Quite the Friday!

Well - I write for those of you who have been asking for info on how Bruce is today. I am really please to say that Bruce is home and went to bed early to catch up on sleep that he didn't get in the hospital last night!

How did he get there?

Last week he was on a road trip around key clients in the North Island for work. At his last port of call in Hamilton he had a diabetic hypo (low blood sugar) yesterday morning that left the Drs scratching their heads. Won't go into the details except to say that I was very thankful for his cousin Murray Smith quickly stepping up and dealing with the motel Bruce was staying at and being with Bruce at hospital - staying with him until I got down there! A huge thank you also to Louise Jones for going down in my car with me and taking it back home to Auckland allowing me to drive Bruce and his car back.

When I arrived and saw him I knew I had seen this same situation 30 years before and could see that the Drs at Waikato were starting down the track with all the same tests that I had seen before coming up with nothing thus far. Against the hospital's advice I signed Bruce out and brought him back to Auckland Hospital where all his Dr's are in the same place. There were things happening at Waikato that didn't give me confidence ...won't go into details but as a veteran of A & E's I have learned to trust my instincts! I have to say that the Auckland Staff at A & E were definitely a step up and real conformation that I had taken the correct decision! The Dr's had done their research before talking to Bruce - how refreshing. Bruce's specialist for Diabetes has said to me that I am the authority and specialist for him in an emergency situation and I was very grateful for that affirmation (gave me the courage to go against Waikato's - advice which was frankly a lot of butt covering). The Dr last night in Auckland said the same thing and really listened to me which was a real relief. They accepted and knew about the phenomena we had experienced 30 years ago (Semogue Effect - not right spelling!) and agree this is probably what happened :) Yay - Waikato Drs looked at me like I was a nut case. It was a reassuring thing to go home to sleep (12.15 this morning) knowing that the Auckland Drs were onto it and he was safe.

As I had assumed... they did various tests over the night and came up with nothing so Rosie Dog and I went and picked him up late morning and brought him home.

This afternoon we had a family afternoon tea to celebrate his birthday on Tuesday :) A nice end to a pretty intense 36 hours :)

Things I Have Learned....

I have found that hospital's are not safe places for your loved ones. You really need to be with them as much as you can if they are not fully mentally there - this could be that they are so sick that they are not following what is going on. I have stopped more than one potentially fatal situation. Please let me tell you there are amazing Dr's and Nurses but they are not all equal and that's the thing that can catch you out. You need to be vigilant.

A couple of he bigger examples -

1. We almost lost Claire with acute appendicitis through miss communication among admin staff - the Drs didn't operate on her until 24 hours after being told to - consequently it was a much bigger emergency job....scars prove it. They called it a systemic failure. It took me jumping up and down (didn't achieve much) and then the specialist who had pushed GO on the opp showing up thinking she was a post opp! He was WILD. I was told by another Dr who I know that there was an internal enquiry - he remembered the night although didn't know it was Claire.

2. During the lowest time in Bruce's transplant there was one nurse who had no understanding of diabetes and was about to give him the wrong doses of insulin - she had no knowledge of what she was doing!!!!! If I had gone home earlier I really don't know what would have happened! ...long story... got it sorted by causing a stir ending with a Dr coming in from a different ward to sort it all out.....I reported it and she has had to undergo more training.

This is stuff I have learned over 34 years of A & E with my family.

All going well

Thought I (Jeanette) would update you all at the end of week 1 of chemo. Bruce is as usual showing no signs of the chemo and life really has gone on as normal. The only thing he has had to alter is his insulin to accommodate the effects of one of the chemo components. This next week Bruce heads down the North Island on a road trip for Hills SVL so will be gone from Monday to Friday. I am sure he will be looking forward to stopping at the end of the week....is it the British Open next weekend? If it is I imagine some hours will be spent watching that and relaxing :) He really has turned into a golf nut! In the nicest possible way of course :) Take care xx

Further update...

Had my bone marrow biopsy today. With the sedation they give you, you're not allowed to drive for 24hrs, so Jeanette came as my chauffeur. It all went as fine as far as having core samples taken from the back of your pelvis is concerned. Had to take the day off work. Enjoyed getting into ProTools in the afternoon and working on some music.

Had a call from Leanne, the Haemotologist, this afternoon with the first part of the results of the test. She was very happy to see that there was no lymphoma in the bone marrow. Said I can make a start on the tablets from tomorrow.

Tonight we're off to Chris & Claire's to remember wee Tyler's birthday. He would have been 2.

Sorry, no time to stick in some funnies...

BB