Passing Time in the Hospital

We do a lot of waiting around. This was Thursday--Emery lounging on her mama's lap, shielding her face with her hand. :) The first two nights of chemo (Thursday and Friday) have gone really well, with Emery sleeping right through without any problems. We were hoping the 2nd and 3rd doses would be moved up earlier each night so we might head for Dallas after discharge tonight, but that is not going to happen. There was a miscommunication last night so they couldn't start early. Tonight, chemo will begin around 8 or 8:30 but we will still get out too late to go.

I've been cruising around the hospital taking pictures of some of our typical haunts. The laundry room is on the 16th floor and has been a lifesaver on a number of occasions.

Emery's been a little sleepyhead today. She has drifted off to dreamland several times while lying on Bonnie's couch/bed. We'll be playing with her and the next thing we know, she's conked out again. David was here for the weekend and he had lots of good baby time with his girl. He left this morning for Dallas to take care of some things and we will meet him there.

Might as well do more laundry.

All finished!

There's a nice little library and video library on the 16th floor. Kinda funny that all they have are VHS tapes, though! We have watched several old movies over the past couple of months.

Emery's hand splint looks huge in this photo! It's a little bulky but is helping to stretch out her fingers. She's supposed to wear it when sleeping. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, though it's hard for Bonnie to swaddle her in a blanket with it on.

This is what the 9th floor--Oncology and Hematology--looks like. Each floor is a different bright color so it's a little easier to remember where you're going. There's a nurse's station between each two rooms. Emery is in Room 4, which was coincidentally her first room when she came from Amarillo. (Hopefully she has come full circle and will not have to be admitted any more!)

Radio Lollipop is a cool in-house radio station. Older kids can do a dj stint, and anyone can request songs. I think it's only operational once a week but what a great idea!

Farewell to my friends Becky and Sean, who have picked me up and dropped me off too many times to count, given me a bedroom, fed me, taken me to run errands, washed my clothes, driven David to the airport, taken Bonnie and Emery in for several nights when they had early appointments, and were always willing to drop everything to do something for us. It has been lots of fun to reconnect after many years--none of us are happy about the reason we're in Houston but there have been a lot of positive things that have happened as well. Thanks to these good friends for being there for us day or night. They are off on a road trip today, so we are spending one more night at their house by ourselves before leaving for Dallas in the morning. I won't see them again (this time anyway) since I am going back to Alaska on Wednesday, but they've continued to offer their home and their "services" to Bonnie if she should need anything during the week when David's not here. Thanks, y'all!

I also want to thank Lauren and Dan for allowing me to stay at their home in Katy for all these weeks. I failed to get a photo of them before we left to come to the hospital but they have been extremely kind, not to mention very funny and lots of fun. I am sure it is not easy to have extra people camped out in your home for months on end, but you would never know that it was any trouble at all. They are great friends to Bonnie and David and were nice enough to allow the grandma to tag along. Thanks, y'all!