Port Placement

Monday, September 9th

We had another early start to our week. We left home at 4:50am to make it to Children's for a 5:30 check-in. Avery was still sound asleep, so we made it to the car and into the hospital with no issues. Once we were checked in, she played on my phone and seemed pretty calm until it was time to go to triage. Getting her weight and vitals has become the most annoying thing to her, and she once again put on a show. She likely terrified half of the families in the waiting area with her screams.

We quickly made it to our surgery room and waited. We have been talking a lot about her "magic button" aka port since last week, and how nice it would be to eliminate the need for IVs the majority of the time. She seems to understand and agree, but only time will really tell. They finally came to get us around 7:15am. Since Avery somehow believes that hospital bed transports(and gowns) are beneath her, I carried Avery as far as I could, and then once again left her crying in the arms of a stranger. I could still hear her cries for "Mommy" as we quickly walked back to the room to wait.

The port placement took very little time, and she was moved to recovery shortly after 8am. She took longer than planned in recovery, but some pain meds and anti-nausea meds quickly helped her calm down and get some rest. She made her way back to us around 10am. As has been her recent MO, she came back to the room with her Minnie Mouse blanket and nothing else on:)

After some struggles getting her dressed and letting me pick her up(she was in pain), we made our way home. At her request, we ran by Dunkin Donuts for sprinkle donuts and Sonic for cheese fries and rootbeer. She slept until about 4:30 but was finally able to enjoy her treats. There may also be a Target run planned for later as well:)

We have to report to Children's South tomorrow at 7am for another head MRI which is needed to start her treatment. It completely breaks my heart each time we have to subject her to a new appointment or procedure. But, we know this is all necessary to achieve a fully healed and healthy child, so we continue to move forward. Thank you all for the continued love and support!

For those of you who have inquired about ordering bracelets, please visit the link below. Our wonderful neighbor and friend is handling all of the logistics: #brAvery Bracelet Order Form