Lab Champ

Today we woke up before the sun peeked over the horizon (it's getting easier and easier to do that - yay fall!) and hopped in the car (the windows were fogged up and we had to use the squeegee on them - yay fall!) to get some labs done at the hospital in Portland.

We always leave with lots and lots of time to spare so that we can not be worried that the rush hour traffic will make us late, so when we arrived I had time to give Ivy her morning medicine and also to run up to the surgeon's office to ask if we had two labs or just one. I'd had just one lab on my calendar but in my head there were two. The lady at the desk confirmed two labs this morning, and also a doctor appointment in October that I didn't know about. (The hospital makes appointments without consulting us; we have to just take what we can get.)

So downstairs we went, into the imaging department, which was empty when we first got there and was standing-room-only rather quickly. I'm glad we got chairs!

First up was an ultrasound of Ivy's kidneys and bladder, to make sure her renal system was working well. I laid down on the bed and Ivy laid on my chest, and she cuddled right up and was happy. And also gassy. She let out a fart that was at least five seconds long and had all of us cracking up.

After the ultrasound, we went back into the waiting room. I nursed hurriedly, in case we were summoned for the next lab, but needn't have worried because we spent about 45 minutes waiting. Ivy was very quiet, which was great. She slept on Cory's shoulder for a bit, woke up and kicked and punched on my lap for a bit, and cuddled with me for a bit. And then finally we were called back for the X-ray.

This X-ray was part checking up on Ivy's surgery site, and part baseline to see how skinny her esophagus is around the surgery site (so they can decide if she's going to have trouble eating later. We were able to go into the room this time, which was very nice - 7 days after Ivy's repair we sat in the hall outside the X-ray room, crossing our fingers that there were no leaks around the site - it was nerve wracking. Cory and I both got lead vests and collars to cover our thyroid glands, and Ivy was stripped down to her diaper. They laid her down on top of a metal plate, and I had to hold her arms up over her head, and that was the only time she cried. I think it was just because her little head was perched on the edge of the plate, which probably didn't feel so good. After a quick X-ray, the techs went to get the radiologist, so we wrapped Ivy up in a warm blanket and cuddled her to calm her down a bit.

When the radiologist came in, Ivy went back down on the table (without the plate this time) and I fed her an ounce or so of barium while they took several x-rays in quick succession. Cory watched the screen and saw her esophagus, a little skinnier in the middle than at the other ends but not bad. Then it was over, and we dressed her, found another place to nurse again, and off we skipped towards home.

Though the techs all said things looked good, it was still nice to hear from the doctor when she called as we were on our way home. Everything is fine and normal, she said! Whew!