A lot of very varied things have happened this week...
The week started as normal weeks used to, with three boys all heading off to school. Chris managed to survive two days at school and managed to do 5 exams while he was there. I think it was quite exhausting for him but he obviously really enjoyed being back and seeing everybody.
On Tuesday night I went over to Manchester with Will and Marie, where we met up with Ian at the MEN Arena to see a Police Concert, postponed from October last year!! It was excellent and I really enjoyed it, though it was after midnight when we got home, and that coupled with Ian's 5am start did leave me feeling a bit tired for Little Fishes on Wednesday morning!!!
On Wednesday we were over to the hospital for Chris to be admitted for the insertion on his central line. Admission was quite a straightforward process though there was a lot of explaining to do to a whole lot of medical staff who had obviously only glanced at Chris's notes!! We had to deal with a few misunderstandings, no he's not due for surgery this evening, no he's not the one with aplastic anaemia (he's further along the ward!!!), no he's already had 4 weeks of chemo!!!!
Taking blood was a bit of a laugh too... it took three attempts to get enough of Chris's blood to fill three very small test tubes... and as they finished syringing blood into the last of these they pulled the syringe out and blood splattered all over them and the floor... Chris was amused because just a couple of minutes earlier they had been promising that they wouldn't waste a drop!!!! I gather there was more blood taking later because apparently two of the samples clotted before they reached the lab!!!! - but I was safely home by then!!
Yesterday was an early start and I was over at Alder Hey by 7.30am. Chris needed to be given platelets and some other clotting stuff before his op, so the 9.30am slot got delayed a bit. This would not have cause much delay if all had gone smoothly, probably only putting things back by about half an hour or so. However another boy (the one with aplastic anaemia) also needed platelets and they started his first. However his canula failed and the platelets infused into his tissue rather than his blood, this caused a certain amount of panic on the ward, not least because no more platelets were available (Chris's had already been allocated to him) and Ross (the other patient) still needed platelets in his blood....
Anyway the delay ended up being about two hours and Chris ended up going down to theatre at about 11.30am. The timing ended up working quite well because it was just at that time that Mariana, a work colleague from our time in Hastings and Chris's old kindy teacher arrived. She is up north here for just a few days, and the only way we could meet was for her to come over to Alder Hey. She did and we had a a few very pleasant hours to reminisce and catch up on each others news over a relaxed lunch while Chris was in Theatre. It was lovely to see her, we hadn't seen each other for ten years, but found ourselves still with lots to talk about!
Today Chris should be discharged from surgical, and go over to oncology to get a vincristine injection before coming home. That's the plan....we will see!!!
The week started as normal weeks used to, with three boys all heading off to school. Chris managed to survive two days at school and managed to do 5 exams while he was there. I think it was quite exhausting for him but he obviously really enjoyed being back and seeing everybody.
On Tuesday night I went over to Manchester with Will and Marie, where we met up with Ian at the MEN Arena to see a Police Concert, postponed from October last year!! It was excellent and I really enjoyed it, though it was after midnight when we got home, and that coupled with Ian's 5am start did leave me feeling a bit tired for Little Fishes on Wednesday morning!!!
On Wednesday we were over to the hospital for Chris to be admitted for the insertion on his central line. Admission was quite a straightforward process though there was a lot of explaining to do to a whole lot of medical staff who had obviously only glanced at Chris's notes!! We had to deal with a few misunderstandings, no he's not due for surgery this evening, no he's not the one with aplastic anaemia (he's further along the ward!!!), no he's already had 4 weeks of chemo!!!!
Taking blood was a bit of a laugh too... it took three attempts to get enough of Chris's blood to fill three very small test tubes... and as they finished syringing blood into the last of these they pulled the syringe out and blood splattered all over them and the floor... Chris was amused because just a couple of minutes earlier they had been promising that they wouldn't waste a drop!!!! I gather there was more blood taking later because apparently two of the samples clotted before they reached the lab!!!! - but I was safely home by then!!
Yesterday was an early start and I was over at Alder Hey by 7.30am. Chris needed to be given platelets and some other clotting stuff before his op, so the 9.30am slot got delayed a bit. This would not have cause much delay if all had gone smoothly, probably only putting things back by about half an hour or so. However another boy (the one with aplastic anaemia) also needed platelets and they started his first. However his canula failed and the platelets infused into his tissue rather than his blood, this caused a certain amount of panic on the ward, not least because no more platelets were available (Chris's had already been allocated to him) and Ross (the other patient) still needed platelets in his blood....
Anyway the delay ended up being about two hours and Chris ended up going down to theatre at about 11.30am. The timing ended up working quite well because it was just at that time that Mariana, a work colleague from our time in Hastings and Chris's old kindy teacher arrived. She is up north here for just a few days, and the only way we could meet was for her to come over to Alder Hey. She did and we had a a few very pleasant hours to reminisce and catch up on each others news over a relaxed lunch while Chris was in Theatre. It was lovely to see her, we hadn't seen each other for ten years, but found ourselves still with lots to talk about!
Today Chris should be discharged from surgical, and go over to oncology to get a vincristine injection before coming home. That's the plan....we will see!!!
- Current Mood:
busy
Comments
That explains it. I couldn't understand why your doctors were so clueless, e.g.
though there was a lot of explaining to do to a whole lot of medical staff who had obviously only glanced at Chris's notes!!
as normally things on a dedicated unit are pretty hot and everybody knows what is going on, least that's been my experience. However if they send you to another unit for the surgery I see why it happens. (Don't get me started on the competence of the modern junior doctor. It is one of the things that is leaving me gobsmacked and one day I may get to writing about it.)
Unless things have changed dramatically,that wouldn't happen in Newcastle. The children and young people stay on their own unit for all this stuff. The surgeons come to them and they go to theatre from their own unit. The only time they would be on a different ward is if the teenage cancer unit (or the ward, if you are younger) has no beds.
Edited at 2008-06-20 08:24 am (UTC)
Chris still seems to be doing well at the moment.
Oh I would so love to have coffee and talk all about it. I really feel for you, and I'd be round every week... *sigh*
When Alex was sick, we were one of the only families he could come to (apart from relatives) because we weren't scared of his Hickman line and feeding tube and all that stuff. Other people seemed to flee. I wish I could be closer to help you out, but then again, your family is much older and I guess you all just pitch in. Still, it's a huge amount of information and knowledge that you have to become an expert in very quickly, huh. It must be exhausting, on top of the emotional stuff and the whole shock of this happening at all.
Many hugs *hugs from me*