if it's thursday, this must be paeds. and emerg. and cardio.

true, the sentence above makes a witty post title. sadly, however, it doesn't make a good day. in fact, i think there's only one word which properly sums up today: ugh. with a capital UGH.

it started off delightfully enough. after falling asleep shortly after 1am, i woke at 4:45. and i mean, wide awake. nice. so i stayed in bed for about an hour or so, and then decided to head out for a drive through the country. after which, i came home, showered, and went to meet the kids for breakfast (they've been with their dad for the last two days).

and as we sat in A&W, i was looking at asher. closely. for a long time. until i finally said aloud what i'd been thinking for over 20 mins:

"he doesn't look right."

so i called our wonderful paeds, dr b, who is on call this week. i told her, "asher's pale, and his forehead is grey, and his eyelids and nose are blue."

"what??" she exclaimed incredulously, "why is he all of those colours?"

"i don't know," i replied, "he's usually one or two of them. he's never all of them."

so she had us go to the paeds ward at the hospital. we got there around 9:30. then doc walked into the room, and, taking one look at my littlest man, said, "he's blue." and it went from there.

the numbers, for those who understand and want to know:

• BP was 90/52. (his norm is 120s/80s.)
• HR was mid-90s to low 100s. (he usually rides the pacer, so his HR is 80 dead on.)
• sats were 90 to 92%. (his new baseline is 96-98%... so, normal. these numbers are distinctly not in the normal range.)
• activity level was decreased, and he wasn't as co-operative as usual. mind you, he was still in constant motion, but not as shockingly fast as usual.)

so we were sent down to emerg for a chest x-ray, ECG and bloodwork.

amusing story about the x-ray techs: first, they were going to put asher in the pig-o-stack. delightful contraption, if you've never seen it. it's a wood table, with a hole and bicycle seat in the middle, and a large clear plastic tube which they close tightly around the screaming baby/toddler with his arms above his head. pretty, no? ugh. anyway, they were surprised to hear that he's now a pro at sitting on a stool for the pics. they looked at me like i was crazy, but i just said, "you'll understand when you see his x-ray." so they did the first shot, and when they looked at it, one of them said, "oh! he's had a lot of surgeries!" "why has he had all those?" the other asked. "because he only has half a heart," i replied casually. they didn't respond. but i giggled inside, i'm not gonna lie.

at 2:30, we had everything done, and emerg doc came in to say, "dr b has talked to cardiology in london, and they want you to go there right now for an echo. you can drive him, but you have to go now. they're waiting for you."

so off we trekked for an echo.

which, of course, showed nothing.

and his ECG in london (the second of the day, you'll note) was "asher perfect."

and his chest x-ray was "asher perfect" (meaning, you can clearly see all his little extra bits and pieces in there, which is always very cool... and fun, when it startles the x-ray techs who have never seen a paced 3-yo with lots of staples, coils and stents. teehee).

and his numbers weren't much different. his BP had dropped to 88/60, which, according to liz, is good.

so dr r doesn't quite know what's going on today. the bloodwork is ok, his haemoglobin was right where it should be, and it all looked good, actually. so, once again, asher had the docs scratching their heads. and me craving poutine (because in addition to laughing, that is the other way i cope. true story.) so we left the hospital shortly before 5, i think. oh, yeah. fun times. but at least asher got to watch some of toy story and toy story 2 and play with some trains.

oh, and a story before i depart. dr r came out to get us after the echo, and on our way to a room, he said, "i checked out his website the other day." "really?" i said, surprised, since he's not asher's cardio. "yeah, it was interesting. i was googling the hemi-coles procedure, and his site was right there." so i told him about the other docs who read the blog, and he laughed to hear that this blog is where they get some of their info.

anyway, this post doesn't quite convey the drudgery of the day. especially when you factor in all the waiting and sitting and the fact that by 11am i was falling asleep. but you'll note that we didn't get any answers. just a lot of "now we know his baseline" and "i dunno, call if he gets worse." a delightful day. and so, to sum up,

ugh.

btw, i just realized i didn't post about our immuno clinic last week. so here's the details (yes, the details, because i'm truly not leaving anything out here): "i dunno. see you in 6 months. now let's draw over 2 ounces of blood from the wee boy." now, spread all that out over 4 hours, and you've got the picture. seriously, that was the entire day. oh, and rush-hour traffic with 3 rowdy kids in the backseat all the way home. c'mon, admit it, you're jealous. {rolls eyes}

and since this is a bit of a downer post (or at best semi-boring), i'll leave you with the funniest thing i've read in a very long time, and quite possibly ever. enjoy!!!

oh, and i should add that tonight i got a text from his dad (the boys are staying with him for an extra night this week), saying that asher pinked up after supper. of course he did!! after we spent the day in hospitals.

again, ugh.