Beaudin’s appointment last week with the Apheresis team went well. Actually, really well. The team was very kind and attentive, crouching down and engaging in the solving of a cube as though they actually thought they stood a chance of beating Beaudin’s current record on the 3×3 of 26.4 seconds.
There were bountiful snacks that are often not found in our household (fruit roll-ups, goldfish, Mott’s apple juice) and as expected, endless new movie selections on the in-hospital on demand movie channels. It’s funny how even in the trauma that is the hospital, you can find a lot of comfort.
Inpatient 2019, we came to love the gluten-free waffles on the breakfast menu, The Minions Movie, and the rabbit pellet ice. They were like a security blanket. And even so, if I hear one of the kids use a minion voice, which seems to be all too often, I recall how scary it was then to have the safest thing be the replaying of a movie about small yellow creatures.
Scary and comforting, always both.
Anyhow, there we were. Back at it, seeing that the hospital life was something we were unfortunately or most fortunately accustomed to.
And the actual appointment went well too, ha. The team has been using a new method for the t-cell collection which includes placement of a device called a PowerWand. It’s more of less a glorified IV and allows for higher volume movement. He will have one placed in both arms, above the elbow. The procedure is sometimes done bedside, aka without sedation, and we’ve decided that with a proper amount of anxiety meds prior and a lathering of Emla/ lidocaine cream that is something we are willing to try out. The PICC team, who places the PowerWand line, came to meet Beaudin at our appointment and check his veins, via ultrasound.
His veins were “very, very nice,” and that left us all feeling warm and fuzzy about things.
And by warm and fuzzy, I mean that we no longer felt like the task at hand is absolutely impossible, but instead just felt like, with enough sedatives we may be able to eek through.
Beaudin will have the PowerWands placed Thursday morning, early. Then the t-cell collection will begin. That process takes about 6 hours. They say he won’t feel much, though some patients feel tired, so we will plan for lots of in-bed activities, aka watching every movie the hospital has to offer.
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