Amanda has known her colors for a long time now. This has come from the tutoring she receives from Daddy and his M&Ms. People are always impressed that she knows her colors, but is that really a stretch for an almost three-year-old? Anyway, since she knows her colors and wants to let everyone else know too, she announces the color of certain items to us throughout the day. I am Red Mommy today because I am wearing a red shirt. She tells each doctor and nurse what color stethoscope they are using to listen to her. Her new thing is, "Oh! Green Yellow!". This is in response to the lights on her IV pumps. They also have red numbers. The chemo that she is receiving is a red color too but it cannot be exposed to light so the IV tube is wrapped in heavy white tape from top to bottom.
I went into the office yesterday and left Daddy to entertain her for a while. I guess things went wrong about 10 minutes after I left. They were playing together on the floor when she stepped on her IV tube and then fell down with her foot still on the tube. This resulted in the IV being pulled out of her port! This is not good, especially with this particular chemo she is receiving. Though it can be pumped into her bloodstream for 96 continuous hours, if it touches any other body tissue it can cause horrific chemical burns and tissue damage. So, it took multiple nurses and Daddy holding her down to re-access the port (without the numbing cream) and get things set up again so that she could continue the chemo. They had to draw cultures this morning to ensure she did not develop any infections. Now, this was a " big huge scary deal* " and the immediate response from the nursing team was necessary and they came through fabulously. But, Daddy has sworn he will never again stay at the hospital alone while I go to work. He doesn't like doctors/hospitals on a GOOD day and this was a little much for him to handle. Poor guy. It reminded me of the birthday he had while she was in the NICU. I had excused myself to the lactation room and left him for a little Daddy Daughter time at her bedside. When I returned he was quite flustered and the nurse was with them. She had waited for that moment, when they were alone together, on his birthday, to have her first episode of bradycardia (drop in heart rate requiring stimulation to bring her back around to normal). *sigh* Maybe it is Manda's way of proclaiming she wants me here in the medical situations. Mommy doesn't mind doctors or watching procedures or holding her down for people to torture her in various ways. These things are very hard for Daddy.
This morning we are settling in for a quiet day with Elmo, blueberry fruitbars and ABC pretzels. I am hoping she will get through this hospitalization with that single episode of trauma/drama and the rest will be smooth sailing. She has two new balloons, one blue and one yellow. I keep thinking calming relaxing thoughts which for me always seem to be a sage green color.
Mere :O)
* "big huge scary deal" is a quote I stole from Dave Ramsey. I don't think he'll mind me using it.
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