Essary 4.0: October Infusion Day

Korban's infusion day for this month was scheduled for Friday, October 10^th. We got a phone call on Thursday saying that the Ronald McDonald house had a room available for us, so we were very happy about that. This has been a crazy busy week, full of sickness and dr apts, so we were so thankful to have a break and know that we wouldn't have to get up so early on Friday.

We got all packed up and headed over Thursday night. The kids were very excited to get to see the Ronald McDonald house again. Selah was full of big plans for their playroom, but it was late when we got there and she fell asleep on the way over. She did wake up when we got there, but we were able to convince her that she would be able to play the next day. Korban was in a good mood and didn't seem to be too anxious about his infusion. That's one definite plus to being able to stay in Birmingham the night before—it really does seem to help his anxiety.

So the kids got settled and went to sleep pretty easily and Brad and I were able to get our stuff ready for the next day. We got a very pleasant surprise. Brad asked at the front desk if there were any activities scheduled for the weekend—like the last time when they had the Birmingham Barons over—and they said they didn't have anything scheduled but they have an ongoing deal with the Birmingham Zoo and could get us free tickets to the zoo. What a blessing! We LOVE the zoo, and hadn't been to the one in Birmingham. (Well, actually, I had once when I was little but it had been a while. ;)

So we got up on Friday and told the kids that we could go play at the zoo after Korban's infusion. They were so tickled, and Korban told his nurses all about it. Again, it always helps to have something fun to look forward to! He had a new nurse again this time, and she was really sweet. Took two tries to get his IV started, and she kept apologizing for having to stick him twice. I hated it too, but it wasn't her fault. He's such a hard stick, I was actually surprised it only took two times. He gets so tense his veins get constricted and they blow easily. Sad. But anyway, the second one held, and we were good to go. He had told his nurse that he wanted to go see a gorilla, and she thought that was cute. She said that the Birmingham Zoo has a huge gorilla, and Korban would enjoy it. He loves gorillas, especially the way they walk. It tears him up. So funny.

We didnt think Korban was going to go to sleep...

...but he did

Selah worked on a pumpkin craft for a while.

I took Selah over to play at the Ronald Mcdonald house while Korban was resting—it's right across the street from the hospital, so that's another benefit. The lady at the front desk called the zoo to let them know we would be coming, and I was glad that was all set up so we could head out as soon as Korban was finished.

He was all done by 12:30, and we told his nurses good-bye and headed out. The zoo wasn't far from the hospital, and we were there by 1:00. They were closing early for their Boo at the Zoo event, but we had plenty of time to look around. It was very neat, because they were already decorated for Halloween and Korban enjoyed looking at all the decorations about as much as he liked the animals.

It was a really nice zoo. They had a lot of cool animals, and they looked like they were well taken care of. We had a blast looking at all of them. We went to the gorilla first thing, and found him taking a nap. It was funny because he was curled up inside a rock crevice and his big feet were sticking out. Even his toes were huge! We told Korban we would check back later to see if he was awake, and he was happy with that.

His behavior was good at the zoo. He only had one outburst. They had lots of those inflatable Halloween decorations, which he loves looking at, but also obsesses over sometimes. He got very anxious that they would take them down. I'm not sure why, because we weren't talking about it or anything, but he got upset and hit me. We were able to calm him down and get on our merry way.

I love this picture too much for words!

Giving loves...they were so happy to be at the zoo!

Despicable Me!!!

Selah as a gorilla.

And Korban as a gorilla!

Can you tell the kids weren't too thrilled about posing with this fella?

Selah really loves flamingos, and they were all asleep when we first saw them. Later, we were walking back by and she saw that they were awake. She went running to see them, tripped, and bumped her mouth on the fence. She was upset and crying, yelling "Those mah-flingos hurt me! They got a bad cage!" She can usually say flamingos, but she was so upset she was reversing the sounds. Which was actually very funny, but I sure hated her little mouth was hurt.