Unfortunately the timing of my deep wasn't great. About 7:15am I went to check on Maria to find her unwell. She said that she woke around 5am and vomited. She called out, but as I am in a different room (and no doubt in that "deep sleep"), I didn't hear her. Unfortunately while sick she coughed and put her back out as well. As we knew the nurse would be arriving in a little while we decided to go ahead with the routine of me taking the kids to 'Scoot' as I'd only be out of the house for about 30mins and she was confident of looking after herself for that period.
When I returned our favourite nurse was already there. She made a call to the hospital and spoke with the neurosurgical registrar. It was decided I'd monitor Maria and should there be any change or additional vomiting, we'd contact the hospital for further advice. As Maria had come off her dexamethasone (steroids) completely the day before (she was only on 1mg before ceasing) I felt one possibility was another case of withdrawal, which is what she had experienced post-surgery.
Maria had a short (pre-arranged) visit from our dear friend Sue who arrived as we were farewelling the nurse. Afterwards Maria went off to sleep.
I collected the kids and after returning let Maria sleep a little longer. I checked on her around 2pm as she was due some meds and found her very tired and with significant head pain. When I helped her up, she commenced having rigors. At this time I received a call from the nurse saying she had followed up with the neuro-oncologist who was keen for her to come in if I was concerned for Maria. The timing of her call was impeccible. We got moving and arrived at the hospital within half an hour of that call.
After some assessment, it was decided that Maria would have a CT brain scan and blood/urine/etc. cultures. In the meantime I was able to get through to another dear friend who came and collected the kids from the hospital. That's where they now are, having their first sleepover since returning to Oz. They are excited but obviously concerned that their mummy is hospitalised again.
Maria was given 2mg of dexamethasone around 4:30m. By the time I left, she seemed a whole lot better. Before I left we bumped into one of the neurosurgical registrars, who said Maria looked great and he felt it may be steroid withdrawal also. Obviously we can't still rule out infection issues yet.
The feedback we received before I headed home was that: (a) the neurosurgical team was happy with the CT from their perspective; (b) the Infectious Disease Control (IDC) team wanted Maria to undergo a chest x-ray later in the evening; (c) another antibiotic would be introduced temporarily until they resolved the issue; and (d) IDC wanted her to stay in so they could assess all scans and cultures in the morning.
Hopefully even if it is infection, she can come home and they can introduce another antibiotic through her line. Maria is very frustrated to be back in hospital (same Acute Care Unit room) as she believes she is too well (and bored) to be occupying a bed. She also knows the night ahead means constant observations, which will break-up whatever sleep she is able to get.
Prayer points
- Reasonable rest for Maria.
- Resolution of the issue tomorrow and a return home.
- Peace for the kids.
- Maria's PIC line has a kink in it, which has been blistering her skin. The nurses are doing an admirable job trying to move it to another spot on the skin and avoiding any other infection. However, it is also challenging as you can only move it sideways so far because it is running through a small hole into a large vein.
- Effectiveness and minimal side effects from the chemotherapy, when it commences (could now be as early as Thursday). This is a little tricky as the oncologist is balancing the risk of her immuno-suppression against the need to actively fighting this aggressive tumour as quickly as possible.
- Some respite for the four of us. There seems to have been something each week since returning that has challenged us and kept us from doing family stuff.
