Day +91: Back to Hospital for Clinic

After spending a week in hospital, we had to go back for Clinic. I will never know why we had to go back.

We arrived at C2N at 8am, and the nurses all asked after Sean. They all asked when we were discharged from hospital, and when I told them "7pm last night", they all shook their heads and wondered why we were asked to be back in Clinic today.

No one, least of all me, understood why we had to come back for Clinic today, especially since we had been in hospital for a whole week, being reviewed by the same doctor we were seeing today.

All I could do, just like the nurses, was shake my head. After all, I wasn't a haematology / oncology doctor specialising in stem cell transplant, so if Dr Barbaric felt that we needed to be back today, then so be it.

Yesterday, I had asked Dr Barbaric to try her best to pop in and see us as close to the start of the day as possible, so we didn't have to wait around forever to see her. Our appointment was at 11.45am, which at the time of making the appointment was the only one available, but we weren't going to need a lot of time with Dr Barbaric, so an even more fleeting visit than usual should have sufficed. Dr Gomes came by early to see us, so it looked like we would be able to leave the hospital by 10.30am.

True to form, though, Dr Barbaric came and saw us just before 11.45am. Sean had fallen asleep in the pram, and I was left wondering where we could sit and wait until Sean woke from his nap.

The blood test results showed Sean's magnesium levels were still low. Dr Barbaric wanted Sean to have magnesium tablets twice a day to boost those levels, in hope that after a while, Sean's body would be retaining enough magnesium to not require the supplement. The only way to get the tablets into Sean was via his NG tube, after the tablets were crushed and mixed with some water. Dr Barbaric gave me the other options, being that we mixed the crushed up magnesium into a bit of milk or some juice, but with Sean not interested in drinking any fluids, pushing the supplement down the NG tube was the only way to go.

Bloody fantastic. As if I didn't have enough on my hands to deal with right now, I had to crush up magnesium tablets, mix the powder with water, and push the mixture down Sean's NG tube. I had a brand spanking new mortar and pestle, and never in a million years did I think I would be using it to crush up medication for Sean. But it looked like that was what my new mortar and pestle would be used for.

While we were waiting for Dr Barbaric, we were moved from one room to a different room again. I resented being shunted from room to room, and would much prefer if the bed manager in C2 North could just get her fat ass in gear and assign a room to us where we could stay until we were ready to leave. I could not and did not understand why Sean seemed to be the only kid that got shoved from room to room on our weekly visits. Next week, if the same thing happens and we are asked to move again, I will take this up with Tina the nursing unit manager.

After we were done with the doctors, Sean and I left the ward and eventually found a quiet-ish and relatively deserted area to sit and wait for Sean to enjoy his sleep. Without any other plans for the rest of the day, we headed home as soon as Sean was awake.

Ahhh... home. It was so good to be home. Sean and I enjoyed hanging out at home for the rest of the afternoon. I did some laundry while Sean got stuck into his toys. It was blissful to watch Sean get busy with his toys, scattering them all over the rug in the living room and carrying some of his toys and depositing them all over the house. I would much much much prefer to seeing Sean's toys spread throughout the house, than to spend another night in hospital, next to Kid Vampire and his non-stop screeching.

I can feel the fatigue catching up with me. I really hope I am not too run down. The last thing we need right now is for me to get sick. Must stay well. Must. Stay. Well.