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04 May 2008
MICHAEL LAWS
LUCY'S DADDY
Update on Lucy - Sunday, 04
May
UPDATE ON LUCY - Sunday 4 May
"
Lucy and Leo fly home from Starship today - Lucy minus her
portocath but with a pic line in her arm.
The surgeons operated
on Saturday afternoon to remove the intravenous thread from
her body - significantly infected
and with a rare bacteria often resistant to anti-biotics.
She will have another operation at Auckland on 14 May to
put in a new port, have a lumbar puncture and administer
the powerful chemo agent, vinchristine. In the meantime,
she will be on a daily antibotic regime administered at Wanganui
through the pic line.
The suggestions from Starship are that
Lucy had a narrow escape. The bacterial infection was potentially
life threatening
and while that 40C fever and the HR at 200-plus certainly
gave us the willies, we certainly weren't aware of how potentially
catastrophic the infection was.
One thing is clear: Wanganui
and Starship require a better communication and that has
been identified by both as an
issue. As I understand it, one of the child cancer nurses
will travel to Wanganui this week to discuss the protocols
that govern Lucy's treatment from henceforth. I'm not going
to blame anyone for that: problem identified, problem about
to be resolved.
For the next ten days Lucy will get daily
intravenous antibiotics at Wanganui so I guess we're not
going to be straying too
far! Then back to Starship for the above ops.
One of the
great things about this Lucy Blog is that so many e-mail
me with their experiences of their child's treatment.
Can
I just say: "thanks. It really assists us to know
that others have trod the same path - and we tend to find
those treatment tips are not necessarily known to the medical
staff."
Parents of child cancer patients acquire with
significant knowledge as to the treatment of child oncology.
I'd wager
that they are the next best informed individuals after the
Starship child oncology ward. Which is where Lucy spent the
weekend - surprisingly, the ward near deserted after being
filled to overflowing virtually every other time.
I guess
if you're on the frontline, it's like that. Rare lulls before
the war starts again.
It must be noted though that Leo and
have been impressed with the care and concern exhibited by
all medical professonals
that have treated Lucy - both at Starship and in the children's
ward at Wanganui. It seems that children elicit the best
from most people, and medicine is no different. I think people
who work in the field must have a genuine empathy.
Oh ...
and Wanganui hospital's food is pretty good. Warm, nutritious
and even occasionally tasty. By comparison, Auckland's
is dreadful."
Kind regards
Michael |
