The laws of physics conspire

We can’t be in two places at once – so says the universe, and it seems to be true because there’s no law I’d rather violate than this one. My extremely pregnant wife is home, ready to give birth any time – tonight, tomorrow, next week maybe – and I’m with my son, back in the hospital a million miles an hour away. But this is getting way ahead of myself.

Last week Wes had round two of Interim Maintenance, infusing him with a powerful cocktail of toxic medicine. We were sent home a day early, on Friday, but the recovery always takes longer. We had a quiet weekend, lots of downtime, I got back to the gym, we worked on final preparations for the upcoming birth, and mostly just let Wes rest and heal. He didn’t eat much, but that’s not unusual in the days after this chemo, and he didn’t sleep well – staying up late, waking up a lot, and then sleeping through late morning.

This week is a big week. It’s the first week we were actively hoping the new baby would arrive – Wes’ next hospitalization wasn’t scheduled until the 19th, giving us a window big enough to deliver a baby through, if all went according to plans.

Yesterday – Sunday – he started running a temperature, and by early morning on Monday it was looking likely he’d trigger the fever protocol. I picked up around the house, made sure my go bags were packed, made coffee.

Monday morning our midwife came by to check on Stephanie, and as she was packing up, Wes’ temperature again hit the magic numbers and we had to call in to talk to an oncology nurse. We knew what was next. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia KoP, here we come.

Wes was clearly not feeling well, worse than usual. His lips were so blistered they bled when mom put some ointment on. At the hospital they put him on antibiotics and ran labs. Good news/bad news: his numbers were pretty good, and looked to rule out a virus, but he had sores in his mouth – similar to and from the same cause as his horrific diaper rash, the incredibly nasty and essential chemotherapy drug methotrexate. Oral mucositis is a common side-effect, but it doesn’t make it any easier – it’s painful, interferes with eating and drinking, and has to be treated.

The next step was clear- we were going to be transferred to the main hospital and admitted. We just left on Friday and we were headed back to Philadelphia again, but this time via ambulance.

We had an easy enough ride with a fantastic team, but we had to leave Stephanie behind to head home and rest and prepare to deliver another baby. I’d give anything to not be separated right now, but we’re both exactly where we need to be.

Hopefully we’ll be out in a few days. We’re sharing a room for the first time, which won’t be easy, and for a million reasons we all just want to be home. I’ll post more updates on his condition as I know more. For now he’s OK, in amazing, loving hands in a very familiar place. The pain can be controlled, the mucositis will be treated, and we’ll someday soon all get to be in the same place, at the same time, and as a foursome.