Today, Alan was scheduled for an abdominal ultrasound and a kidney function test at the hospital.
The ultrasound went fairly quickly. Alan enjoyed lying down in the quiet, darkened room while watching the images on the ultrasound machine. We think he actually looks forward to ultrasounds now, because he is so fascinated by the images and sounds of his own heart and lungs.
The kidney function test he hasn't been enjoying nearly as much though. He already wasn't happy when we first got to the Radiology Pedi Prep & Hold room... he recognized it as the not fun place. Things got more complicated when we couldn't get any blood return from his port. We tried a couple of needles with no results. Eventually, we decided to go with an IV so we wouldn't be delayed anymore... because the kidney test takes some time.
The kidney test is very simple. Basically, after drawing a little bit of blood for a baseline measurement, Alan is injected with a small amount of tracer fluid. This fluid is processed by the kidneys and decreases in the blood over time. Two blood draws are done to measure the amount of decrease. The problem is that the draw intervals are one and three hours after the initial injection... so there is a lot of 'not much to do' time. At least he has no restrictions once the test starts... he can eat and drink to his heart's content. We decided to hang out in the children's ER area at the children's play section... he had fun with several toys. But he was happy to leave the hospital once we were done!
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