Modern Day Miracle!

Well, I was meant to go in to hospital in the middle of the night and relieve Richard (several of you in LBS will now be guffawing) from his night duty, but I woke at 8am having slept through my alarm and four 'phone calls from Richard on my mobile. Think I must have been tired! So, when I finally got into the hospital with the girls, I was met with a huge shock and thought I was going to be sick. Harry's room was empty, no Richard, no Harry. My immediate thought was of course, that Richard had been been trying to call to let me know something had happened. That was until a nurse broke into my thoughts to ask who I was and if I was lost. I stared at her rather blankly trying so hard to remember whether or not I had seen her before (we really only get to see the eyes and foreheads of all the medical staff because of all the protective gear they wear to treat Harry). I finally came to the conclusion that I hadn't seen this lady before, so explained who I was and asked where my son had gone. She promptly told me that I was on floor 2 and he was on floor 3 - "every one knows about the boy with Kawasaki!" The girls and I giggled and snorted our way back to the elevator and began our morning again! This time pressing button 3.

When I reached Harry's room, Richard looked a little worse for wear but Harry was looking rather better than the night before. He was able to move his arms and I could see some of his eyes. His lovely blue eyes. I sent Richard off to catch up on some sleep, settled the girls in with (yet another) DVD in the corner of Harry's room and then I learned that Harry was just about due to start his treatment again. An ICU nurse had been brought in to stay at his bedside constantly and they started to administer his treatment. He was given a concoction of 2 things to curb his allercic reaction as well as the blood pressure dropping so violently yesterday (the specialist thinks the latter may also have had something to do with the fact he was having IV codine last night as well as all the other medication too). This stuff woke him up from his drousy state, the allergy IV made him scream the place down - they said it might really sting. Immediately after that, his IV of white blood cell anti bodies (I think that's right) started. He had been prescribed a massive dose - the doctors said in order for him to get the quantity he needs, it takes thousands of donors. That really suprised me. Of course, I had asked a doctor at an earlier stage if Richard and I could give the blood - if he hadn't been such a polite chap, I think he would have laughed at the thought of just 2 people being able to do the job!

Within an hour or so our little boy was waving his legs in the air and shouting "Bang Bang you're dead, fifty bullets in your head!". Normally this sort of greeting to a nurse, I do rather frown upon (!). On this occasion however, I was delighted! Poor boy's not going to know what's hit him when he comes home and discipline sets in again!

Really the whole process of the IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin - the antibodies) was monitored so closely that we were all taking it 10 minutes by 10 minutes. It was just before the 2 hours point last night that his body started reacting against it, so I was pretty tense at that stage today. It made his face itch quite a lot and his blood pressure did fall, but we decided to continue and with the ICU nurse in with me I felt much more comfortable. As each ten minutes went by today, Henry's recovery came on in leaps and bounds. I couldn't really believe what I was seeing. The dreadful strange hives all over his face and body started to fade pretty speedily and I could see his puffy face returning close to normal. I was desperate for Richard to finish his snooze (yes, those of you who know him will know that actually, that was kinda wishful thinking. Richard and waking up aren't usually in the same sentence - apart from when I have sent the children on a mission to wake him up!) so that he could walk into Harry's room and see him pretty much restored to his former self.

During hour two of the IVIG, the boy who has not eaten since Monday morning - 6 days - asked me for some mushroom soup, some pasta, some cucumber and apple juice. I found it and he ate it all - straight up. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. His recovery curve has been astonishing. Quite miraculous. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We all appreciate them so much. All of us.

So, today closes with the girls and me leaving the two boys in the hospital (I WILL wake up to my alarm in the small hours, I will!). Harry is busy telling the nurses when the tubes feel loose on his hand, and please could they tuck him in, please could they find him some music with drums and guitars and not have the television switched on! Sounds like he's near normal then!

Shadows of his peculiar target lesions do still remain, but I wonder if that is almost like a type of bruising. I'll ask tomorrow.

I can go to bed tonight not dreading tomorrow.

Although the treatment should work this time, we are always going to have to be careful with infections - we all have to have the 'flu jab now, he shouldn't go to any toddler groups/preschool for a long time and he will need ECGs frequently because his heart may have a reaction to his present medication, at any time in the future, weird thought it may seem. He is on massive doses of asprin, larger than adult's, to kick start another part of the treatment and he has to continue having small doses of it for quite a while to keep his blood thin. It is also entirely possible in the future that another episode like this could happen again. For now, however, we are all just simply delighted, over the moon, thankful and grateful that it looks like Harry will be out of hospital by the end of this week.

Thank you again for your loving thoughts, prayers and communications with us. You are all super friends and family. Lots of love. Noo xxx