Friday, September 24, 2004 9:52 AM CDT

Mostly good news so far! Aidan came through his biopsy just fine. There were a few glitches with the logistics of his admitting to the hospital, which set back the schedule a bit, and then there was the issue of pain management. Aidan is a difficult IV start and experiences MUCH anxiety around needles. The nurses did their best to minimize this with a sedative and local anesthetizing cream, but still, after 3 unsuccessful tries, everyone was pretty unhappy.

So the OR rearranged its schedule to allow Aidan to get his IV under general anesthesia. In future, that will be the default option for him at least, and possibly for all the day surgery kids. We now know how to request it, which we didn't before. That will make procedures far more tolerable for our five year old who has been through a lot of pain already.

Because of all this Aidan didn't have the biopsy until about 2 pm. He came out of it calmly, with no significant pain, and right away settled in to drink 7Up out of a syringe and watch videos. He nibbled at some food from a tray, and played with the motorcycle he got after the IV attempts. The only challenge in his recovery was keeping him lying down until four hours after the procedure was over.

Now we just have to wait for the results. I (Aidan's mom) need to bring the car by the shop this morning before zipping down the mountain to visit Aidan and Kevin, who stayed with him overnight. If there is no rejection, Aidan should be discharged today, and this will be a short episode in Aidan's medical life! Hope so! He kept saying while he was in the OR waiting room "Daddy, I need to go ride on the boat" so after he gets out, we are probably going to bring him up to Grandma's cabin for a mini-vacation -- which he has earned! : )

Thank you all for the prayers and good wishes,