Posted 5 years ago Less than a minute to read
Children's Ward
It is Saturday morning and Rory and I are in the isolation room on the Children’s Ward at Taranaki Base Hospital. Rory’s blood test yesterday showed his platelets are very low and he has no immune system. He has been feeling a bit warm overnight. Sean and I have taken his temperature multiple times, in multiple places using all the thermometers we have at home. This morning Rory had a couple of bleeding noses so I have brought him in for a repeat blood test and observation. The Nurses thermometer read 38.1 degrees so Rory may be brewing an infection. They will check his temperature again after the blood test. He may require IV antibiotics which requires a stay on the ward of several days. Rory is very tired. Christmas is only a small number of days away and we really hope he can spend it at home.
The opinion arrived from America regarding Rory’s treatment. It states that surgery is the most important thing for a tumor in this location. It describes the best course of post-operative chemotherapy and identifies nutrition as an issue with this kind of surgery. Rory may need a gastrostomy tube (G-tube) which delivers nutrition directly to the stomach.
Thank you to our neighbours Neville and Wendy for the voucher.