Club Med, Day 3

With the PICC line in, all was better with medicine administration, but retrieving blood samples for testing couldn't be done through the same line.  Apparently, the medicine adheres to the walls of the tubes and gives incorrect numbers for levels in the bloodstream, so he's required to get two pokes a day...not fun.  This evening's first poke required a nurse and myself to hold him down while the phlebotomist drew the sample...not fun.  Even the sparkley band aid, the promise of ice cream and singing his favorite song was not enough to calm him down...too smart for that.  'If you want to go home,' she said, 'you'll have to give us a sample so we know you're getting better.'  He was screaming "GO AWAY!" and said that he'd just stay in the hospital rather than get a poke.  Sigh.  After it was over, he got ice cream and stickers anyway (the Incredible Hulk...she said he was that strong)...and his dinner showed up just then--fish sticks, rice and a giant cookie.  Yum!

We had a bunch of testing to do today, so along came the medicine tree, which was pushed around by a couple of different attendants.  A nursing student followed along to watch the pulmonary function tests and Xrays, and while I had to hold the rat and mask, I decided to make better use of both.  Tiny the rat rode along and stayed in there quite well as we went up and down the elevator, down the long hallways and over various thresholds from one building to another. First he did a pulmonary function test, which appeared to have improved since Tuesday.  While he was getting the Xray of his lungs, he had to hold his arms above his head for the side-view shot while wearing a lead sarong around his hips...which kept falling down.  Standing in this odd position, he realized how it must look and he declared he was a ballerina.  
 
He kept busy during the time he was in his room, lots of activities going on and volunteers to help entertain him.  He also got the rest of his math homework done while his Grandma visited, and then they made puppets!  I ran down to the store to get a few supplies (they have whole white milk and skim chocolate milk, but not fatty chocolate milk...hello, Nesquik!).  Since he needs higher amounts of fat, we've been trying to find good fatty snacks for him to eat.  Since everyone *else* in the world is on a low-fat kick, it's really hard to find high-fat snacks.  I did find out that Ben likes those frosted animal cookies...6 cookies per serving...7 grams of fat.  Score!

Today they tried two new therapies--hypertonic saline and the "vest".  Hypertonic saline is, as you might guess, aerosolized salt water.  They start with a 3% concentration and work up to 7%.  The vest is--if you can imagine this--a combination between an inflatable waterski vest and a vibrating hotel bed.  The vest fills with air and then it pulsates to shake the crap out of his lungs.  He hates the saline.  Loves the vest.  He was singing and laughing and making funny noises while the vest was on.  No end of entertainment to the nursing staff, who adore him, of course.  


Kelly and the girls came by after dinner and visited for a couple hours.   We walked down to the playroom and showed them the therapy pool, and showed them around the floor a little.  They headed out at about 8 pm and we watched a movie before bed.  When the movie was just about over, the chest physiotherapist finally showed up and Ben got to do the second Vest therapy for the day.  
 

I got a letter from my Dad after the movie was over and I stayed up a little later and wrote him back.  He's recovering well, but slowly.   Good news!