Back in hospital again ...

Its now 12 Feb 09 and Harrison has been here for 4 days with a central line infection and a really hasty gastro bug. He had his line removed on 11th feb- never to be replaced!!!

What a milestone - here is a picture commemorating the day of removal.. He looks very puffy in his face and he is very very sick - in fact he has been under high observation due to spiking temperatures and having had a febrile convulsion. This was probably the scariest thing I have ever seen - he has a huge spike in temp and went from 35 degrees to 40.4 degrees, his eyes rolled back in his head, he convulsed and stopped breathing. At first I knew he was seizing so was ok to start with , but he stopped breathing and by the 30 second mark i was really panicking - and then suddenly he stopped moving and took a massive breath, and settled down. I will never forget it though, and I realise now why they are so damned dangerous.

After that they transferred him to a high observation unit on the Children's ward at Gosford as they had to 24 hours a day monitor him to ensure that he didn't do it again. Mum has run herself stupid looking after Marlie, Sterling and Ella while I am here, and all the while managing to still work and keep the house immaculate! I still have a few lessons to learn from her - but without her and Jodie - my day care mum I would have been struggling.

The house Scott and I owned and lived in together has been sold and settles on 23rd March- which makes everything finalised with the financial aspect of our relationship and the child arrangements are yet to work out. He doesn't see the kids overly much and this is disappointing but at the same time it must be difficult to not come home and see the kids every day. I guess this is the way life goes. Some days are better than others and you can either go with it and just keep going or let it get the better of you - and I choose to just go with it - why sweat the small stuff ..

Harrison today has been moved from the high obs unit to a single Isolation room until he returns to being well - high central line was removed - with a little diffculty and a few extra nicks on his skin to get it out without tearing his skin. But it is goneand he will be so much better for it . At least it is one less source of infection for him . This infection is called psuedomonas. A respitory infection but was in his lines, and hwen they hooked up the IV that is why he had the spike in temp and the convulsions. They call it a septic shower - as the bug goes directly into the bool stream and vein near the heart so the reaction to the bug is almost instant - and very scary . HE does seem better today havng had the line out - and his gastric bug - Adenovirus is also responsible for chest infections too.. So they are being doubly cautious with him to ensure that these two bugs don't hit his chest area. So far, so good!

I have a few pics of him line free, and in hospital. We are watching him closely and it was a near thing him going into intensive care - simply that they had the available staff to put him on kids ward and not have to go to intensive care, the only other time I have seen him this sick though, is when he was a tiny baby and ultra sick.

I admit now even to myself that I held my breath this time hoping he wouldn't go backward, and his blood counts are all over the place and his platelets are very low and his blood protein too - so I am stll crossing everything that he improves quickly as I hate seeing his little body so ravaged with pain and him constantly sleeping as he's too sick to do anything else.

For now we wait - and a move to a standard isolation room is hopefully a step in the right direction.

Harrison in emergency this was post convulsion when we were moved to the resus bay in case he fitted again.

Harrison post surgery - LOOK NO LINE!!!!!








Today Harrison has been the most awake he has been for 4 days - he has not eaten a thing for the same amount of time - but he had his first bath with no line in today - a picture speaks a thousand words....


Also I got an email from my friend Narelle in Singapore and her daughter Ella who has SCID too, had her line taken out the other day also .. Ella and Harrison seem to do things in pairs - so a huge congratuations to Ella on another milestone, and it looks like her BMT was very successful as she has nearly completely normal blood counts for everything . I hope Ella's good counts begin to rub off on Harrison - but only tme will tell...

I will update in 48 hours how Harrison is going - as I find this quite therapeutic and stress relieving to write - it means I can allay my concerns here and stay positive in teh room with him.


Ella in hospital with her bad infection and second picture, you can see her cheek and jaw padded post surgical drainage. She is pictured with my nephew Seth - what a chunky 7 months old baby he is !