Port placement & transfusion update

Chengbin's surgery went well & he has a port placed right under his collarbone on his left side.  We were told it could be used right away to do blood draws & transfusion.

He woke feeling pretty yucky. He got some morphine & a Popsicle so he was feeling better in no time!

While he was in surgery, mommy made a run to Panda Express so Chengbin can enjoy his beloved 'panda lunch' with us! :)  once he was cleared to eat, he started in on his panda lunch! He was very happy to finally eat, & when it was time to move from recovery to the pediatric ward, he ate on the way.

 It was quite a sight to see this little boy who had just had surgery eating his chicken w chopsticks as he was rolled on to his room! He inspired many smiles & began waving at people w his other hand! Lol!!

We made it to his room and watched some shows on the kindle while we waited for his blood results & red blood cells from the blood bank.  It's funny how as a parent of a child w a relatively rare condition, we become our child's greatest advocate.  So we have the computations from the thalassemia clinic and check each time blood is ordered to make sure he receives the optimal amount. ;)

The rest of the hospital stay was unnecessarily long & drawn out.  We waited around for blood until he was already asleep at 11pm.  Mama was immediately upset as I looked at the bag & saw it expired that day.  We were given the oldest blood instead of the freshest.  Which in turn means he will need another transfusion soon.  (A bag of older red blood cells will naturally have more that are past their prime or have already died.). I let our hematolgist know so we will be testing his Hgb in 2 weeks to see where it's at.

His blood transfusion lasted about 3 1/2 hrs.  No need to go too fast when he's sleeping through it anyway. :)

(He enjoyed kickin' it in nothing but underwear! Lol)

We woke up, had some breakfast and waited not-so-patiently to be released.  Chengbin actually got all dressed & packed everything up even with tubes still hanging out from his port! Lol

Finally the nurse came to take out his port access so we could go.  Here's how it looks the day after...

He's bruised and sore but you can't really even tell it's there!  Next appt is in 2 weeks- finally a much needed break from dr offices...

Praying this improves his quality of life greatly!

Thanks for stopping by,

Fannie, Matt, Kate, & Chengbin 

The next step- Port Surgery Today

Well, after a total of 12 sticks to get his last transfusion and much discussion & prayer, our son is getting a mediport today.

A mediport is a device that is placed on a main vein and stitched into muscle under the skin to provide easy access to his veins for bloodwork & transfusions.

Once he has his port we can get access to his veins on the first stick every time.  This will be huge for him, reducing the time he has to spend at the hematolgist's office and greatly reducing the trauma of multiple sticks/digs trying to access a vein.

 Here's my silly boy waiting for his surgery to start. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Fannie, Matt, Katie, & Chengbin