First of many....

Elijah had his first outpatient eye exam this past week. I decided to bring Emma with me since her birthday is coming up and it would give us a chance to spend some time together, as well as allow her to see Children's Hospital (CHLA).

Emma, Elijah and I set out on Wednesday afternoon. We would be staying at the Ronald McDonald house since we did not have an exact time for the eye exam on Thursday.

Wednesday afternoon the hospital called to say that we were first in the line up since Elijah is the youngest patient.  I was to wake him at 4am for his last feeding, and we needed to check in at pre-op by 6am.

We stopped at BJ's Restaurant for a yummy dinner:

And then arrived at 7:45pm to check-in (you have to check in by 8pm!!).

We got checked in and settled, and got to bed by about 9:30pm.

Just after midnight, we were awakened by a LOUD noise accompanied by flashing BRIGHT lights.  The fire alarm!  We rushed to get shoes on, I grabbed Elijah, and out to the street we went.

Fortunately, it was a false alarm. Out in the street, I saw a woman and her daughter that I had met previously in the hematology/oncology department. The 14 year old girl has a reoccurrence of brain cancer. She is a sweet young lady who seemed to really enjoy Emma. 

We finally got back to the room and got everyone settled in. Soon it was time for me to feed Elijah, and then time for us to get up for the day. Emma, Elijah and I headed out and walked into the hospital just after 5:30am.

After Elijah was checked in, we were told that his exam wouldn't actually begin until 8:30am. I told Emma that you do a lot of waiting at the hospital.

They finally took Elijah back and Emma and I looked at the food magazines I had purchased just for the trip. We had Cliff bar snacks as well, since we didn't have any breakfast.  

Dr. Kim came in and said that Elijah's left eye looked great!!!! No tumors!!!!!

They had a hard time getting enough blood for the genetic testing-but hopefully it was enough. The genetic testing will determine his exam schedule. If the test is positive, he will have these exams (considered outpatient surgery, so the copays add up FAST!) every 4-6 weeks until he is 3 years old.

If the genetic test is negative, I believe his exams will be every 4-6 weeks for the first year, then they will slow down.

After recovery...

...we decided it was time to eat! We found a great little place in walking distance and enjoyed an amazing breakfast:

We are so thankful for the good news from Elijah's first exam-the first of many. :)