James Arthur Arthur Skelly

At home James does just fine. But bring him through the hospital doors and something about him changes. He morphes. Into James Arthur Arthur Skelly. Even his chart says, "James Arthur Arthur Skelly."

When he comes here, the most simple thing becomes complicated. Getting a new port installed and getting fluids and chemotherapy through it should be a very simple, basic thing. It is not, after all, abdominal surgery. But somehow, something about James makes it complex and difficult.

Yesterday, the area around James' new port filled with fluid as they tried to use it to hydrate him. So we had to turn that off and get a peripheral IV placed--which essentially defeats the purpose of having this port in the first place. Marcus from the Emergency Room came up shortly after 7 p.m. to put in the IV. Thankfully nothing much happened with putting in the IV and it worked as advertised. We also went down to radiology and they did a quick contrast injection inot his port to be sure it was placed right and things could move through it. Last night James got his hydrating fluids and this morning we are waiting for someone to look at his port and say it is okay to use it. Then, we will try again with fluids for a couple of hours, and if nothing weird happens, I think we are supposed to start his chemo.

In the meantime, perhaps I ought to set my sights on correcting the name on his chart.

Love, Stephanie