ding ding round 2

Well yesterday was Harry's second chemo session, and a very long day indeed.
Got up at 5.30am to make sure all was ready and the other 3 up and dressed ready for grandparents coming at 8am to look after them for the day.
We set off at 8.15am for his appt at 10 thinking we'd have loads of time but short of road rage and a lot of shouting at the road works and traffic we finally arrived at the hospital at 9:55am aaargh.
Dumped Harry into his pram and I ran into the hospital with an occasional pause to hoist my jeans back up which kept falling down. Chunnered under my breath at the uber long time the lift seemed to take, turned onto the day unit panicking I had missed my appointment to be met by a waiting room CRAMMED and I men CRAMMED with people. Take a seat the receptionist said, I would if there had been any left.
Here started a day of waiting and waiting nd waiting. I hate waiting.
At 11am, Harry had some blood taken from his foot to check his blood count, if it wasnt high enough then he couldnt have chemo and we would have to come back another day. NO WAY was this happening, so we had to wait (yes wait) until his results came bck then we went in to see his consultant. 10 minutes of cooing and mindless chit chat but WHAT WAS HIS BLOOD COUNT!!!!! and then finally, his blood count is okay and he can have his chemo. We also got the fantastic news that his lumbar puncture and bone marrow are completely clear so it hasnt spread. The nurse then guided us back to the, dare I say it, waiting room and said pop out for some lunch and drop his prescription in then come back. Erm why, cos we have to wait for his chemo drugs which will now be ordered to come up.
So i dutifully did that and returned to the ward at 12.30 to be told that Harry's drugs will be here by 1. Oh brilliant, seeing as it takes about 6hours to have all the necessary drugs and flushes in his line. So wait wait WAIT and bloody WAIT and finally at 2pm they hook him up. Its not the nurses fault, they were all lovely and of course were all falling at Harry's feet and fighting over whose turn it was to cuddle him.
So out of the window was any chance of us getting home to see the others before bed time and the phone calls home to check all was ok confirmed that my mum and dad were being kept very busy as I could hear my little ones in the background not being exactly quiet and still.
So the next 6 hours were spent sitting and waiting. I chatted to some of the other mums and recognised a few from our previous visit and one by one they all went home cos their chemo and stuff DIDN'T take 6 hours. We were the only ones left, even the cleaners came in and looked surprised that we were still there but finally hooray at 8pm, all chemo drugs in, line flushed and dressing changed we could come home. There was only one thing left between us and home and that was the Motorway. Thankfully Danny drove home and we rolled home at 9.30pm. Utterly tired out and incredibly grateful to my mum and dad for giving up their day.
Now follows days of force feeding anti sick drugs and changing nappies with gloves on, home visits to flush out his line and weeks of hoping Harry stays well for his next round. I am going to change my name to waiting.
I also got some really sad news (to finish off the day) that my friends daughter (who I'd been passing over outgrown baby clothes to) had like me noticed her baby had stopped moving with only a week to due date. But devastatingly for her when she was sent to the hospital for a trace they couldnt detect his heartbeat and then the scan confirmed that her soon to be born baby boy had died. OMG how awful for her. I cried and cried as i remembered the stress i went through whilst I waited for Harry's all clear and his birth and realised that this could have been my outcome. In spite of Harry's awful devasting illness at least he is alive. Oh poor poor Hayley. Sending you big hugs and I know nothing will make it all right for you x