Fun Times at the Hospital, Part 2

Dr. Pearl sent us home at 1:00 p.m., so we went to Steffani’s to pick up Dani. As I strapped Dani into her car seat, Bryce started complaining about having chest pain. We called Dr. Pearl, who told us the bronchoscopy wasn't the cause of the chest pain, and we should go to the emergency room. NOW.
I drove like mad to get Bryce back to the hospital. When I checked in at the E.R. triage desk, I told them about Bryce’s chest pain, shortness of breath and metastatic cancer. This is stuff that gets you fast-tracked into the E.R. right? Yeah, I thought so too. We (including Bryce’s parents, sister and my mom) waited in the E.R. waiting room for 45 minutes before they had an opening for Bryce. 45 MINUTES!!!
After running all the tests in the E.R, the doctors agreed that Bryce was not having a heart attack, but he was bleeding internally somewhere. His hematocrit had dropped about 6 points in a few hours. The source of bleeding can be anywhere, since his body is full of tumors. We waited in our room in the E.R. for about 4 hours, while doctors and nurses paraded in and out. Another significant lump was found on Bryce’s back during the physical exam, which could be another tumor. The first order of business was to stabilize Bryce, which meant a blood transfusion. This must be done inpatient, so he was admitted(8 East, if anyone is interested…).
Upon admission to his room, Bryce was given two units of blood. My dad contacted all of Bryce’s doctors to discuss the latest developments, and they were all making arrangements to run more tests or perform palliative procedures. His Utah oncologist didn’t return any calls or help in any way, so we dumped them and found a new oncologist, Dr. Frame. He said the only thing to do that night was to stabilize Bryce with blood transfusions, oxygen and painkillers. We would discuss proceeding with round two of chemotherapy in the morning. It looks like we will stay in Salt Lake City for round two, because Bryce is too sick to handle the trip to Denver.
Holly and Jenni took me to my house to pack a suitcase at around 11 p.m. As we pulled into the driveway, we saw pink paper hearts all over the garage door and front door. They all had messages of hope, love and support written by our friends from church. We were “Heart Attacked”! I am so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful people.
(We girls had a good time together and it was a good tension reliever. Jen, my sisters and I want to adopt you. We love you so much!!)