Boring, but not so good (Day +9)

Today Max was definately not his usual self - he was rather quiet (allowing me to talk to Tim with no complaints!) and in a fair amount of pain due to the mucositis in his mouth / gastro tract. Mucositis is painful inflammation and ulceration of the mucos membranes caused by the chemo. This morning I woke to Max coughing and gaging repeatedly, I imagine he was trying to get rid of the mucous in his throat.

Tim and I have been extremely vigilant in keeping up with Max's mouth care, despite Max's best efforts to resist this care  - we use a foam toothbrush-like device to swish his mouth with a 'medical-strength industrial-based revolting-tasting' mouthwash and 30 minutes later (again under duress) must inject an antifungal agent into Max's mouth. This regime is to be done 4 times a day. We've been told that these measures do not prevent mucositis, but aim to keep the ulcers clean to stop bacteria from entering the exposed sites.

As for the other end...this is why the salts baths are so important - not to prevent the sores, but to keep it as best as possible, clean and infection free.

During Max's few 'up' moments, he spent time with a Play Therapist painting some pretty pictures which are blue-tac'd to his wall.

Max is still having spikes in his temperature, but not as bad as Mondays 40+C efforts. He also still has a high breathing rate, which at this point cannot be explained. A few theories have been mentioned:

• Fluid on the lungs - we may have a visit from an X-Ray machine (and a person to do the x-ray!) overnight to check this out,
• Max  is also a little 'fluid positive'. If Max has too much fluid in his bladder, this is may be pushing up on his lungs causing the laboured breathing, or
• Due to his throat mucositis and pain, Max may be taking more shallow breaths as a way of avoiding pain......

Good news is that his pulse rate and oxygen levels are good....and as you can see right now, he is sleeping well. It's Tims night on duty tonight......hope it's a boring one!

Thankyous to:
Inge, Erich, Thomas and Klaus for the card and gift - Max will put it to good use!
Si and Lib for the cool PJ's.
Aunty Judith for the touching card.
Granny Pat and Gramps for the delicious cake.
Oma and Opa for looking after Max and allowing Tim and I to have some dinner together.