Life with Leukemia in the hospital

Living in a hospital is different when A I'm not the patient and B it's not for having a baby! 

This place is super nice and I do get good sleep. I've managed to start sleeping through the nightly visits. At 10 and 4 round the clock they draw Tyler's blood for labs and sometimes cultures. We are happy that he finally has a picc line in him so those labs and things don't require extra pokes. We were really fond of the two guys who inserted the picc line. We talked about Disneyland and kids and other normal life things. We love anyone who can talk normal life and joke with us. We also love people who can do a painless procedure which this was.

The intern doctor will come in earlier in the morning and check Tyler's breathing and ask the standard questions. Then a nurse comes in to do the same, as well as an aide... they are very thorough, which we love, well I love, Tyler I'm sure wishes it was more consolidated. 

At some point during the day our team of Dr's come in to give us updates and ask questions. I feel like I'm on the show House. I'm constantly watching the other doctors faces searching to see if this head doc is telling me the truth. Then I have to remind myself I'm not on the show House and this head doctor is probably not addicted to vikaden and is not all sorts of crazy. (Although there is a patient here who resembles Dr. House) He's actually really great and will even throw in a joke or two for some comedic relief (which I think there should just be stand up comedians in hospitals I NEED more laughs!). And even though I know I'm not on House I think imagine they all go back to their glass office and write Tyler's symptoms on a white board trying to figure it out. 

Today has been slow so we have been napping, but normally there are tests, tests, and then some more tests. 

We usually see our Infectious Disease team a couple times a day, and I just learned we are adding on the Pulmonary team to our list of new found friends. (Dear Indiana... thank you for filling my husband with crazy weird fungus) Tyler has some calcified spot on his lungs from a fungus called Histoplasma. Which apparently is everywhere in Indiana. When we first arrived, Dr. J asked Tyler a lot about his hobbies, Does he go Spelunking? Do we camp? Have we traveled to foreign places? Does Tyler like to go into caves with bats? I laughed at every single question, this man obviously does not know my husband. His hobbies include golf, working, and reading. And unless some bats pooped on the golf course, he's never been around any sort of weird fungi. He did however forget to ask where Tyler grew up (and in his defense he may have asked, I can't even remember). Dr. Snyder (the Infectious disease doctor) did ask that and pretty quickly knew it must be Histo. So all you Indiana peeps... watch out! Turns out there was a large out break at Tyler's high school (from bird poo) that probably led to these spots of it on his lungs. 

Anyways, so we obviously eat our meals and watch TV. There are volunteers who bring around DVDs and magazines for us to read. Later today we are meeting Jodi, who's going to hook us up with art supplies! I'm determined Tyler will become an artist in our down time here. 

The physical therapist takes Tyler for walks once a day (it's really cute) and today he gave him some pretty intense leg bending exercises (for reals, they make him exhausted and it just shows how tired he is).

There's always more labs to be done, and questions to be asked.

My couch is very comfy, Tyler seems happy with his bed. Our room is a good size, and don't worry I brought my camera to record it all. 

We will still be here awhile and we are continually grateful for all the love and support from everyone.