DAY 30

The last few days have been difficult. Brendan has remained unwell most of the time. He has had his central line replaced as the pic line was a possible source of infection and only has a short life. Brendan was quite excited about having his central line replaced as it meant that he could have free arms again.


Today Brendan had another visit to theatres as the respiratory team needed to use a bronchioscope to look at Brendan's lungs for a possible source of infection. Brendan has continued to fever at high temperatures and has developed a persistent cough. They did find an area of inflammation and have sent a sample to the lab. So far, there has not been any viruses detected. We are waiting to see if it will grow a bacterial bug. It is still difficult to detect infection in Brendan's body as he still does not have enough white cells or neutrophils to develop pus or swelling due to an infection.

Since day 25 there have been several occasions that Brendan has been feeling well enough to sit up in bed or have something to eat.















Brendan eating an icecream.







Brendan and Kieran playing on the
laptop.


The 'mother-ship' has dropped from 10 pumps down to 7 pumps. Brendan no longer requires 24 hour pain relief and has stopped his IV nutrition. All Brendan's nutrition is through his nasogastric tube. When I asked the dietatian what Brendan should start eating we were told junk food - anything that is tasty. Brendan has lost a lot of his taste due to his treatment and needs strong tasting food.


While we continue to battle the continuous setbacks, we know that Brendan is getting closer to engraftment every day. It has now been a month since transplant day. We still have another possible month to go in his transplant room. We hope it will be less.


Cheers to everyone
Love from Anna