Radio-What?

 On Friday we had a date with nuclear medicine at the hospital.

  First stop was nursing in radiology.

I lied.

First stop was that place with the yellow arches.

 Parents present and accounted for.

Any kid who is going to have a

radionucleotide liver scan

ought to have his own support team, right?

 Our whole day was practicing "hurry up and wait." 

Magic cream applied.

Joshua learned a new word - "numb"

 Squeezing Daddy's finger.

 Two tries. 

Super Duper Nurse John got the second IV to slide right in. 

Joshua was VERY proud of himself for not crying.

 This guy should get a customer service award. 

He explained every single thing he was doing in detail.

I learned a lot of science today.

I like science.

By the way.

 A few CC's of blood extracted 

and sent off to be damaged 

and bound with radioactive material.

 Then we waited.

   

Joshua kept himself busy arranging blocks

and taking his own pictures.

 Joshua's viewpoint. 

Not sure these poor folks knew they would make it on a blog but they

 were doing their job checking and double checking the blood.

Seems to help Joshua's stress level to let him have the camera and snap away. 

He was pretty pleased with this picture.

 Once the damaged bonded blood was reinjected, we were IV free.

 Which he was very happy about!

Back to the waiting room to play and wait for the red blood cells to redistribute. Basically, we are trying to find out if Joshua has any working spleen material. The answer will help us formulate a treatment plan for keeping him as healthy as possible. We want to avoid any sickness that might stress his heart and lungs. Since the spleen filters the blood, it will be good to know how much he can fight off the bad cells. It's a battle people.

 Finally, the pictures.

Five of them.

 Each one took about 5-6 minutes where he had to lay very still.

What a champ!

From start to finish, the whole process took about four hours.

 Oh, hello buffet. 

We took Dad out to dinner.

You find out what a splash you made when your server from last month (only been here twice in four months) comes over and asks where all the kids are. I guess we are kind of hard to miss. I tipped her really big, too. Lots and lots of plates. And bowls. And cups. And there might have even been some food on the floor. Kristen is quite the sweetheart and worth every penny.

The ride home got a little interesting. We went four wheel drive and crawled along at 30 mph for a stretch. Arriving  home safely around 8:00pm thanks to my awesome hubby.

We will find out test results next week.

Radio-nucleo-tide 

Say that three times fast. 

I dare you.