Good Friday (Day +18)

Max had a difficult night last night. He had restless sleep and woke up at about 1:30am in a teary state having soaked through his sheets in sweat. We suspect that the distress was caused by him going cold turkey on the morphine yesterday and not being given any subsititute pain relief medication. He was a bit miserable again this morning but the nurses were on to it giving him some codeine which will be switched tomorrow to panadol and then hopefully to nothing not long after. Opa and Oma paid a visit and once again gave Bee and I a chance to have a meal away from the Hospital. Aunty Jo and Uncle Andy also dropped by this evening to give Max a wave from outside the fishbowl.

Today, being Good Friday was the day of the Hospital's big appeal. As you would expect, we have a new found appreciation of the work that the hospital does and can't talk highly enough of the quality of care provided by all the staff that have dealt with Max. I couldn't imagine a more difficult and heart wrenching job than dealing with ill children and yet these people do their jobs with such grace, compassion, good humour and professionalism, it is truly awe inspiring. Needless to say, it is a very worthy cause. Most of the stuff you see on the telethon happens away from the hospital so it was pretty quiet around here today. On the ward we did have a few special visitors including Ronald McDonald (yes, THE Ronald McDonald and to those who were wondering if he actually lives at Ronald McDonald house, the answer is no. Nor does Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar or Grimace), a person dressed as a drop of water (what tha?) and some volunteers handing out free easter eggs.

Zee Numbers:

White cell count: 4.4 (6.0-17.0)
Neutrophils:  3.13 (1.5-8.5)
Haemoglobin: 103 (110-140) *
Platelets: 18 (150-400) *

* transfusions are topping these levels up at the moment, so they are not a true indication of where he is at.

Thank Yous

• Jo, Andy, Pop, Sash and Dig for the bag of goodies.

Cheers,

Tim