Wed 8-Jul-09 (Maria still in hospital)

I received a call from Maria first thing this morning. She told me that she had a bad night with some vomiting and rigors. After packing a few things in anticipation of a longer stay I headed into the hospital. I called the kids, who were having a ball with their friends.

Upon arrival on the floor, Maria was being wheeled to X-ray for a chest x-ray. She was otherwise quite well (this continued throughout the day). We waited around for the IDC team to come through to discuss any infection issues. After a lengthy wait we decided to head to the cafe for a break. Just as we were on our way back up, the nurse called me to say the team had arrived. The summary of that conversation was:

• Basically nothing could be found from the CT or chest x-ray that raised any particular concern. However, the bloods would take a little while to culture and this may solve the mystery.
• Maria may be suffering a reaction to one of the oral antibiotics, which they intend to remove. She was very happy as she finds it terrible to ingest.
• The PIC line could be introducing infection. If this is the case, they will remove it.
• Further to the previous point, they may introduce another antibiotic intravenously (Vancomycin Hydrochloride). This is used for the treatment of potentially life threatening infections that cannot be treated with another, less toxic antibiotic. Maria received this after surgery, which may have helped, but appeared to be the cause of all the problems she had with her veins, making the insertion of canulas almost impossible. They are therefore not sure how they will manage this. Perhaps another PIC line, but in the other arm?
• Because Maria has a bout of rigors earlier that morning and the bloods taking a while to culture, they decided she should stay in for another day. I'm feeling déjà vu coming on!

Our brother-in-law Brian was in the hospital for the day at a workshop. He visited Maria before he and I had lunch together.

After spending some further time with Maria, I collected the kids (a huge thanks to Gill) and re-introduced myself to them. We collected McDonalds for a special dinner to take to the hospital to have with mummy. It was also to celebrate their end of term reports. They both did very well. In fact (a turn of the tables) Ben's report was outstanding! They put cheese on my burger, so Maria ended up enjoying two burgers and I had (not enjoyed) her hospital meal.

The kids crashed out pretty soon after we arrived home. This has given me more time to get my final loads of washing and basic cleaning done as well as take a few minutes out to punch out this update.

Here's praying for Maria's return home tomorrow. The only blessing in her being in hospital tomorrow is that we have some appointments there anyway.