came out of the vein it was in, and the antibiotic and the last hour and half of fluids had gone into the tissue in his arm. It was hugely swollen--his hand was blue! It was pretty rattling to us all, and everyone felt bad we didn't see it sooner. Poor Drew, he needs to start telling us when things bother him before it gets so bad! The skin is sluffing off at the worst part of it, with blisters around the area. He's got a dressing on it now that will help soak up the weeping, and Vaseline gauze to help keep it comfortable.
Josh will be coming after work today to take over, although he's had a pretty long week at home himself. Hopefully some time with Mom will settle Molly down (and maybe a couple of good naps for both of us!), and Drew can have a fresh source of comfort as he goes into the collection.
Thank you for all your prayers that, with a whole lot of Grace, have gotten us through this week. Our Lord knows just when we're about to hit our breaking point and need His encouragement. While we walked enjoying the sunshine this morning in a courtyard off of the neighboring rehab floor, a place we try to visit daily to get some fresh air. A lady came up to us and shared that her mom had had a stroke and was in a room with a window that can see us. She said it had been so encouraging to her mother to watch my little boy out the window each day. It just brightens her day and gives her so much joy. She asked Drew's name and said she'd love to pray for him. I thanked her, and after she left, also said a thank you to God, He knew I needed a that reminder that Drew is a source of joy for not just us, but everyone around him, and this is why we are fighting so hard to see him through this difficult chapter in his life!
~Heidi
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