My Diary
 
 
 
Over the past ten days Jacob has received his high dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant. He is now in isolation and will remain there for up to six weeks. The first week of treatment passed with no major complications. However, now the after effects of the chemotherapy are kicking in Jacob is unable to keep any food, drink or oral medication down and is vomiting almost constantly. He is loosing weight quickly and as a result a decision has now been made to feed Jacob via his Hickman Line with a special feed known as TPN. It breaks our hearts to hear him apologise every time he is sick. I guess we must give off a signal when this happens, a sign of disappointment or frustration. We would never knowingly do this, but if you imagine feeding Jacob, typically for two or three hours at a time, three times a day only to watch helplessly as he vomits everything back up...this is not easy. The regime for Jacob’s isolation is very, very strict. He is unable to have direct contact with anyone other than medical staff and myself and Nicky who are his nominated carers. Visitors can only see Jacob through the window to his room and talk via a telephone. We are all being very well looked after and the medial staff are fantastic. Jacob’s room is comfortable and well equipped with a separate area for us to relax in for a while. Jacob even has a large widescreen LCD television for his PlayStation games, so is well chuffed! Unfortunately, as a result of me having a cold and Jacob’s brother Ben having a bad stomach bug, we have been unable to visit Jacob for the past five days - such infections could prove life threatening for Jacob! This has meant that Nicky has had to cope on her own looking after Jacob, feeding him, comforting him. She is managing well though and I should be able to take over from tomorrow to give her a well deserved break. Thank you to everyone for your kind messages of support and we look forward to some of you visiting us in hospital in the coming weeks. Jacob really enjoys people visiting (as do we) and always manages a smile for people. I must also thank all those wonderful people who continue to raise funds for Jacob’s appeal, you humble us and we can never thank you enough. Bye for now.
Thursday, 27 March 2008
A Room Of Our Own