Chicago in a day

Yesterday was Drew's visit #3 for his STX209 drug trial.  His appointment was at one in the afternoon, which is 2:00 Ohio time.  I got the brainy idea to go to Chicago and back in one day.  Just five hours each way, right?  No biggie. Eric couldn't take off work, so his mom offered to go with me.  

The weather was pretty nasty.  It rained really hard on the way there and got windy the closer we got to Chicago.  Guess they don't call it the windy city for nothin'.  Anyway, we got to the parking garage about 45-50 minutes early and as soon as we parked, an ambulance came wailing in.  Not that you wouldn't expect to see an ambulance at the hospital, but it was just unfortunate timing, because it scared the pee out of Drew.  Literally.  Poor guy.  Then, dumb me forgot his Xanax.  I accidentally grabbed his Risperdal bottle instead.  I felt so bad about that.

We walked around until about ten 'til one.  They called to let the research assistant know we were there and we sat down to wait.  And wait.  And wait!  We were getting nervous because they were supposed to draw his blood four hours after we gave him his trial drug.  And it was 1:30, exactly four hours later.  I went up and asked the receptionist about it, who assured me that they knew we were waiting.  I was annoyed.  There was no way we were going to wait another four hours.  I've never seen the waiting room so busy, either. 

The research assistant finally came for us and brought us back to the exam room.  She decided it wasn't the best room for us and moved us to a different one.  She gave me a questionnaire to fill out and left us.  I bet we waited another twenty or twenty five minutes.  I let Drew "blow me down" where he blew air at me and I fell off the exam table where I was sitting.  That entertained him for a little while.  We also wrote in a notebook and had a fictitious phone conversation with Daddy, where Daddy allegedly farted.  Drew thought it was hilarious. 

Dr. Berry-Kravis came in and decided to draw the blood right away.  She said we were still okay for time, thankfully.  I wrestled Drew to the ground, which was no easy feat.  Once I got him down there, I straddled him and my mom-in-law kept him from kicking.  The assistant held his arm steady and Dr. B-K drew the blood quickly.  Drew did his part by screaming, "Lady!  Lady!" at Dr. B-K.  It was over quickly and he calmed right down.  She was going to send us on our way when she discovered that we needed his vitals done yet.  He cooperated very well for them.  Maybe because he knew the blood draw was over?  He busted a rock with Shaguna the assistant and shook hands with EBK. 

The whole thing seemed to take forever yesterday and it was like, 3:30 Chicago time when we finally made it out of the hospital.  Drew did enjoy the elevators and used the opportunity to say hello to people and ask where they were going. 

We headed for home, and thankfully the rain had subsided to a fine mist.  The wind was still crazy however, and I had to really hang onto my steering wheel.  Drew watched Blue's Clues six hundred times on the way home and my dear MIL supplied me with plenty of Kit Kats to hold me over until we stopped for supper. 

We got home at about 9:45 last night.  I think Drew and I went right to sleep. It went fine overall, but I think next time, we'll get a hotel room and make two days of it.