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23 March 2009
MICHAEL LAWS
LUCY'S DADDY
UPDATE
ON LUCY – Monday, 23 March
My comments a couple of postings back about sometimes forgetting that Lucy has leukemia - have come back to haunt in the past few days.
Our focus had been on Zoe - the 2 year old getting a very nasty vomiting virus that saw
her both scared & ill after nothing but vomiting over a 24 hour period. She could contain neither food nor water. For the days after that she was lethargic and weepy.
But at the same time, Lucy spiked a 39C temperature which is our signal that she is neutropenic - blood tests last Thursday confirming such. The Starship protocols are clear: admittance to hospital, intra-venous anti-biotics and 48 hours of waiting to see if its a virus or a bacterial infection.
That was Thursday and I immediately accompanied Lucy to Wanganui hospital and admittance to the Children's Ward. She needed to be kept in isolation so both Zoe and Theo were banned from seeing her. And yet the whole family is riddled with various ailments at the moment - Noah and Leo included. I think I was the only healthy one on Thursday.
By Saturday, her neutrophils were picking up and I was allowed to take her out wearing a surgical mask. We went to Mowhanau Beach and found a secluded spot where she frolicked at low tide, collected sea shells and dared Daddy to get wet chasing her. It was an idyllic hour.
That night ... she spikes a 39.6C and then 40C temperatures and we are back at square one - which has made her mother very unhappy because she can't be separated too long from Theo but can't have the two together. Meanwhile Daddy pines particularly over Zoe ... who I can't see either. Very, very frustrating.
It is Sunday now. Until they ID the infection, it is two broad range anti-biotics accessed through her portocath, plus a saline drip. Lucy handles this relatively stoically and is hammering the Ice Age DVD (the first one: I didn't realise how funny & brilliant it is) and Bunnytown ... which drives her Dad to distraction, by comparison! We'll be here at Wanganui Hospital for another 48-72 hours - at the best.
Zoe seems to be receovering but Theo is all sniffly. We are not good, separated, and it seems incidental that we're in Wanganui and not Starship. The distance is still as remote.
So its the Dot-&-Ray Show at Council (they do such an excellent job of running Wanganui in my absence that if there isn't a coup while I'm away, then we're not living in Madagascar). But that's the thing about this enforced isolation - days, time, place all blend into the same nothingness. I can't do my radio show for Monday & Tuesday at least but both council & Radio Live have been very supportive. Very much appreciate that.
As for Lucy? She's the same pistol even when under siege. Stroppy, funny, bright ... the child I'd dreamed that I might be capable of producing but never thought possible. Fortunately, all my childrens' genes are mostly created by their mothers.
Lucy & I roared at the taekwando Dodos in Ice Age and she laughs so often. Then shuts down as soon as medical staff walk in: their unfortunate lot being to insert & remove needles.
My golden girl remains golden. One day, when Daddy sleeps, I'll write that kiddies book that I've been promising Lucy. But the last three nights sharing a kids bed (Lucy insists that I sleep with her) has not been particularly conducive.
Best wishes
Michael Laws
PS (Added 23/03/09 1.34pm) The X-ray has come back clear for pneumonia but her chemo is being stopped because her neutrophils are too low and getting lower (ie less & less resistance to fight the infection/s - still no idea until tests come back)
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