Last Trip to Lehigh before Tracy starts to fly solo

On Tuesday, May 8, 2007, Tracy drove, for the very time ever, to Lehigh Valley! She drove there and back and while it was a little nerve racking with Bob saying things like “Are you sure you want to go that way?” and Max saying, “Daddy, stop yelling at Mommy. This is her first time and she’s doing a good job.” We got there right on time and without a ding, dent, or ticket.

This was our first chemo only visit to Lehigh Valley in a long long time so we weren’t sure how long it would take but we had very high hopes. Unfortunately it took longer than Tracy thought it would but it is so hard to just get in and get out because Max really does have a good time while he is there. This week everyone knew that it was, potentially, Tracy’s last non-solo trip so they tried to make her feel at home (Max has already indicated that he is looking forward to going with Mommy and loves everyone there so his comfort was not in question). The ladies at Lehigh Valley did a nice job singing Bob’s praises, talking up how much they will miss his smiling face, etc. (need to remember to send that checkJ ) but they also did a great job going over everything again with Tracy.

We were a little better this week about getting in, getting Max triaged (height, weight, blood pressure, and body temp), and getting his blood drawn for testing. There were more people there this week though and summer vacations have started so it didn’t happen right away but it gave us a chance to talk to Nancy, the social worker, again which is when we learned the vacation schedules there for the summer. When Max’s IV was getting setup he was very curious about the needle (we still don’t know how he can just stare at the process of putting the needle into his hand but he does and he remains perfectly still). Anyway, his nurse took out a new kit and used it to show him how the needle pops out, the straw that stays in his hand, and how the needle pops back into the plastic housing so that no one gets stuck accidently once it has been used. Then they showed Max how the syringe with saline works but they filled it with water and let him hold it. Then Nancy convinced him it would be a good idea to push the plunger (and squirt the water). No one got soaked but many got wet.

After all of that we headed home for dinner with the rest of the family.