Well, I continue to grow like a hot air balloon! My clothes don't fit but I will not buy trousers one more size bigger! I will fight it and win :-) My maternity jeans (with the attractive Read More
Category: Diary
The latest news from the Mambo Team
Vanessa in hospital
Just after updating the blog yesterday Vanessa became violently sick, with stomach cramps and shakes. After an hour of this at home she was taken to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital where she was admitted.
She has been quite unwell during the night and has improved a bit this morning. She has undergone some tests and had x-rays to examine any possible bowel problems but she is most likely suffering from sever constipation related to her pregnancy (which she will no doubt joke about later). She's on a saline drip to up her fluids and she has had some pain medication which let her sleep a little.
Vanessa in Hospital (Update)
I'm just back in from hospital. Vanessa's condition has improved a bit and she is now trying to get some rest. It's been a bit of rollercoster day but I'll leave her to update everyone with the story herself. She has a bit less pain and the cramps have lessened. She won't now undergo any further tests or procedures until tomorrow which is wonderful given that she is absolutely exhausted. Thank you Heather for coming to the hospital and praying for us and thank you everyone for your continued prayers.
Charlie
What a day!
I went into hospital this morning to see Vanessa. She was in a lot of pain. Her constipation had not improved and she had not eaten anything since Saturday morning. She also had not slept since Friday morning and was very weak. She had just had it! I'd made up my mind that something had to be done today and I was very relieved that the consultants at the hospital were also in agreement.
I spent sometime in the morning trying to organize a stem cell kit so that stem cells could be collected from the babies' cords (if they were to be delivered). These stem cells could then be transplanted into Vanessa as another way to potentially treat her leukemia. I had found out the night before that the stem cell collection was not an NHS procedure and that I needed to get a special kit to collect the cells. I got in touch with people at 'smartcells.com' in London who agreed to courier two kits up to Aberdeen for about 6.30pm.
Yo Dudes!
I thought I'd take just a couple of minutes to update Vanessa's Blog for her. The hospital seems finally to have got on top of her pain management and when I saw her last night and today she was her normal cheery, bubbly self – lucid, sharp and giving me things to do! Yesterday she sat up in a chair for a small amount of time and today she went for a little walk down the ward and back. She is still sore which is not surprising given the amount of surgery that she has gone through. She is in Ward 51 and has been getting family visitors. She may be moved soon to Ward 50 as she improves. Once she is feeling a bit better I will post information about visiting.
A pictures worth a thousand words
Vanessa and Blake
Rohan Sleeping
Progress
The visit to the Neo-Natal unit took an awful lot out of Vanessa. We weren't allowed an ambulance because it was not a medical requirement so Vanessa had to be put in a wheelchair and pushed from one end of the hospital to the other and then down the big hill to the maternity hospital. Every bump and lump in the road was excruciating for her. She had to come off her morphine pump to get into the wheelchair so, other than some oral medication, she had no pain relief during the journey, visit and return.
Quick Update
Just before I pop off for some sleep I thought I'd update you on how Vanessa is. She had been very ill during the day and her mood was very much removed for her normal positive self. She was being sick about every two minutes and was feeling very ill.
This evening, sometime after 6pm, she was fitted (is that the right term?) with a nasal-gastric tube and over 2.5 litres of really nasty green gunk was taken out of her stomach (I hope you're not eating while reading this!).
The result is that she has stopped being sick, her mood has totally changed and she spent a fair bit of the evening laughing and joking with me. A very different Vanessa to the one I'd seen with Amber and Megan at about 2pm. Wow!
Tubes…what tubes?!
Great news about Vanessa. Yesterday, her nasal-gastric tube was removed and she went back on full fluids. You have never seen someone so relieved to have a cup of tea! The High Dependency Unit staff are pleased with her progress and she's going to get out of the HDU and into the ward today (as long as there is a bed for her). She is a bit tired but was very cheery last night and pretty much back to her normal self. She'll be able to start taking her ATRA again today, which is a real positive, because we really didn't want to go too much longer without it.
I'm hoping that in a couple of days she'll feel good enough to see the boys for a second time. She's getting lots of video and photos and even two lovely letters written by the boys (the staff at the neo-natal unit are brilliant!)
Rohan
I just got a call from a Doctor at the neo-natal unit. Rohan's blood gas levels have never been really good but he has been working really hard at his breathing. He's was getting a little too tired with this over-night so he was take off his flow and back on to his cpap but he didn't like this so he has now been put on some additional support using a ventilator. He is still working at breathing on his own and he may have an infection, be a bit anemic or just a little bit little to be working so hard. Please pray for him.