IN and OUT of Hospital

Friday-Brendan has finished his second round of chemo and is waiting for his next biopsy. He has spent most of the last 2 weeks in hospital. We tried to get him home after chemo had finished but that only lasted 12 hours due to a fever sending him back to hospital.


Wednesday-Brendan is home today. We are watching him carefully as he can become ill very quickly. He has no white cells to fight infection so is very limited in the places he can go. At the moment, it is home and the hospital. He would love to catch up with some of his friends but the risk of infection is too great. He is happy just to be at home. When the doctor asked if we wanted to stay in hospital and have day visits or try and come home, Brendan was very clear that he wanted to come home and sleep. It was a real treat for me to sleep in my own comfy bed and to actually sleep without being disrupted by the many beeping machines.


This round of chemo has knocked Brendan again. Fortunately this is due to all the normal side effects. He remains very pale, tired and is really stuggling with his emotions due to the high levels of steriods he is on. He had a severe reaction to a platelet transfusion which caused the most amazing hives all over his body, Brendan would of ripped his skin off if he could. This means that he will have to be carefully monitored and medicated before any platelet transfusions in the future.

Friday-This is my third attempt to try and finish this blog entry. On Friday night Brendan became very unwell with a high fever and a bad headache with light sensitivity. During the day I had spoken to several friends and family about how well Brendan was doing (I spoke too soon). Brendan has been re-admitted to hospital. In Emergency, it was decided that due to his low platelets they would do a CT scan to check that he had not been bleeding into his brain but would leave the lumber puncture for now. After a day of worry it was found that he had a bacteria that is normally found in all our bodies in his blood. This was great news as it can be treated with strong antibiotics. For the last few days, Brendan has been sleeping and battling 39+ fevers and a bad headache. Today (Sunday) Richard and I will swap over. Richard spends the weekends with Brendan when he is in hospital and I send the rest of the week with him. This is so Richard can go to work. We are keeping most of Richard's leave saved for when we eventually get to Sydney.

I hope he will feel better in a day or two and that he has a chance to spend even a small amount of time at home before before we head to Sydney.

It is amazing how time goes so fast when Brendan is in hospital.
Will fill you all in soon.
Love Anna.