Justin's Post

Here we are, day three of what was supposed to be only a couple of hours for a routine chemo visit, and it looks like we have another three days to go. Tucker decided he was going to play mad microbiologist and experiment with a strange bacteria and see what would happen if he tried to grow it in his access tubes. Well, it grew and necessitated the removal of the tubes. Something about how the bacteria was not a good thing to be growing in the human body.
Tuesday, March 8th.
Tuesday was supposed to be standard chemo but because Tuckers previous blood culture actually grew something we were required to be admitted. They have identified the family of the culprit bacteria; it is a mycobacterium. This is a large family of bacteria and is found just about everywhere. We normally are not affected by contact with this bacterium but those with a compromised immune system cannot fight it. Tuckers access tubes had become a lovely little greenhouse for the bug and the doctors were concerned that it may have spread and started to grow in other parts of his body.
We started this inquisition by having Tucker drink about half a gallon of a contrast medium. Once he was able to suck all that down, and having an amazingly full bladder, we were ready for the CT scan. They wanted to verify that the bacteria hadn’t moved into his liver, kidneys, abdomen, or brain. So, at about 8:00 pm Tuesday night, we finally went down for the scan. The doc had to give him an IV as his port wouldn’t allow them to administer the IV contrast solution quick enough. Tucker loves getting needles constantly poked into him! After a 45 minute scan we were allowed to return back to the room and told that they needed to remove his access tubes. His surgery was scheduled for 8pm the following evening. Talk about pushing the torture threshold! We convinced the docs to allow him to eat breakfast but he wouldn’t be allowed to eat or drink after 10am.
Wednesday, March 9th.
After a breakfast of French toast it was time to wait. We watched boring TV shows, played XBOX, received visits from multiple doctors, and nurses. Preliminary results eventually came back later in the day and we were happy to be told that they could find no evidence of the bacteria in neither body cavities nor organs. They did see something in his brain that concerned them and needed to be looked at a little closer. Xenobiologists were called in to examine it but explained that it was just the alien bacterial home on the brain where they control the thoughts and actions of most all pre-adolescents. This alien control tends to peak, exhibiting near lunacy, around the time of puberty but usually mellows out as the host ages. There are exceptions to this though! The alien controlled lunacy can persist and is commonly seen in the mentally ill and politicians (yes, I do recognize the obvious parallel between the two).
The xenobiologist departed and the doctors from Infectious Disease came in and pretended to know nothing about a so-called xenobiologist, alien control, etc. Typical cover-up! They did say that the spot they saw on Tuckers brain was very small, most likely associated with his cancer and not the bacteria, and therefore not a concern. Good news but I still think they are trying to pretend there is no alien conspiracy.
The rest of the day on Wednesday we just hung out waiting for 8pm to roll around so that Tucker could get his tubes removed and then finally eat and drink. We were quite surprised when, at about 4:15 pm, the surgery tech arrived to take him down to surgery. The procedure to remove the tubes was quick and Tucker did great! He was done in about half an hour with just a small bandage over the site.
Back up in our room we hung out until Amber came up once she got off work. I selfishly made Amber go home so that I could sleep another night on the amazing fold-out hospital bed (it’s so comfortable that I don’t even realize I’ve even slept. Can I insert an LOL here?). Tucker had to get another IV (he now has one in each arm) so that they could more easily draw blood. He received an infusion of platelets and, later that night, a transfusion of two units of blood. This was his own little vampire session but, for those of you concerned, has not yet begun to grow fangs nor become sensitive to sunlight. The night was lovely, with the nurse coming in and out of the room constantly. We really need to figure out how to hire ghosts; I really believe they could perform the nursing duties less obtrusively. I’m not complaining about the nurses, they have all been wonderful; I just tend to be a little more sarcastic in the morning.
Thursday, March 10th.
Coffee for me, scrambled eggs and bacon for Tucker and slight zombification for both of us. We are told that Tucker needs to stay here for another three days while the antibiotics work and get rid of the bacteria; after that they will put in another port. This will most likely be a sub dermal port like he had three years ago. This will help protect against further infection and allow Tucker to take baths and showers without the need for covering his site up. That’s great for us as all kids smell funny and need constant bathing to make the air around them breathable (I believe that’s even a direct quote from Einstein, the Pope, or someone like that).
Tucker is now trying to defend some planet from a horrible alien scourge (Halo 3), and I sit writing this with the hope that my editor will not require me to do a massive rewrite. Grandma Dickamore is coming at 2pm to be with Tucker; other than that it’s just waiting. Boring! The doctors refuse to give Tucker any, as they call it, unnecessary surgeries. I’ve asked them to give Tucker a robot brain, gorilla arms, and other awesome oddities but they ignore me. Like I said: BORING! Oh well, I guess I’ll just play Halo with Tuk.