Day -18

So this post isn't going to be quite as long. Today was really just n observation day. They keep patients on fluids and meds for 24 hours after chemo. So they are just watching and making sure that everything stays ok and he doesn't have any more breakouts of hives or fever or anything. He is obviously thrilled that we are taking this picture. So after we are done with transplant and his counts come back up we have to stay within 30 min. of the hospital for about 90 days. We had called Ronald McDonald house as they have apartments that they use specifically for this purpose. I put our name on the waiting list and thought - yay! done. Then when we spoke with the BMT social worker during our parent education we were informed that Ronald McDonald house had sold the apartments that week. Of course :) So we were looking into other options on where we can stay. Brent's dad told us about a place that they had stayed in SLC called Sky Harbor so we had an appt to go and see what it was all about today. We also talked to the socail worker again and she said that because we were on the list for Ronald McDonald house apts they would honor that committment. What we wanted to see is if it would be a good thing to go to Sky Harbor anyway and start the rental before Aiden was discharged so that Brent and I would have a respite place we could take turns staying and the girls would have a place when they came to visit us. WIth Ronald McDonald you can't stay there until after the transplant and it is successful. When we went to see Sky Harbor we thought it was really nice but it still took us 20 min to get to and from the hospital from there and the one room units we were looking at were pretty small so that when Brent and the girls come to visit on the weekends there wouldn't really be enough room. The Ronald McDonald apt would have two rooms. Plus we have to fill out a rental application and set up our utilities with SLC etc. So we checked out the Ronald McDonald apt location and it is right next to the hospital. It take about 5 min to get there, plus it is really close to restaurants and stores etc and it is 2 bedroom. So we decided that we would just stay at Ronald McDonal House Apts. *Sigh* It is actually reeally nice to not have to worry about that part of the process at this point.

So I am not sure that I mendtioned this. It is Aiden's central line. It is a tube that is treaded into his heart and has two linees that come out his chest. The importance of this line is that it saves the veins from being burnt by the chemo. It also makes it so that they dont have to have an IV, they hook up all the fluids and meds to his central line. They also draw blood from his line. It is super nice cause there are no needles and owies with a line. We had his line put in in July so that they could do the blood draws they needed for weekly medicine levels. While actually having the line put in was really sad (Aiden didnt do well coming out of the anesthesia and the incisions and central line site wouldn't stop bleeding) it has been really nice to have the line. IT is one of those things that if you are having a BMT you just automatically get a central line. We flush the lines daily with saline and the clear dressing is changed once a week. Aiden had just had a new "bandaid" put on him for this picture. He does really well through the dressing changes. RIght after he took a great nap they whole time we were gone to our apartment appointment.

So I didn't really take anymore pictures today cause we did a lot of the same things - watch The Hulk and the Wiggles, play at the edge of the crib, push all the buttons on the O2/heart-rate machine, eat spaghettios etc. He did great today and even followed his more ususal schedule of 2 naps and eating schedule. The docotrs are planning on letting us go home tomorrow since he is doing so well.