Journey

Starship Ward 27B hums with activity 12 hours a day (7am-7pm).  It is always full of patients.  There are babies, young adults like Rory and everyone in between.  I see them wheeled off to surgery, receiving chemotherapy and confined to bed due to complications such as infections and ulcers.   They all look similar; bald, pale and attached to IV lines and NG tubes.  The majority of the time the children are calm and accepting, finding delight in fun with the nurses, walks along the corridor and interaction with each other.  They are troopers.  Rory is coping better this dose.  He is emotionally more stable but the days are long and only a few things hold his attention.  He says it is tiring and boring just waiting.  This is his third to last dose.  Being this close to the end with no way of accelerating to get there requires infinite patience. 

Day three of hyper-hydration.  Rory’s weight is increasing 2-3kg overnight as his kidneys struggle to expel the fluid so he is having furosemide once or twice a day to wring him out.  There was glucose and sodium in his urine so they have taken the glucose out of his IV fluids and they are monitoring the sodium so they can get balance the electrolytes.  There have been some problems with air in his IV line over the past couple of nights so it was disrupted sleep due to the pump alarm and the nurses trying to fix things.  Dr Kath and Nurse Tracey call in every day to support Rory and make sure things are going well.