Tuesday, 21 August 2007

Yesterday was a bit of a scary day for us. Bianca had to get a blood transfusion as her levels were low (this often happens as part of the chemo treatment). 15 Minutes into the transfusion, she had a coughing fit (pretty much what she has been getting all along) and so then wanted me to take the toys off the bed as she wanted to rest. I then noticed that she started breathing quite fast and she was quite sleepy. I called the nurse and Nurse Sue turned up the oxygen and stopped the transfusion to make sure that it was not a reaction to the transfusion. They then paged Bianca's doctors (Doctor Anne and Doctor Amy) and it really impressed me how quick they arrived and how well everybody worked as a team.

They realised she had a Broncospasm which made it hard for her to breath, so they gave her the same stuff you would give to somebody with Asthma when you want to clear their airways. Bianca then perked up and it was not long before she was pulling faces at the nurses and "ordering them around".

They moved us to another room closer to the nurses' station so they could keep a close eye on her. I did not realise just how much stuff we have been accumulating in our room until I had to drag it to the new room.

Here is a photo of Bianca with a nebuliser as well as a photo of Doctor Amy and Charles (one of the nurses), observing Bianca.

They brought a mobile X-Ray machine and did a chest X-Ray that revealed nothing new since the last X-Ray.

Earlier in the day, Bianca also had an Echo - almost like an ultrasound but for your heart and this showed that her heart is beating normally.

Last night Bianca was taken off oxygen and she coped really well and today she stayed off oxygen the whole day so the oxygen pipe was removed. This afternoon we moved back to the isolation room.

This afternoon Doctor Amy told us that the repeat tests for CMV were negative and so it does not look very likely that she has CMV. She also does not have any other viral infection (such as RSV) that they tested her for. So all good news. Of course it does mean we still don't really know why she is still coughing, but at least so far it does not look serious.

At the moment Bianca is still in hospital for observation until they are sure she is able to cope without the extra oxygen, but coming home does look like it might happen pretty soon.

The doctors and nurses at Wellington Hospital are extremely professional and excellent at the work they do. It really does feel comforting to be in their care.

Today Bianca received a present from the Child Cancer Foundation. It was a beanie and a little decorated bucket that a lady named Elaine made. Thank you very much.

Tomorrow is exactly a month since Bianca was admitted on the 22nd of July.

Caitlyn is also 6 months old tomorrow. She is able to sit with very little support so it looks like she will be able to sit on her own pretty soon. Caitlyn is also currently going to daycare full time. Here is a photo that Terence took. He put Caitlyn in the pram to feed her (as you can see on her face and her clothes) and then he noticed that she was sitting up.