Samhain Thanksgiving Moon
Grandson Gabe’s port finished its work a couple of days ago. Through it Jon and Jen infuse the factor that helps prevent joint bleeds, good for Gabe since he receives a prophylactic dose. That means he gets two to three infusions a week. A port is less painful than a needle stick.
The day the port stopped functioning Gabe had to be infused the old fashioned way, with a needle in a vein. Apparently he did not like that.
Kate and I went into Colorado Children’s yesterday to spend some time with Gabe and his folks. A real family thing and one I was glad we could do so easily. He had just come up from the recovery room, sort of groggy. A constant stream of nurses, nurses’ assistants, cleaners, doctors, hospital functionaries came in to probe him, ask questions, set up IV’s and o2 monitors, position the bed, bring water with ice.
Really, there’s gotta be a better way. In the hospital rest is important, but the pattern, the culture of the hospital works against it. Of course, you don’t want to be a hospital whose patients die of neglect, but there’s got to be a place between the current high traffic and the opportunity to heal.
This port lasted four years, some last six or seven, so he probably won’t have to have this done again until he’s old enough to really get what’s happening. The goal is for him to self-infuse but he dislikes needle sticks so it may be a while.