A Million More Tests and This is Halloween!

Tony got to take a bunch of pre-transplant tests today. We were out and about at all the testing locations from 8:30 to 3:00. It was quite the day. First, he had a test done in the nuclear medicine department. They took some of his blood, and then added an isotope to it, and then put it back. Then they did a scan of his heart that took a picture over 5 minutes. The isotope in his blood helped to get a clearer picture. They had to do 3 pictures, each taking 5 minutes. The technician was very nice and let me watch everything and she explained it as she went. Then we went to the respiratory department where they tested Tony's lung capacity. Honestly, I did not envy him while he was taking this test. He had to suck in and blow out really hard into this breathing tube thing, while he had this huge clip on his nose. (That left pretty little spirals on his face). They would make him blow out air long after he had any leftover in his lungs. And they they made him breathe while they sent pressurized air into his lungs to see how much they could hold. It was crazy stuff...didn't look fun though. Then we picked up Jack from the wonderful Emily who so graciously offered to watch him while we were at the hospital. Then it was lunch and back to appointments. Next was the social worker at Life With Cancer. She has to ok him to have the transplant by checking to see if I am sane enough to take care of him......Ha ha! Just kidding, but only slightly....she really does check to make sure he has a good enough support system to go through such a huge procedure. She was really nice and loved watching Jack bang on the table and jabber away. We figured if we brought him along, she wouldn't pay attention to us and then we would pass the test. :) And lastly, we went to our regular doctor's office so they could take 14 vials of blood from Tony to do a bunch of tests. He weighed himself before and after and he lost 0.8 pounds after the blood draw. Now that is a lot of blood. He is such a trooper to go through all of this. Best man I know!

Last night we carved pumpkins with the Hamiltons and the Andersons. It was very fun to get together with everyone, and Jack loved trying to eat the pumpkin innards. He just couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to shove all the pumpkin seeds in his mouth. (Pictures of the actual pumpkins pending....They are not finished).....It's the experience that really counts, right?

This is our little monkey that we took trick-or-treating with some of the ward tonight. We decided this was warmer than the hulk and it was just hanging in his closet. Jack has gotten into this thing that when we get the camera out, he does his close-lipped fake smile. Not even 8 months old and he's already refusing to show off those awesome pearly whites. 

I had to share this picture. He is like "mom and dad...why are you torturing me?"