To our great delight, Ravi was discharged from Masonic Children’s Hospital this afternoon. He came through the last two infusions very well. He seemed a bit surprised to be leaving the hospital after 11 days, but as we started to drive home, his smile and his eyes got bigger and bigger.
Just last week, his beloved Taco Bell reopened after being remodeled. We stopped by the get him a Freezie and a snack. I was not certain what he would be able to eat after chemotherapy, but I was willing to give it a try. I handed him his Freezie and he grabbed it from my hand and began slurping so hard he promptly got brain freeze. He withdrew the straw from his lips, gave me a brilliant smile, and dove back in for more.
Upon arriving home, he made a beeline for the bag. In short order he devoured a chicken quesadilla, a burrito supreme, the rest of his Freezie, and mine as well. I was pleasantly stunned. After his last round of chemo he had not been able to eat for 36 hours, which ended up getting him readmitted for nutrition. This time, I knew better what anti-nausea meds helped him, and was able to advocate that he receive these meds. A few hours after we got home, I gave him another dose of anti-nausea medicine, and he seems to be having no problems. I am ecstatic. If I can stay on top of his nausea, I can get him to eat and stay hydrated, then he will feel much better.
One of the reasons he was in the hospital so long was he developed an infection in his port. Fortunately, the infection did not spread to his heart. We were very lucky. He had an operation to remove the port and had a pic line put in his left arm. He is receiving IV antibiotics every 8 hours for the next 2 weeks. In order to get him out of the hospital, I had to be trained to administer the IV antibiotics. On a practice dummy, it is fairly straight forward. At 10 pm, I will find out if I can do this as easily on a live person! I am a bit nervous. He needs to get infusions in his IV line ever 8 hours, at 6am, 2pm and 10pm. Since infusions do not hurt, I should be able to sneak 2 of them into him while he is sleeping. When I infuse the 2pm dose, I will make certain to have distractions on hand. Wish me luck!
Robert and I are thrilled to have Ravi home and he is very happy, too. He is loving his new collection of hats and technical t shirts. Thank you to everyone who wrote, visited, dropped off food, sent care packages, or prayed. This means so much to all of us. You all are good humans. Peace, Harriet.
Harriet's Hedgehogs and Autism Advocacy 
Yayyy Ravi!! Yay Parents!! Getting that anti-nausea medication in you BEFORE any nausea starts is key. I read so many times that people still have to advocate for it like you did. I had a great oncologist and chemo team and they really stressed how the meds worked! Great appetite (made me crave a Mexican pizza😆). 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽 that the infection was caught and controlled. Continued prayers 🙏🏽🙏🏽.
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