A trip to the ER

Doc P sent us to the Pediatric ER just down the hill from us to get a new suture on his IJC line. He called ahead so they knew to expect us. Since he wasn't NPO they couldn't give him anesthesia. The ER doc had suggested giving him some Ativan to calm him down for the stitch. They only needed to do one, but they would need him to be absolutely still. After discussing the situation, we decided to go ahead and sedate him with careful monitoring.

While we were waiting in the treatment room, we were surprised to see Sandy, one of the nurses from Pedi Prep and Hold at the Children's Hospital Radiology department. She had been there the day that Alan was diagnosed over three years ago and has seen Alan through a lot of his treatment. When the tumor first reappeared we started doing our scans at MD Anderson so we hadn't seen her in a while. It was a pleasant surprise to see her again and she couldn't get over how big Alan had grown.

It took some time to hook Alan up to the monitors and prepare everything. The doc wanted to be sure everything was ready before pushing the Propofol since he wanted Alan under for as little time as possible. It took a while to get Alan under - he's used to it which is good and bad. We know it's effective with little side effects. However, since the ER doc wasn't an anesthesiologist, he was being cautious in administering the drug and every time we thought he was under, Alan would fight it off. When he finally fell asleep, the doc worked quickly, but even so Alan was starting to stir by the time they were starting to put the dressing over the IJC line. So much for Mommy's plan to trim his nails before he woke up!

He was awake and alert almost immediately. The doc couldn't believe it, especially given the amount of Propofol he had to use. Since this was a pretty tough dressing change, we agreed when he asked (again!) to go to Chuck E. Cheese. It was the least we could do for him.


Alan in Triage


Is he sleepy yet?


Alan and Sandy


At Chuck E Cheese after