First Clinic Day:

 

Today was our first day back at the SCCA clinic to start the process of the various pre-transplant testing . We started with a nurse visit to go over a lot of basics and get our schedule for the next few days.  It is very strange to be back here. Everything is the same, including most of the staff that we meet. It is a bit of an awkward balance between the “how nice to see you again” and the “I’m so sorry you had to come back to do this all again!” Overall, it is nice to have familiar faces and people we feel like we know. For Idan, everyone is new. He has no memory of any of these people and cannot understand why they all seem to know him so well.

After the nurse visit, we had Idan’s first round of blood tests of many many to come. He did very well and sat still while they poked him and took 17 vials of blood. Yes, 17 vials of blood! Not bad for his first draw here. They will take a few more before his procedure scheduled for Friday as he was at his max today for how much they are allowed to take.

We have a nice long break for lunch and went to eat outside. We went down to the marina to see the old boats. Idan could care less about the boats and manly enjoyed dragging Amanda around up and down the trails and just jumping around.

Later on, we had our first visit with Idan’s primary care physician who went over all Idan’s history and did a full physical. All went well and Idan was very excited to come back to the SCCA House, the clinic-related hotel we are staying at, so he could go to the play room.

Our schedule for the next couple of days is busy. Tomorrow we have another full day at the clinic, mostly with meetings (social worker, nutritionist and a 90 min consult with the attending to go over the transplant protocol). He also has an EKG in the morning.  Friday will be a tough day, as Idan will have a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy at 12 at Seattle Children’s Hospital and will have to fast all morning since he gets anesthesia. So we expect a hungry and cranky child.

At the moment, unless something changes, we have a couple more weeks of testing, and will be admitted to the hospital on July 12th to start chemotherapy conditioning.  The transplant itself will occur around July 18th or so. Good news is that we have found an apartment in the same complex we lived last time. We should be moving in there on July 1st, and it will be nice to have a temporary home as opposed to a hotel room. Idan is not as happy as he says “there will not be a play room” in our apartment. Not easy to please! 

We will keep you all updated.