Leland's Follow-up VCUG

(Note: I am writing the next few posts out of order but dating them on the day they occur. They will show up on the blog chronologically.)

Leland had her follow up VCUG to determine if her surgery in March was successful at correcting her reflux issues. In short, the surgery was successful and she does not have any signs of reflux. She no longer needs to take antibiotics daily (which she has been on since Aug '08). Lucy loved being in the hospital bed by her sister, it was so cute. Unfortunately, we had a very difficult few hours before we received the good news.

Funny story before the long story - While Leland was coming out of her partial sedation (they don't put her out, only relax her), the girls were watching Backyardigans. Leland says, "Austin (one of the characters) is not in this one. But there are 2 Uniqua's, 2 Pablos', and 2 Tasha's" (the other characters). She was SO confused. Chuck and I started laughing because we realized she was seeing double of the TV and was confused on why there were 2 of everybody.

So here is the long story...

We had to be at the hospital in Charlottesville (more than an hour away) at 8:00 AM. We were planning to meet my Aunt Barbara just off the freeway by her house to give her Lucy, so we could both focus on being with Leland during her tests. Less than half way to the hospital, my aunt called to say that she had heard on the radio that the freeway we were travelling on was closed in both directions on the mountain between our house and hers due to a tractor trailer accident.

About 15 miles before where the accident was, we came to a dead stop. We were not very close to the next exit, so Chuck decided to go in reverse on the shoulder to go back to the emergency lane that crossed over the median to the other side of the freeway. I tried calling my aunt back to find the best way to go over the mountain on back roads, but I kept getting an "all circuits are busy" message. I finally tried calling my sister (thanks Suz) to find the best way to go. It was pretty early in the morning, so I woke her up and made her get out of bed to look up directions for us (this is one of those times we wished we had a GPS). She helped us find the road we needed and we headed for the windy mountain roads.

I continued to try to call my aunt and continued to be unsuccessful. I am sure that all the other hundreds of people stuck on the freeway and trying to get over the mountain were also trying to use their cell phones. Did I mention also that at this point it started raining and was very foggy? I finally get my aunt on the phone and all I said was what road we had gotten onto and then the connection was lost. What I didn't hear was my aunt saying that she was going to meet us at a new location that was closer for both of us and our new route.

We continued through the windy mountain roads until we finally got past the accident and we got back on the freeway just before my aunt's exit where we thought we were meeting her. I should mention that our girls have a tendency to get car sick quite often. I decided that we should take the time to still try to meet my aunt, because I really preferred to not take Lucy with us to the hospital. It was already 8 AM, so we were hoping to have a quick hand off before heading on.

Just as we got off the freeway Leland starts to yell, "Lucy is throwing up! Mom, it's all over your chair!" Yes, in fact Lucy got car sick and vomit projected onto the back of my chair. It was really a blessing that we had gotten off the freeway so we could pull over to a safe place to clean up Lucy. We had to strip the poor girl down to her diaper and set her on a blanket in the grass in the rain while we tried to clean out the car and car seat. My aunt was not at our original meeting place, she had thought I heard her tell me a new meeting place. Our cell phones were still not connecting to one another.

We got Lucy cleaned up, changed her clothes, and endured the rest of the car ride smelling vomit until we finally made it the hospital. I was really worried about having to be in a hospital waiting area with Lucy for a long period of time. We went to radiology and we were quickly checked in despite being over a half hour late.

The wonderful nurse took all of us back to our very own pediatric room complete with TV and a variety of books and puzzles. She told me that Lucy and I could wait in there by ourselves while Chuck took Leland to her tests. I was so relieved, it was great, even though I could still smell vomit no matter how many times I washed my hands. I was able to relax in a recliner while Lucy watched Nick Jr

After being so stressed about being late, cleaning up the vomit, and just the stress of the tests it all worked out fine. On our way home we saw the wreckage from the tractor trailer accident that morning that caused our whole fiasco. It was the craziest, most destroyed truck I have ever seen. It was unrecognizable that it was a truck. They must have left all the wreckage until the rain and fog cleared to be able to move it safely.

I also must note how much I LOVE my car. In the Honda Element there are plastic floors and waterproof upholstery. It makes cleaning up everything, especially vomit, pretty easy. The only thing we couldn't get the smell out of was Lucy's car seat. I mention this because we are in the market for a new car, since our car will only fit 2 kids. I'm in a little bit of denial and frustrated that no car company, especially Honda, realizes how great of a feature those floors and upholstery would be in a mini van.