Hospital stay - quick recap

Isaac was hospitalized from Friday, January 29th to Friday, February 5th.

We went in for his regular chemo appointment on that Wednesday, January 27th. He was still having diarrhea, so he received 100 ml's of fluid before his therapy was administered. I had taken stool samples into Quest the week before, and they ended up coming back all negative.

Fast forward a few days to Friday. His diarrhea had significantly increased from 3-4 times a day to 6-7 times. He just didn't look right. He was very lethargic, whiny, and did not want to be put down. He also had a white cast to his face - very pale, and his eyes had purple circles under them. I decided to make a call into the Oncology unit, and they advised me to bring him in right away. This was around 11:00 a.m., and we got there a little before 1:00 p.m.

I had applied EMLA to his port site before we left, because I knew that he would be accessed. They weighed him, and he was down nearly 1.5 pounds from that Wednesday. He lost 1 1/2 pounds in less than 2 days.

They accessed his port and drew labs. They also immediately hooked him up to some IV fluids. We were not in the OPI unit long, before the Oncologist (Dr. Shen) came in and let me know that they were in the process of having him admitted.

Around 5:00 p.m., we were eventually moved up to the 3rd floor, Oncology, room 331.

On that same night, he ended up stepping on his IV line standing in his crib and yanked it right out of his chest. His nurse was running down the hallway gathering all the necessary equipment to re-access. They have to re-access quickly since the blood in the catheter clots within minutes. Since the line was not hep-locked prior to removal, it may develop a blockage. He then had to have his very first (and praying the last) access to his port with NO EMLA. No EMLA = pain. His nurse came in with the charge nurse, so I opted to step this one out and left the room. I knew I would have probably lost it. Of course, I could hear his screams from the hallway, and it didn't make it that much easier. His IV was a little boggy and would occlude, so she had to flush it 3 times before the fluid would flow freely after re-access.

During his stay, they ended up checking his stool for various different tests, including the same ones done the week before, and also for parasites. Everything came back good!

It all came down to the Oncology doctor and the GI specialist agreeing on what the right course of care would be. The Oncologist wanted Isaac to be scoped and have a section of his colon biopsied, but the GI specialist did not feel it was 100% necessary.

They ultimately decided (for now) that the chemotherapy is the culprit of the diarrhea. They administered a dose of Imodium and it seemed to do the trick (again... for now).

Can we get off the rollercoaster, now?