This morning the doctors came in and pronounced Ezra ready to go home.
He’s been getting a blood transfusion the last couple hours to get his hemoglobin levels a bit up, as they’d dropped. Then he’ll have some platelets running for about an hour to up those numbers so we’ll be ok til clinic on Monday. Those should finish out about 5:30 or so, and then… we’re free!!! He still needs labs done 3x a week the first few weeks – the chemo was so heavy it will be messing with his counts for months still. But as of 5:30 today… we’ll be on our way home.
Robyn is packing stuff up as I’m writing this (don’t worry, I’ll help as soon as I’m done here); we’re loading up a cart with a month’s worth of hospital life debris to bring on down to the car and get loaded up. Tonight there will be no vitals at midnight, none at 4 am, and none at 8 am. Sleep. Uninterrupted sleep.
I’m looking forward to moving this couch over here and seeing how much stuff Ezra has dropped behind it in the past 30 days. It’s been a lot.
He’s still at high risk for infection, he’s still a little weak, and he’s still pretty finicky… little things set him off easier at the moment. Once he’s been home a while that will change back, but right now he’s pretty much over living in a hospital. I mean, so am I. We’ll be battening down the hatches and laying low and hanging back and all those other slang and thesaurus references for not leaving the house much or bringing much else in.
We’ll have a pump in his room which we’ll still need to hook up each night to get him fluids and such. This will last 2-3 weeks. The chemo he was given is really toxic to the kidneys, and the kid only has one these days anyway. We keep a high amount of liquid going in to make sure it’s all being cleaned out well. That means we are trying to get him to drink as much as possible all day long (and he doesn’t really drink much anyway), and then the pump at night to supplement. Even with all that he’ll still need to be at the hospital 3-4 days per week for hours at a time to check his numbers and adjust what he’s got in him. “home” is not /exactly/ what everyone may picture the situation as – but it sure does beat this past month!
The nurses on 7 South at All Children’s Hospital deserve a great big “THANKS YOU DID GREAT!” They’ve been stellar folks – considerate, intelligent, and consistent. From the Matthews – thanks, all.
Charley is in the same place as last time… the steroids are working well. He needs less and less from the breathing machine. This coming Monday is actually his due date – and this past Tuesday was his 3 month birthday. How crazy is that?
See you guys around…