I don’t remember much about the drive to Children’s. I have a feeling we were pretty quiet and Nadia almost definitely watched Scooby Doo the whole way. We left Kelowna after 2pm sometime and ended up in Vancouver well after 6pm.
During the drive we remembered the dog boarders we used when we last lived in Vancouver, Just Like Home Dog Care. So we had a solution for the dog, we just had to contact them, hope they had an opening, and get Einstein there.
Just to add some perspective, Nadia is a great sleeper and is usually in bed just after 6pm. She typically stays down for the night. We arrived at Children’s at about the time Nadia goes to sleep. We went directly to Emerg, as we were instructed, and all of Nadia’s paperwork was waiting for us.
Then the doctors came through. One or 2 at a time, spaced 30 to 40 mins apart. I don’t remember any of their names or what types of doctors they were. Bloods were drawn. We definitely saw hemotologists (blood doctors). This was the start of the vampire hunger the hospital would have for the next week. But I guess it is not too surprising that blood doctors want blood to look at.
It was very hard. So many unknowns. Nadia was overtired and screaming whenever someone came in the room who had a stethoscope around their neck. And during this whole time our dog was stuck in the car in the basement parkade.
Fortunately it was not hot outside and it was even cooler in the basement, but Einstein was still on our minds. We also worried that some over-concerned citizen would call the SPCA or something. Or maybe the police. Or maybe they would just be ‘heroes’ and break him out of there. I admit it was a bit cruel to leave him cooped up in a car as long as we did, but it was certainly not inhumane. He just would have been bored. We know our dog well enough to know his limits. But we were worried about the added hassle and stress a well meaning, but frankly ignorant, person could cause.
At about 10pm we decided poor Einstein had enough and I took him for a walk. It was a hard thing to do because we never knew when the next doctor would come in with more information or to ask more questions. I did not want to leave Tara alone.
It was not too long after I got back from walking Einstein that the doctors made the decision to admit Nadia to the hemotology/oncology ward. The were confident from the testing so far that it was unlikely Nadia had leukemia, but the still had no idea what was causing her platelets to be so low. I helped settle Nadia and Tara in to the room, and left to spend the night in the condo with Einstein. Nadia finally go some overdue sleep and Tara and I tried to get the best sleep we could to face the next day. To face the unknowns. To hope for the best.
