Home again, but a bit sore and definitely tired

Not having experience with many emergency rooms I wasn't really prepared to walk into a pediatric one filled with very unhappy kids. We were a bit tired when we arrived about midnight and not totally prepared for an acoustic assault as we stood at the check-in desk trying to filter out the noise (both for the decibel level as well as the emotional tug of knowing kids were in pain).
In order to check for possible infection the hospital needs blood from the patient -- something we assumed would be quick and easy. We had put numbing cream on Sawyer's port when we arrived and thought it would be just a normal poke into his port, get a sample and let us head out the door to a hotel room for the evening.
Instead, we discovered that the emergency room nurses don't have much experience with port draws and they need blood from the arm as well to make sure the infection isn't in the port itself.
The arm IV fortunately went smoothly but after a couple failed attempts to draw from his port the nurse called in the experts from the oncology unit. They exuded so much more confidence that it was calming; but there was still an issue with his port not cooperating and in the end Sawyer was poked about 6 times. Needless to say his port site is very tender now.
As Mark reported in his post yesterday, they finally got done with everything a little before 5 am. We could have left the hospital and found a hotel for a few hours but that meant they would need to de-access (take the now-functioning needle from the port) and he'd have to be re-accessed (poked again) for his regularly scheduled appointment at 12:30  in the out-patient clinic.
So we opted to stay in the ER and get a couple hours of sleep; fortunately they were low on cases and there was no rush for us to vacate the room, and thankfully all the unhappy children had been treated and had left. Since Sawyer was scheduled for a spinal tap and a bone marrow test he was not allowed to eat food after 7 am and no liquids after 11 am. I had him eat something about 4:30 am so that he'd have food in his stomach and could then sleep without me needing to wake him shortly before 7 to eat.
We were woken up about 7:30 am with a new case entering the emergency department - another young child crying, scared and loud. I quickly ascertained through our time there that I would not be cut out to be an employee in this type of place needing to emotionally handle kids in need.
We left the ER around 10:30 am and headed to the hospital lobby's coffee bar. Sawyer was desperately hoping that he could have a vanilla frappe (couldn't that count as a liquid? After all it does just melt in his mouth....). I checked with the clinic and they sadly reported that it wasn't to be. So he settled for a cup of coffee. He asked me if he could put a little creamer in it and I thought it was okay (we later found out that milk products are considered to be solids and are not to be part of a liquids-only diet -- learn something new every day! Fortunately it didn't delay his procedure since he had ingested such a small amount).
We sat in the clinic waiting area for a couple hours before the appointment but it was quiet and comfortable. We ran into a couple other local families who were there with their own kids for scheduled appointments. It certainly is discouraging to be realizing just how many families are dealing with health issues for children. Guess I was extremely fortunate as a kid to not have any problems and to not be aware of anyone else with any of this level.
Sawyer is now home but sore in multiple locations: tender port site, sore spots from the spinal tap and bone marrow needles and aching knee joints from the prednisone withdrawal. Luckily he has a quiet day at home to rest and has adequate pain relief and heating pads to help.The rest of the week will hopefully continue the same way. The visiting nurse will come sometime over the weekend for the next blood draw and he and Mark will go to the next appointment in Rochester on Monday.

One thing we were disconcerted about throughout this is how to know if we can rely on our digital thermometers at home. We had been told to buy any $5 one and to use it instead of a mercury thermometer. I picked up a couple of $10 ones (they give a much quicker read-out) but we've discovered they don't read the same temperature. There's a least a full degree difference in their readings; even taking a temperature three times in a row with the same one gives a different answer each time. I asked the nurse practitioner about this and she said it's just the nature of thermometers. She suggested that we stick to using just one to help give a more consistent picture. Their office doesn't question the readings; they just take them for face value and go from there. I understand the answer but am not sure that I'm 100% comfortable with it.

On a different topic: the UV light system for the water at our house was installed late last week! One less thing to worry about.

(Sorry for such the long post - I promise we won't report out in such detail for future trips to the hospital, but since this was the first one there was more to share.)