Monday was my first day back to work. I was so lucky to be off from work for nine weeks! But the last two of those nine weeks were a gift. I so humbly received the most priceless gift in the world...the gift of time. Some very generous co-workers of mine donated their own vacation time to me. My vacation time had run out while Audra was in the hospital. I would have had to return to work the day after she came home from the hospital. Instead, I was able to spend two more weeks at home with her, and my other kids, getting everyone settled...finally...and establish some sort of routine, a new normal. Did I mention...priceless! I am blessed to work at such an amazing institution with people who are even more amazing.
Monday was also the day of Audra's follow up ultrasound and bloodwork for her renal abscesses. She is such an observant little one, so smart. She was happy as a clam while we drove to the city. But once the expressway opened up to the skyline of Philadelphia her mood changed. Immediately she realized where we were headed...and she wasn't happy about it!
She was a very brave girl for her bloodwork. She knew right away what the blue tourniquet and rainbow of colorful vials meant. As she sat on my lap she stretched her arm out for the phlebotomist all on her own, as if to say "I know what you want, just go ahead, take it". Break.my.heart! When all was done, the nice ladies in the lab tried to offer her stickers but she was outta there. All she wanted to do was leave!
So next we headed to her ultrasound. As we sat in the waiting room one of the attending physicians who took care of Audra while she was in the hospital saw us and she came over to say hello. As she always did, she spoke to Audra in Mandarin, and Audra seemed to understand. It was nice to see her and nice to hear that she still thinks about Audra and has tried to follow her case as it continues to evolve.
Audra did so well during her ultrasound. She laid still and cooperated...which means for all the other ultrasounds that she cried through she really must have been in pain (as I suspected). The ultrasound tech who did Monday's scan had done some of Audra's previous ones...so she can vouch for me!
This time she actually fell asleep...and I had to wake her up when it was done.
Once the ultrasound was done we met Uncle Tim and Charlotte who had so kindly come down to the city to pick Audra up. This meant that I could go right to work for 8 hours. Audra was so excited to see them which made it very easy for me to just wave good-bye and head in the other direction towards work :)
Tuesday morning Audra and I went back to CHOP for her appointment with the Infectious Disease doctor to get her test results and decide on a plan. Her bloodwork showed that her inflammatory markers are WAY down...but still abnormally elevated. So now there are just high...not SKY high! And the ultrasound showed that the abscesses are still there but a bit smaller. So the verdict is....continue the antibiotics, repeat the bloodwork and ultrasound in two weeks and return to the clinic afterwards.
"Hiding" under the exam table
Looking out the window at the CHOP world outside
Uncle Tim and Charlotte came to pick Audra up again so I could get a few more hours of work in that day. But this time Audra had caught on to my little trick...she obviously remembered that the day before when I put her in Uncle Tim's car she didn't see me again for the rest of the day. Sweet girl, she cried and cried. Ok, so maybe I'm not gonna get off easy on these first back to work good-byes. I am off work today (yippee!) then Thursday and Friday I work 7a-3p so I'll be gone before she even wakes up. Hopefully she will handle that better. I know I will!
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