Estrella and Shafik

We had a little detour in Bubsy's road to health. Late last week he caught some sort of stomach bug. Post nissen surgery his stomach is not normal baby sized, so we were unable to keep him sufficiently hydrated. His blood sugar got too low, his dehydration took a toll on his heart and he started having some labored breathing. So, we ended up back in the hospital for 2 days.

Most importantly, Bobby is fine now. Maybe a little too fine as tonight, his first night home, he figured out how to pull on his g-tube cord so that the iv pole its attached to rolls across the floor. It's a good trick, a pretty smart trick I must say, but one we can definitely do without.

The hospital was interesting as always. Because he had had some vomiting and diarrhea he was put in isolation. At Children's isolation also means no roommate, which is a huge boon. It's rough to share a room at the hospital - first of all the rooms are tiny so mama ends up sleeping on a fold out chair jammed against Bobby's bed. A day or two of that kind of closeness is way too much. More important than that, who wants their sick baby in such close quarters with another sick baby? Bobby has gotten more viruses from the hospital than ailments our 11 hospital visits have cured. Lastly, a children's hospital is full of angry parents - parents who want their child discharged; parents who don't want to share a room; parents who don't believe the doctors are doing enough for their child; parents who are tired of dealing with residents and want to talk to a 'real' doctor. When I'm the angry parent, I don't really want a roommate listening in on my discussions about Bobby's care. When our roommate has an angry parent I balk at having to spend my day swimming in the negative energy. So, while I'm not happy Bubs had diarrhea, I will say that if he has to be hospitalized, I'd just as soon it be for something that lands him in isolation.

This hospitalization also marked Bobby's first ride in an ambulance. His labored breathing on Monday night was something new - I was used to his old huffing and puffing from congestive heart failure, but this was something scarier. He was breathing in loudly and forcing air out by puckering his mouth and blowing through his lips. At first I thought it was just a new oral activity for him, like raspberrying or fish face kisses. But as time wore on I became more and more worried. So I called an ambulance.

The paramedics showed up in about 3 minutes. Living next to a fire station is often a nuisance, with the loud sirens at all times of night. But living next to a fire station on Monday night was a blessing. They hooked up Bobby to a pulsometer to check his oxygen levels. Those were fine, but still I wanted him to go to the emergency room.

We ended up at Weiss Memorial hospital a few minutes from our house. It was our first visit to somewhere besides Children's. The care was good, although its much different to be in a hospital that's used to serving adults. The nurses didn't wear smocks with Sesame Street characters on them. They had to search for the right sized blood pressure cuffs. The only diaper they had was for a 30 pound baby. And, they had to search for someone to draw blood from Bobby.

Bobby is, as they say in the phlebotomy business, a 'tough stick'. I've watched a heart surgeon struggle to draw blood from him. Bobby's required an ultrasound for someone to find a vein in him. The angriest scar on his body is from an IV placement in his wrist that was so botched he required stitches.

At Children's, we only allow one phlebotomist to take Bobby's blood. Shafik has worked at Children's for 20 years and is unquestionably the best at what he does. He has arrived on the heels of the vascular access team, specialists in 'tough sticks' who often fail to get blood from Bubs. Shafik draws the blood in his first try. He's so skilled that Bobby doesn't always have time to cry. Shafik patiently searches for a vein, all the while comforting Bobby with his thick Arabic accent 'it's OK baby. Sorry baby. I'm almost done baby. It's OK baby. It's OK baby'. Without him, I'm afraid Bobby would look like a pin cushion now, so full of holes from failed sticks. To us, a good phlebotomist is as valuable as any member of the hospital staff. He has saved Bobby an unbelievable amount of suffering.

So at Weiss we were very concerned about Bobby's blood draw. If staff trained to work with children couldn't successfully get blood from Bobby, what could we expect of these folks? Sure enough, the first nurse came in, looked at his feet and his arms and then shook her head, telling our primary nurse to 'find Estrella'. Estrella was on triage duty that night and we waited a full hour and a half for her to have time to see us. Bobby's breathing had returned to normal and we considered signing ourselves out and taking Bobby to Children's, so convinced were we that the blood draw attempt would fail.

Finally, Estrella came into the room. She was an older woman, with gray streaks in her dark hair. She had glasses that sat low on her nose, as if she were more a librarian than a nurse. She studied Bobby's arms and feet for a long time, finally settling on his left foot. We held Bobby still as the needle went under his skin. I held my breath watching for blood to flow out. And it did.

"Thank God," Estrella said softly, repeating her praise just as Shafik repeats "It's OK baby. It's OK baby." For Estrella, Bobby actually fell asleep in the middle of the blood draw.

I thanked Estrella, telling her that she was only the second person to successfully draw blood from Bobby on the first try. "I prayed for it," she said.

She was so sincere. I was very touched. Obviously Estrella is very skilled at what she does. Her coworkers defer to her and she equaled the accomplishment of the very best phlebotomist we know. But for all her skill she doesn't forget the power of prayer. And in doing so she saved my little boy a lot of unhappiness and pain.