Superwoman

Susanne could not believe it. She had been so tired that she fell asleep in her work clothes after she ate dinner last night. She did not wake up until 2:30am. Unfortunately for Paxton, this meant that he missed a meal. Susanne felt horribly, however, she was relieved that she woke up just in time for the next feeding. She prepared everything for the 3:00am feeding and went to set it up when she realized something was a little off. Susanne thought that the end of Paxton's NG tube looked different, but she could not figure out why. She originally thought that Paxton had pulled the entire end of the NG tube off or maybe a cat chewed it off. After a little investigation, she realized she was actually looking at the end that was supposed to be in his stomach. The silly little guy had pulled out his NG tube despite wearing mittens. What a stinker! Susanne had to try to get her bearings because she was still half asleep. She hated that she had to replace his NG tube especially since this would be the third time in the last week. On a positive note, practice makes perfect. Shortly after starting the NG feeding, Paxton had explosive diarrhea. It was so explosive that he managed to soil not only the outfit he was wearing, but also the blankets he was using to keep him warm. This meant more laundry for Susanne. Yay! By the time all was said and done, Susanne finally got to pump around 4:00am. She was in for a long day, especially since Paxton's first appointment was at 8:00am.

The time that Susanne needed to get up came too quickly. She felt like a walking zombie and was not sure how she was going to make it through the day. Luckily, Susanne managed to make it to the appointment on time, which was a small miracle to say the least. Even though Paxton weighed 8 lbs 6 oz., Paxton's pediatrician was concerned that he was not gaining weight like she had wanted him too. Susanne brought up her concerns about the recent diarrhea. Paxton was so kind as to have two dirty diapers during this appointment so that the doctor could see first-hand what his momma was talking about. She did not seem overly concerned with the color or consistency at the moment. Susanne was instructed to keep a close eye on it and if there was no significant improvement over the next week, then she would come up with a plan of action. Paxton ended up getting a Hepatitis B vaccine at the end of the appointment. The pediatrician decided to hold off on the Rotavirus vaccine because one of the side effects was diarrhea. Susanne agreed that we should not add fuel to the fire.

Susanne got home just in time to leave again for the next appointment, which was actually for Maverick. Susanne had been informed of a clinical trial for dogs with lymphoma. Susanne thought that he would be a great candidate for this, especially since he was just recently diagnosed and he's such an awesome dog. Susanne left the house at 11:30am to make sure that she would make the 1:30pm appointment that was scheduled at a specialty hospital in D.C.. To no one's surprise, it took the entire two hours to reach their destination. Susanne laughed when she was driving through the city because she saw an advertisement that said, "Real Men Wear Gowns." Once Susanne arrived in the parking garage, she had the challenge of trying to push Paxton in the stroller at the same time as walking Maverick. It went better than expected, but only because it was Maverick and not James. Susanne entered the building and quickly discovered a problem. There were two flights of stairs to go up in order to get to the main lobby with no elevator in sight. Of course, with Susanne's superwoman mentality she tried to lift the stroller up one stair at a time, but realized this was not a safe approach. Susanne called the front desk for assistance and was told to walk around the building to the front side where there was a handicap ramp. Susanne had to go back out to the garage, up a street, around the building, and up a sidewalk to finally reach the ramp. Susanne felt like she was in line for a roller coaster going back and forth and up and down just to reach the front door. This was more of a work out than what she had signed up for.

The appointment with the oncologist took about three hours. Unfortunately there was a waiting list for the research study. It would take at least two weeks for them to even know if Maverick would be next in line. Susanne thought that this amount of time would be too long to wait if she wanted to give Maverick the best chance of going into remission. After a long discussion with the oncologist, they all agreed that it would be best for Susanne to go ahead and start chemotherapy. The oncologist was kind enough to help Susanne put together a multi-drug protocol which would take up to 18 weeks to complete. The rest would be up to Maverick.

Susanne was presented with a little bit of a dilemma since the appointment took so long. It was way past time for her to pump so she resolved the issue by pumping in her car in the parking lot. Yes folks, you heard it right...Susanne pumped in public. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily, she was parked in the far corner of the parking lot and no one was around. Susanne was glad that she had made the decision to pump there because it ended up taking her two hours to get home. There's nothing like D.C. traffic during rush hour.

Paxton was such a trooper today. He received the majority of his NG feedings in the car. Thankfully, Susanne had remembered to pack enough milk for the entire day. Unfortunately, Paxton's reflux seemed to bother him more today than it had in the past. Susanne thought that a big majority of this was due to the angle of the car seat and the fact that the buckle rested right against his stomach. This was poor planning on the manufacturer's part per Susanne.

The best part of the whole day was that Scott came home a night early and surprised Susanne. It was the little things likie this that made Susanne smile.