Thursday, October 5th – Some good news

You know you’ve spent a little too much time in a hospital when you can sit in the lobby and recognize a lot of the staff when they walk by. As a family member of a patient, you know you’ve spent WAY too much time in a hospital when you can sit in the lobby and not only recognize a lot of the staff, but know many of the doctors, nurses, dieticians, interns and housekeeping staff by name.

Today was a little better than yesterday, but Kerrie’s anxiety level was still high because of the Spinal Tap looming at the end of the day. During her MUGGA Scan, I played Peek-a-Boo with an adorable 2 year old, named Nala, in the waiting room and told her all about by sister. She kept asking what the K.A.S.T. logo was on my sweatshirt and I told her it was my sister. Then, when Kerrie came back to the waiting room I introduced her to Nala. This little girl was so cute, and kept pointing to Kerrie’s K.A.S.T. Hat and my sweatshirt and saying “sisters”.

After Kerrie’s MUGGA Scan, we went to Deli, got Kerrie some lunch and sat in the lobby to relax for a while. We were all very excited when Dr. Patel walked by and she seemed just as excited to see Kerrie. Dr. Patel had been one of Kerrie’s interns when she was first admitted into the hospital, and had been very instrumental in making Kerrie feel comfortable in her new “home” and making Mom and I very confident that Kerrie was going to be well taken care of. She had left at the end of September, for her ER rotation at another branch of Henry Ford, and we had all been sad to see her go. She’s now back at the Main hospital and, although she’s working in a different area of the hospital, it will make Kerrie feel good to know she’s around.

Now, you really know you’ve spent too much time in a hospital when you can recognize the staff from OTHER hospitals! While we were sitting in the lobby, I kept looking at a doctor who was standing at the information desk. I was sure that I knew her, but couldn’t remember which on of Kerrie’s doctors she was. After a few minutes of watching her, and trying to figure out why I knew her, Mom looked up and said, “ Dr. Mosley!” It turned out I did know her, but she was not from Henry Ford… she’s one of the Dr.’s from the NOMC Family Birth center and I had met her at the Bake Sale last week. It was a nice surprise for Kerrie, because she really misses the staff she works with at NOMC.

After our “lobby lunch” it was time for the PFT’s… not a big worry, but she wasn’t looking forward to the ABG blood test. I’ve had one of these before and know how much they hurt, so I was sitting in the waiting area, cringing at the thought that they were doing this to her, and hoping it would be over soon. When she walked out of the room, she was smiling and saying the nurse had done it in the upper arm, instead of the wrist, and it didn’t really hurt.. but that she had to wait to have the doctor look at it. They decided they needed to do a second test, but they again did it in the upper arm so it wasn’t that bad. Kerrie suggests anyone needing an ABG ask for it to be done in the upper arm. According to her, it’s much better than in the wrist. My policy on these is I refuse to let them do an ABG unless it’s a “life or death” situation and even then I’m not sure I would let it be done.

Then it was on to Dr. Jana’s office for her last check-up before transplant, signing the Chemo/Transplant consent form and the Spinal Tap. We met with Izzy and Dr. Jana, went over the last minute details of administering my Neuprogen shots, what would take place with Kerrie and then Dr. Jana gave us the initial results of the Bone Marrow Biopsy… initial results show she is in remission this time, so VERY GOOD NEWS for us! After she was done with Kerrie’s check-up she said she was ready to do the Spinal Tap and would be back shortly. We had to wait over an hour before she came back and Kerrie’s anxiety was building the entire time. She was shaking and kept saying if they didn’t do it soon she was leaving and going home. Although it hurt a little bit, Kerrie says the waiting for it to be done was worse than the actual procedure. After the procedure she had to lay flat for almost 2 hours before she could leave, but at least it was done.

It was another long day, and we finally were able to leave the hospital a little after 6:00pm, but then we had to go to NOMC to pick up some of Kerrie’s prescriptions. Kerrie wanted to go in, but needed to stay laying down because of the Spinal Tap, so she waited with me in the car. As we sat out front I saw a woman crossing the street, knew I recognized her from the bake sale and pointed her out to Kerrie. It was Janie Smith, from the Family Birth Center…. Co-worker # 2 for the day to be able to talk to her and give her a hug. As we were getting ready to pull away from the hospital I recognized another woman crossing the street… Norma Gener, also from the Family Birth Center. Co-Worker # 3.

It turned out to be a really good day for Kerrie, since she got to see Dr. Patel, Dr. Jana said the preliminary results show she is in remission,three of the people she loves working with and made it home in time to eat dinner, relax and watch Grey’s Anatomy.

No matter what you go through, any day can be a good day as long as you have your friends and Grey’s Anatomy!