Wow was today a full day of testing for Daniel, and for my endurance. Early morning starting with test preps is never fun for anyone, but Daniel is always a trooper. Not getting to eat for a teenage boy is hard enough but having to drink the gross test prep contrast stinks. Figuratively and literally. Poor kid. We started the morning with chest x-rays which are pretty harmless, but things quickly escalated to an uncomfortable MRI. Typically Daniel has been sedated for MRIs since it is has been so difficult for him to lie on the hard table so still for so long with the hip and bone infection pain he has had, but since he has been doing so well and pain free we thought he would try it awake. BUT he is also uncomfortable from Tuesday’s bone marrow aspirate and spinal procedure so we needed to pad him up a lot. He actually did quite well with the assistance of TLC, relaxation talk and a KungFU Panda video (no idea why he chose that one). Mid MRI the next crew came in to prep him for the next test and that included injections that made him fairly nauseous. Seriously? Then they sent him back for the remainder of the MRI to lay still, ugh poor guy. Successfully completing the MRI he moved on to prepping for the Radionuclide GFR which would be a 5 hour series of blood draws once an hour and a half completing a contrast completion. Forgive me here because I may be confusing this with the other contrast that they were also now starting him via IV which he still hates and really hasn’t gotten any better at. He got a bit upset that he has this beautiful Broviac chest tube nicely inserted for all input and output services and now they are telling him he needs sticking again. He is not happy, while he is drinking really gross tasting crap. I tell him I would gladly drink the medicine if I could but he said it wouldn’t do anyone any good and then he would have to deal with me being sick too. He now has some Benadryl in him because he had to take something that has iodine in it he may possibly react to so we are premedicating . Off to CT scan for chest/sinus/abdomen and pelvis. As we get into the room he says he remembers being in that room and refers to a not so good experience in the machine, but says that that won’t be happening again. And it doesn’t. Aside from a bad IV stick, the CT scan goes quickly and fine, just like everything else today. It all went quickly and fine. There was just a lot of it. I am glad it was all bundled together but it was just a lot. Once we were out of The CT and more blood was drawn we were now okay to eat. Perfect timing because Rob was on his way with some lunch. Just between appointments. So nice of them to schedule it that way since we this growing teenage boy hasn’t eaten since last night. After lunch outside on a beautiful fall day under the red trees we were up to Pulmonary on the 3rd floor for baseline readings of Daniel’s lung functioning. The lungs are common place for infection with graft versus host disease after transplant and they need to have a read of what is normal for Daniel. The very pretty technician had Daniel breathing heavy in no time but it was really hard for him to muster up the breath support but he had no problems getting a very normal reading. Boy I am I glad he ate lunch just before or that boy would have been passed out cold on the floor for sure. He is definitely low on the energy scale these days and it was not an easy task for him but he did it. We will hope to stave off all infections and not need any treatment in this area through the transplant process. Fingers crossed. Back down to the lab for another blood draw and then one more at 4:45 and then stick a fork in us. We are done for the day. WHEW another long one. Tomorrow is fairly easy I think we have only one appointment eye exam and of course on air live at 2pm in the Seacrest Studios. But tonight is Thursday night football so that means night off for me. Plus the Gottlieb Family graciously is hosting a meal for us tonight so thank goodness I am going to be able to relax, thank you for that Gottliebs. This girl is tired from testing all day and I didn’t even do anything so I can’t even imagine how Daniel feels. Can you believe he asked Rob on the way home from the hospital if they could try to get town to the football stadium to see if they could get close for the pregame sports center show. Seriously? I am a walking zombie. I asked him Why? What for? Aren’t you exhausted? He said he could use it for his show tomorrow. This kid is unbelievable, I tale back my feeling sorry for him drinking that stinky contrast.