Getting on the "Picky List", and other not so dubious accomplishments.

As we take our walk down the hallway towards the area where they prep you for the CT scans, Dante was very excited to be at the hospital and going to the doctor's office later and was naming all his friends he would see there.

We had to first catch up with Amy and be sure to give her a hard time. Dante was amusing them as usual by doing his animal sounds. Everyone's favorite is when he says, "What does a seahorse say?" and then he just bobs his head around as if he were a seahorse.

Since it had been 3 months since our last port access, Dante was not very pleased to put the numbing cream on this morning, so Daddy put a smiley face on it for him.






He fussed a bunch when Lettie was putting the port in, but the crying stopped as soon as she asked him if he wanted to help push the flush into the line.

We learned on this visit that they do not want to use his mediport in the future for CT scans, as the contrast they have to send through it is risky. We convinced them that we were going to use the mediport this time and that on our next scan we would switch to try an IV...we don't want to even bring up the story of our first IVs in the hospital, suffice it to say, after 3 nurses tried, they had to bring in someone from the Transport Team (BayFlight) to get a line. Not an experience we wish to repeat.

Amy was convinced that this would be the day that Dante was able to have the CT without drugs...she tried blowing bubbles and everything (which is so awesome). I think he would probably lay still, if they didn't have to strap his legs down and his arms above his head, and move him back and forth through a giant, spinning, radioactive magnet... So, after some fussing and contradiction from Dante ("I no go in the big camera!") they pulled him out and we started over. Probably why we're on the Picky List.

After running some numbers and finding an anesthesiologist, they hooked him up with some Versed, and everything was just fine after that. Back in the tube and smiling even, as we sang some songs and held his hands.








Dante showing off his "red finger".






Here is Dante basking in the afterglow of the Versed. He is pretty funny. Amy told us if we had the same dose, we would have taken a nice nap, "because most of us would welcome a nap!" Then again, by the looks of it, maybe I wouldn't take a nap....
...just watch out for that comedown. Whoo, what a crabby-pants!

After a lunch break and a little down time at home, we were off to the clinic. Dante has grown 1.5 inches since the fall! We knew he was getting bigger, but wow! He was a little overexcited about going to the clinic and couldn't calm down enough to get all of his numbers. He kept bouncing on the scale everytime Nicole tried to adjust the weight, so it was jumping all over the place.







We had some labs taken, Dante's port deaccessed, and then saw Dr. B. Dante's CBC looks good. ANC 3600, platelets 180. His hemoglobin is still low, so we are thinking he just sits outside the "normal" range. Dr. B examined Dante and said he looked good. They had the CT results and......drum roll please....NO CHANGES! Yea!

Chris and I were commenting that we want the CT report that says, "Yea! You're clear! No Cancer!!" Unfortunately, they aren't written like that. The words used on this one were "no changes from the CT scan on 3/22", "the chest including the lungs is now clear and normal", "good evidence of recurrent tumor is NOT identified on this exam". but it concludes with "otherwise normal CT of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis." - Good enough, we'll take it!