Day +30: Clinic Days Drive Me Crazy!

I am NOT a morning person. And nothing, absolutely nothing, will make me cheerful and happy and friendly if I have to be up at 6am to get to appointments, only to be jerked around.

Our second Clinic appointment was scheduled for 8am this morning. On Tuesday, when we had our first Clinic day, we were in and out of there in 2 hours. Thinking the same would happen today, I very hopefully found a 2-hour parking spot out the front of the hospital instead of parking in the hospital to save one of our parking passes.

By the time we parked the car, my body had already been forced to be up for nearly two and a half hours. Sean woke at 5.30am and needed a few cuddles, so instead of pushing Jonathan out of bed, I got up and went to Sean. We sat in the brown chair and cuddled for half an hour, until Jonathan's alarm sounded at 6am. We both had breakfast, packed the food / medications bag and the nappy bag, got dressed and headed out the door just before 7am.

Sean and I arrived at Clinic at 7.45am, only to find the doors firmly closed! That will teach us to be early!

We ran into Kylie the play therapist as we were walking towards Clinic, and she asked if it was OK to visit us a bit later on. I knew how much Sean enjoyed playing with Kylie, so I readily agreed to having her come and play with Sean later in the day.

After dealing with the (still) very new ward clerk, who was (still) very nervous and didn't seem to know what to do, or who to turn to in times of need, we were shown through to the Recovery Room again to await Dr Trahair and the nurses to come and take bloods and to change Sean's central line dressing. The nurses finally arrived at 9am to take Sean's blood, which made me wonder why we needed to be there at 8am sharp, in strict accordance to their instructions!

We waited, and waited, and waited some more. There was no TV in the Recovery Room, and it was really hard to entertain Sean in that kind of environment. Sean would happily sit and watch the TV provided there was music and moving pictures. I could leave the TV on, say, The Morning Show on Channel 7, and Sean would be fine watching the show with me, because they had music, and Sean loved the ads as well. But without a TV, I had to try and keep Sean entertained with very limited tools. I found some unused syringes and gave them to Sean to play with, and I let Sean run around a bit in the room. I remembered I was able to play music on my phone, so I cranked up the volume and danced with Sean for a while.

All the while, we waited. No one came to change Sean's dressing. Time was ticking away, and I really needed to get the medical people to wrap things up as the car was fast running out of time in the 2-hour parking spot.

Just after 10am, Kym and Kylie popped their heads in and asked if they could play with Sean. Sean's little face lit up when he saw Kym and Kylie, and timing was quite good too as I now desperately needed to move the car. I asked the nurse if Dr Trahair was anywhere to be seen, and she said he was unlikely to be able to see us for another hour at the very least. Again, why the hell did we need to be at Clinic by 8am???

I left Sean in the capable care of Kym and Kylie while I went to move the car. It took 15 minutes to find another parking spot, as I was too cheap to park the car in the car park - why waste a pass for a couple of hours? By the time I got back, yet another nurse (by this count, he was Nurse #4) was doing something to Sean's central line, and Kylie was holding Sean as he had been a bit upset with someone touching his central line. I was ropeable that Dr Trahair was still nowhere to be seen, only to be told that he had popped his head in while I was out moving my car and Sean was now effectively at the back of the queue of patients he was seeing. WTF?!?!

Fortunately, five minutes later, Dr Trahair walked through the door and examined Sean, and we had a bit of chat before he left again. All was going well, and we arranged for Sean and me to attend Clinic on Tuesday and Thursday next week. Sean was going so well that he only needed to be back twice a week, instead of 3 or more times. Good. Glad for that - I can only try my best to face the world at 6am twice a week.

Sean's dressing was still unchanged, and after Dr Trahair left, I thought the nurse - any nurse - would return to change Sean's dressing. We waited 10 minutes before I realised no one was coming back. I rang the call bell, and when someone popped her head in, she was genuinely surprised that we were still there. Finally, Asia (pronounced AH-see-ah), an older nurse with an Eastern European accent, pushed her trolley through the door and started to change Sean's dressing. Quick as a flash, Asia got everything done, and Sean and I picked up all of our things and left for the day.

It was just after noon by the time we got to the car, well past Sean's nap time. Sean fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted after getting very upset by Asia's handiwork. I really wanted to go to Big W to get a few things for Sean to help him sleep through the night. This morning, I came up with a theory that one of the reasons Sean wasn't able to sleep through the night was because he was too cold. After mentally going through what clothes we had for Sean, there didn't seem to be too many warm, winter clothes that still fit him. I wanted to make a quick trip to Big W and buy some clothes, and after speaking with Jonathan, who was fully supportive of the suggestion, we headed to Top Ryde.

I don't think I have ever raced through Top Ryde Shopping Centre as quickly as we did today. We were in and out in 30 minutes. Sean had his mask on the whole time, and stayed in the stroller, and I made sure we weren't around too many people. I know it was a bit naughty to bend the rules, but we needed warm clothes for Sean, and I was super quick. That was my justification.

I picked up 3 long sleeve bodysuits and a pair of the cutest flannelette pyjamas for Sean. He was going to look so cute in these outfits!

We enjoyed an afternoon of play and cuddles. Sean and I sat quietly for quite some time, watching TV and cuddling. It was really so lovely.

At around 5pm, while still sitting in my lap, Sean started pointing at the door and saying "Daddy". After 10 minutes of this, he moved off my lap and went to sit by the front door. He looked at me with an imploring look and kept saying "Daddy". After another 10 minutes, he came back to my lap, and we called Jonathan to find out where he was. Poor Jonathan - first day back at work went well, but it was a really busy day for him, and as such, he was still waiting at the bus stop, which meant he wouldn't not be home for another hour. Sean seemed to understand, or at least he stopped asking for Daddy.

The warm clothes seemed to be working - Sean has been asleep for hours and seem to be breathing just fine. Let's hope this is the fix that we were looking for.