Oh, come on!

One thing I haven't mentioned here are all the "uh-ohs", the little mishaps that have occurred along the way, the things that make you smack your forehead and exclaim "really? Really?!?". There have been quite a few. Before we left ICU, our nurse wanted to show me how to change the dressing on Eleanor's central line. A central line is a tube that runs directly into her chest and can be used to draw blood or administer drugs or fluid. It is basically a permanent IV. Anyways, this nurse is changing the dressing and it's not coming off very well, so she attempts to cut it off and snips the line clean in half. It was an accident and it was fixable without surgery (thank God), but it seemed to be a cruel joke at our expense.

Then there is her nasogastric (or NG) tube. She pulls it out constantly, and it seems to cause us nothing but problems. Like during her neutropenic phase in her last round of chemo. She was sick as a dog, and the pH from her tube was coming back funny. They sent her down to xray and lo and behold, the end of the tube isn't in her stomach at all. It looped around her stomach and was six centimeters into her intestine! Anti-nauseates can't settle you stomach if they can't get into your stomach! And just over the weekend, the stupid tube wouldn't let anything through it. They thought it was clogged and apparently the best way to unclog it is with Coca Cola. So the nurses are drawing this beverage into a syringe when they pause and ask me, "you're okay with this, right?" Sure, I say, my infant daughter can have soda pop. Why not?! Turns out it wasn't clogged, it had a kink in it. They found this out when they removed it and replaced it for (shudder) the fourth time this week.

But tonight may take the cake in crazy, crappy things. A pipe burst above room 5 (also known as the closet we once called home) and the ENTIRE WARD HAS BEEN EVACUATED. They couldn't guarantee the air quality while they are repairing it so we are all in 3M. The trouble with 3M is that it is for cardiac and respiratory illness, so everyone is put on isolation to prevent kids with no immune system catching a serious reparatory infection.

I love this hospital. I love the staff. They saved Eleanor's life and are giving her a fighting chance, but this gets a big "really? Really?!!"

Please excuse the poor grammar. I'm a sleepy bear tonight!