Wow, What a day! What a long, tiring day!
We got up at 4:30am and JoAnn fed Charlotte breakfast. We were not allowed to give her food after 5AM, so this was the only time we could do this. While the girls had breakfast, Toby went out to snow blow the drive. We got about 7 or 8 inches in the storm on Wednesday, and it was still snowing that night when we went to bed.
At about 7AM, Granny Meryl came to pick us up in their 4×4 and the four of us were off to Albany. Traffic in the morning on this route is notoriously bad, so we gave plenty of time.
We got to Albany Medical Center at about 8:35AM and first went to the Radiology Department. It had been requested by them that we stop there first to get the nasty orange stuff that you have to drink before a CT scan. They told us that we couldn’t have it yet as it was way to soon before the scheduled scan time to take it. So much for hospital planning! 🙂
We then went up to the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Unit, arriving there at about 9:00AM, and after signing in we sat and played for a while.
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We met with Dr. Jennifer Pearce, one of the doctors that we were referred to by Dr. Kathy Braico (our pediatrician). She talked to us a little, and then Charlotte was given an IV and some blood was drawn. She cried through it, as did JoAnn, but she stayed very still and didn’t fuss, allowing the nurses to get what they needed.
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We were then sent back down to Radiology for the CT scan, arriving there at about 10:20AM. We checked in, and Charlotte played. We were scheduled for an 11:30 scan, and we had to attempt to have Charlotte drink the nasty orange stuff, no success there! Anyway, by the time the scan happened it was about 12:00PM
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They sedated her with the use of two drugs, Versed and Brevitol. Right after the first was administered, Charlotte looked right at her daddy and had histerical giggling. This is apparently one of the side affects of the drug, and it made Toby burst out in a fit of giggles, and then JoAnn! There was about 8 people in the room and they all thought this was just the funniest thing.
The second drug was then administered, and it’s a good job the giggles from the first happened, as the second simply made her eyes roll back and she went completely limp in Daddy’s arms. This was not something that he found particularly thrilling.
JoAnn and Toby then left the room, and about 5 minutes later she was ready to be picked up again. JoAnn did this and we carried her back to the sedation room to recover.
After this, we returned to the waiting area to get Granny. She was having a cat-nap! 🙂 Charlotte was now able to have some food and drink…
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At about 1PM we returned to the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology department, where Charlotte still had some wobbily legs. Granny and Daddy went to find the cafeteria, and got some lunch for all three adults and came back up to the PHO department. Charlotte was starting to come out of the sedation after affects, and even stood in a basket (this is normal playing for her!)
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By the time we’d eaten, the Radiology doctor had spoken with Dr. Pearce and the CT scan had confirmed a hemartoma on Charlotte’s liver. She told us that she had setup an appointment with Dr. Georges in the Pediatric Surgery Department for 2PM.
We then went down to the Peds Surgery Dept. and met with Dr. Georges. He explained that he’d like another ultrasound done, and he could see that Charlotte was right on the verge of getting passed the point of "I don’t want to be here anymore!". He made a call to Radiology and they agreed to see us right away.
So at about 3PM we were back down in Radiology again! Was about 3:25PM when we got into the ultrasound room. Charlotte, who had been such a good girl all day, just couldn’t take it anymore and was crying and fussing the whole time. Poor little thing! The doctor from that department came in to see us once he’d looked at the images, and said that yes there was a growth on the liver, and said that the surgeron would explain more.
So, at about 4PM we got back up to the Pediatric Surgery department, where we met with Dr. Georges again. He explained that it was a good thing that he asked for another ultrasound as this showed the growth on the right-side of the liver, and not the left-side as thought by Glens Falls Hospital.
He explained that it would need to be surgically removed and that the feeling is that it is benign. The final decision on that is down to the pathologist after surgery.
We have scheduled surgery on February 9th at Albany Medical Center. There should be no long term effects from the surgery as the liver can regenerate.
We finally left the hospital close to 5pm and after another hour and a half drive drive we were home around 6:20pm. Charlotte was completely wiped out and in bed by 7pm fast asleep. It’s now two hours later and she hasn’t made a peep since.
Thank you to everybody for your notes of kindness and comments on both of our Facebook pages. These are truly appreciated! Thank you also to Granny for spending the day with us. This was much appreciated too!
We will keep you all updated on the surgery and Charlotte’s recovery.
Much love from us all,
Toby, JoAnn & Charlotte