Day -14: A Day with Interventional Radiology

Today was another long day playing the waiting game.

Dad and study nurse Lisa Williams

After an uneventful night, we arrived at the BMTU punctually at 9am. Dad's study nurse, Lisa Williams (see photo) came by to chat with us for a little while. She will be monitoring Dad through the entire chemo-transplant process.

Diagram of a Hickman central line-I didn't think
you guys would want pictures of  Dad's actual lines...

The next scheduled event was for Dad to get two central lines placed, one on each side of his chest. At UAB this is done by the Interventional Radiology (IR) department, under fluoroscopy to avoid complications.

So the wait began. First we watched old black and white sitcoms in the outpatient clinic room, then Dad began reading his Kindle (thank God for the Kindle!) and I began computing. After about 3 hours we both got sick of what we were doing and began to bug the nurses to call IR and see what the hold up was. Apparently several emergent cases had been squeezed in in front of Dad's slot. Finally, at 1pm, he was taken down for the line placements.

At 5:30pm Dad came up, complete with "some new ornaments" as he likes to call them. The procedure went well, and a chest x-ray confirmed that the lines are both in the correct position. Dad is just really stiff around his neck on both sides. His first order of business upon returning to the BMTU was to scarf down a hamburger and some fries!

Dad then got his second Palifermen dose, and we were able to go home around 7pm. What a day!