1st Hospital Stay - Part 1

Welcome to Loma Linda University Children's Hospital. This is a place that we will come to know too well. The clinic is just across the street to the south. So is the outpatient Surgery Center. So is Dr. Chamberlin's office. This little block is our other little home.

Sunday afternoon we lost track of time. We kind of wanted to pretend we weren't going to the hospital already. We arrived a bit later than 3 p.m.

When we arrived at the hospital, everyone wanted to check Jacob out. And EVERYONE wanted to ask Jon & I the same list of questions - How was the tumor found? When? When was it removed? etc. We talked with the nurse, pediatric resident, patient roommate (teenager with a brain tumor), & a representative from surgery.

Jacob tried to ignore all the people coming in asking questions. He was trying to watch tv. There's a nice Adventist channel with cartoon bible stories that are pretty good. I can't help looking at my 8 year old and still seeing this little beautiful baby boy.

Jon spent the night on Sunday. I returned Monday mid-morning. There was some debate whether the surgeon would be able to get Jacob on the schedule to insert his port or not. Jacob was listed as a priority and was on the list to be worked into the surgery schedule. We did know that the bone marrow aspiration was scheduled for Monday around 11 a.m. Jacob would be sedated for that procedure. I didn't leave home in time to see Jacob until after he came out of the procedure. When I talked to Jon on the phone, Dr. Matthias had authorized the PICC line since the surgeons wouldn't commit to doing the port surgery. We were trying to wrap our heads around that idea when a nurse came down the hall with a form for Jon to sign to do the port instead. Jacob was sedated. Bone marrow test done. No central line access. Now we wait for when we fit into surgery. This meant NO FOOD.

Jacob also needed his bone scan. He was loaded in a wheelchair and then we wound around all these different departments until we arrived somewhere in the basement. Jacob had been gifted a little bear that he kept with him. He hasn't been in to stuffed animals - well, ever. But he turned all softy little boy with this bear.

An urgent case arrived in front of us, so we had to wait another 30 minutes before the scan. I called up to Jon and he was able to bring the DS down to keep Jake occupied.