Yesterday was brutal; lots of surprises; Sam takes over the blog;

The short version: left home at 815AM, got home at 800PM.

The long version....what had been scheduled to be a simple trip to get some blood work, sign some papers, get weighed and get pre-admitted for Wednesday turned into a nightmare marathon for Denise. It started out simple enough...give them some blood, so they took 7 tubes of it. Now Denise didn't have a lot to begin with, so I am sure they just about drained her down to empty....more on this later.

Next up: go to the IPOP (In Patient Out Patient) Center to get weight and height. Sounds straightforward, and that part eventually was, BUT....SURPRISE #1-the nurse asked if Denise had ever had a specimen taken from her sinuses. This is important as they want to ensure there are no viruses lurking pre-transplant. We said no, it had not been done so the nurse said it doesn't take long and they would schedule it. They also said the procedure is a little uncomfortable, which Denise later told me was code for "hurt like a bitch". Essentially they took some tissue samples from both sides of her inner nasal passages.

So now, we think we are all done with the medical part of our trip to Charm City, and the charge nurse says the blood results from earlier this morning (see above) indicate Denise needs another 2 units of blood to be transfused, which is secret code for "you are about to spend another 6 hours in Baltimore you didn't plan for". Of course, they have to match blood type and cross check antibodies, and from previous experience we know that takes a lot of time, so they suggested go eat lunch.

So we went and had lunch--a lot of BIG people frequent that cafeteria, if you know what I mean. Lunch was uneventful since no medical procedures were involved. Then we went to Admitting to get all the papers signed for tomorrow's admission. Thankfully, this went off without a hitch and we headed back to IPOP at 315PM.

When we got there, it turned out they had found the blood needed, and in a stroke of luck, Denise's doctor said they only needed to transfuse 1 unit instead of 2. We were elated in that we realized we just saved 2 hours from not having to transfuse the 2nd unit, but still dismayed we were still in Baltimore. Oh well. 

So they take Denise away for the simple procedure of getting the IV ready in her vein, BUT...Surprise #2 arrives in the form of they can't get a vein....Not really a surprise to either of us considering how much she has been stuck in the past 3 weeks. So, they call in the cavalry in the form of a nurse who specializes in PICC lines and even has a miniature sonogram that looks at veins. Well, this expert nurse really had a hard time, and poor Denise endured 3 or 4 vein location explorations (sticks!) before all was settled, BUT...Surprise #3 arrives in that someone said they need another 3 tubes of blood for testing for whatever reason. Now readers, you will recall the first thing we did this morning was give them 7 tubes. Why didn't they go ahead and help themselves to an extra 3 tubes then? When they tried to draw the blood for the 3 tubes the specialized nurse gave up and left that task to someone else.

When the regular nurse came in and was going to try to grab those 3 tubes, I asked if maybe they could draw the 3 samples AFTER the transfusion, since Denise would have a lot more fluid in her veins and it might be easier to draw then. He agreed, and so we start the transfusion.......................

2 hours later, Denise gets unhooked form everything, and Surprise #4 arrives.The nurse asked us if we had the stuff we need to clean the germs off her arms, legs, back and chest after Denise showers before heading to the hospital Wednesday. Of course we knew nothing about any of it since it had not been mentioned at all, so we have to wait for the nurse to track all of the information and germ cleaner. Clock is ticking, but finally we are on our way.

The good news: we left so late we completely missed the Baltimore and Washington rush hours. The bad news: we didn't get home until 8PM. We DO want to say the doctors and nurses at JH are first rate, and they could not have been nicer or more professional. We were treated like royalty, and I can't imagine what Monday would have been like had we been treated like mere subjects.

We still have a lot of little things to take care of today, and then head to B'more early Wednesday, which will be a long day. Denise will first get a transfusion of platelets, because they are low and also because once that is done, she will undergo surgery to have a Hickman catheter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickman_line) put in her chest which will be where her medicines and blood will be taken and administered. Finally, the last major thing to happen on Wednesday is the chemotherapy will begin.

I will try to get an update out Wednesday night or Thursday morning....just don't hold me to it! And thanks to all of you for your thoughts, prayers and support. Keep 'em coming...we need them all.