Well I'm glad that's over. It was kinda difficult this time. I brought J and V with me and apparently children other than patients are not exactly welcome there. They weren't allowed to go in the hospital room with Carter (maybe because they're shared rooms??) so they had to wait in the little toy/waiting room. The problem was that I can't be two places at once. We ended up all hanging out in the small and crowded toy room for all 4 1/2 hours. The missionaries came with me again to help translate but it wasn't much use since they couldn't come with us when we went with the doctor or nurse either. It was ridiculous. And it was very obvious how much time we actually spent with a nurse or doctor since they had to come get us each time. It was maybe 15 minutes total. That's 4 hours and 15 minutes of just waiting around. I'm sure it's a great hospital but I don't like it. The last time they came to get him was for his chemo. By that time the missionaries were gone as well as the two ladies who had been doing arts and crafts with the kids. We were alone in the play room so I really couldn't leave my two youngest in there by themselves (I'd left them with the art ladies before). I didn't know what to do since they wouldn't let us all go together. I asked Carter if he would be ok to go without me with the nurse for his medicine. He got a brave look on his face and said, "sure!" Seriously?! He is so awesome. They were gone for about 10 minutes and he looked so proud of himself when he strutted back in, his port de-accessed and everything. The nurse was very impressed with him. So we were finally ok to leave but the doctor was out to lunch. I needed to get some perscription refills and I had some questions for her but no one could understand that I was trying to ask when she would be back from lunch. I finally just left and luckily she called me that evening and we got it all taken care of.
Another added frustration to the day was I actually drove our sweet new ride up there instead of taking the bus. I thought it would be so much easier and convenient. Ha! It took me 25 minutes to park at the hospital then we had to walk up a long steep hill. Then I drove around for 45 minutes looking for a spot close to our apartment before I finally gave up and paid to park in a parking garage. It was a long day. I am just so thankful that Carter is so brave and easy-going about it all. I'm glad I am the only up-tight one that I have to worry about!
It's kinda easy to ignore that Carter is still going through chemotherapy most of the time. Mostly because I want to put it out of my mind and just enjoy life. Then sometimes things happen that bring that fact right to the front burner again. It happened today. We were driving to Monacco and then planned to keep going over to Italy. Just because we can :) All three kids fell asleep on the way there and we were enjoying the breathtaking views when I hear from the backseat, "I feel like I need to throw up...". Good thing I'm well practiced with situations just like this. I grabbed what I think was a plastic bag that a happy meal toy came in just in time. Gees, it just breaks my heart to think about all he's gone through and is STILL going through. He's so brave and tough and mature but I hate that he has to be at such a young age. I hate that he is so familiar with the feeling of knowing he's about to throw up. I hate that him and his brother often say that they hope other members of our family don't get a blood bug dragon like Carter's. Ugh. So our trip was cut short and I was reminded of how much cancer treatment used to rule our lives. We planned everything around him and his appointments and medicines and side effects. It's nice to have more freedom now but I don't appreciate the unpleasant reminders that pop up. So until next time I'm reminded, I'll try to put this painful fact out of my head and enjoy my beautiful family.
