Well, I am now sitting next to Bobbinog in ICU. We booked in at Red Cross yesterday afternoon. Then proceeded to wait for 4 hours for a bed for him. When we finally got one, we were officially checked in and ready for his liver resection on Friday morning 8am which was this morning. Scary big time.

At 7h45 they came to fetch him to go to theatre. We went down and waited. He was taken in just after 8. Then the real stress began as the operation was in progress. It was a really difficult morning for us, but at 12h30 when his doctor came out to tell us that it went very well and was successful with only 1 complication being putting in the catheter, we burst into tears. What an amazing feeling knowing all had gone well and he was ok.

They were still busy stitching him up in theatre. We waited patiently to see him. At about 13h30 he was wheeled out of surgery into ICU. We were expecting to see lots of machines, and to see him on a breathing machine etc, but what we saw was our beautiful little boy, awake and alert and breathing on his own. WOW. He truly is a tough little bugger.

In ICU he is being monitored for everything. He is on morphine and an epidural drip, but still ratty and sore occassionally. But then he has every right to be. He has had major surgery and he has a large T cut on his tummy. He also cannot eat anything until sunday, as firstly they had to move his tummy out the way to get to the liver, so it needs to settle, and also, the doctor does not want anything in his tummy as when it expands it will rub on the liver and he wants the liver to settle too.

However he is doing very well. He is stable at the moment and has been all day, and we pray that it stays that way.

Me and Mike are now going to do bedside shifts, so we can rest in between while the other is on Bobbinog watch. I am here at the moment and have been since 7pm. Dad is coming to do his shift at 2am. We will probably do 6 - 8 hr shifts per time so the other can get 2/3 hrs sleep in between. Going to be a tough weekend, but it is worth it big time. Our Bobbinog needs us and we will be there for him, if only for emotional support (both for him and us).

Well he is nicely settled and fast asleep at the moment. Will advise how we go.

Thank you everyone who is following this and praying for him, we really appreciated your support.

Yip, we still in hospital...But at least Bobbinog is doing well. His temperature is still down, and he is off the drip and holding his own no problem. Tomorrow is another Big day, as we transfer across to Red Cross Hospital at 3pm. His liver resection is booked for friday. Nerves jittering again and I have to keep reminding myself not to stress and that its all going to be successful with no complications as he is a healthy little chap. But nevertheless, I am still nervous as its such a big op for such a little guy. But everyone is praying for him all around the world, and I can only say thank you, to everyone for the support they have shown and are showing. He is doing great, and you would never say he is a chemo kid with a liver tumour. I will post again when I get a chance as tomorrow will be busy and friday only Bobbinog will be important to me, everything else will take a distant second place. Wish him luck, hold thumbs, toes and everything else and pray for a successful opand a speady recovery with no complications please. Thanks all.

Bobbinog is still in hospital getting iv antibiotics, however, his fever has broken and is on 36.4 Yay!!! He will stay in until his fever stays low for 48 hours. Which puts us to Thursday afternoon. Also, looks like his doctors are clearing friday for him to do the op, which means we book out of Panorama and straight into Red Cross for the op the next day, but its not confirmed yet. But at least I am glad the fever has broken. Dad is doing the Bobbinog shift at the hospital tonight so I have the night off. Cool. Will advise more as we go.

Oh well, we almost made it, almost had a night at home. Its 2.30 am, and we have just checked into the hospital again with fever. Bobbinog's temperature is spiking again. So I guess its back onto antibiotics and the liver resection will now obviously be postponed again. Will advise when I know. But for now, we need to sort out why Bobbinogs temperature keeps spiking.

Bobbinog has beat the bug. His blood culture came back negative, on his arm test and his broviac test. Cool. We have checked out of hospital. He is still on anti biotics for an additional 24 hours as a precaution. Tomorrow is a big day again, as we do take 2 on booking into Red Cross Childrens hospital for his liver resection. The Liver Resection is booked for wednesday morning, assuming all goes well with the tests they will do. Nervous again big time. However, we have been told not to worry as he is the perfect candidate for the op as he is so healthy, and should the surgeons have a choice of candidate for the op, they would pick him. That is very re-assuring, also, we have very good doctors in theatre with him. Apparently there is a team of 7 professors. His main surgeon, who is the liver specialist, is rated in the top 5 in the world, and the rest of the team is also internationally known. Can only hope and pray that all goes well and according to plan, as this is the only option available to us to remove the cancer. But he has done so well up to now, I am sure he will get through this without complications. We have been advised that he will have every possible machine hooked up to him when he comes out of theatre, including being on a ventilator. This will be for his safety as they will monitor everything in ICU. The ventilator will be on as a precaution as because the op is 4 hours long, he could get liquid on his lungs, and if he is not on a ventilator it could cause complications, so it will be on to drain the liquid overnight probably. He will also have blood pressure, heart, kidney etc machines. They have told us to go to ICU while he is in theatre to see what the other children have attached, so we do not get a fright when we see him. That is very scary, but at the same time re-assuring, as we know they will be watching everything. However the knot in my stomache is still there and will get worse as the time draws closer. Going to be a difficult few days, but he is a strong little bugger and he has come this far already, with no major problems, this is the major hurdle now, then we only have 3 more chemo sessions left and then when pray that the cancer is gone and never comes back. I will advise on how the resection goes. Please pray it is successfull and that there are no complications. Thanks for following this blog and supporting The Bobbinog in his fight. He is Winning definately, and after wednesday, the cancer will be in a bottle in the lab, and Bobbinog will recover from surgery and have his future ahead of him... cancer free. Will advise how the operation goes.

MRSA

Yip, we still in hospital. Been in since thursday. The MRSA bacteria started showing itself on friday night. Bobbinog's temperature went up to 39 at one stage, but good old reliable panado curbed it down again. It has been stable at 36/37 since saturday morning. The second blood culture came back positive for mrsa on saturday morning, so they decided to remove the broviac, as the bacteria normally hides in the cap and covers itself with a protective sheath so the anti-biotics cannot kill it. So at 6pm on saturday, Bobbinog was wheeled into theatre. He was out again 30 minutes later as its a quick procedure. They then also put a drip into his ankle as he need an iv line for his meds. He had a good night saturday night. Sunday has been tough on him. As he no longer has a broviac, his blood tests are done the normal way, through a needle in the arm..... assuming they find a vein. He has holes in both wrists and both ankles and on top of all that, he yanked his drip out too. I miss the broviac already. It was magic as all blood tests and medication went through it. But as it was a direct line into his heart and it may have been contaminated, it had to go. When they do his liver resection, they will install a new broviac for future bloods and chemo's at the same time, so we just need to get through till then.
We got the culture back on the broviac tip, and it was negative. So either the bacteria is in his blood and not the broviac, or they have zapped the bug. Will know tomorrow when his blood culture from today comes back. The broviac had to go anyway as it was an external device and it was too risky keeping it in as it could have caused major problems.
However, health wise, you would not say Bobbinog was sick, as he has been laughing and talking all day today. His temperature is still down and his appetite is normal. However he is still on antibiotics until we get negative cultures, so another night in hospital. Will know tomorrow.

We got the results of Bobbinog's Bacterial Infection today. He has MRSA. (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus). We are told it is known as the MRSA Superbug. It is multiple drug resistant. It is normally this bacteria which causes septasemia. Not good not. Due to his compromised immune system it is very risky for him. We are also told it causes more deaths than Aids each year. So at the moment we are quite a bit stressed. However, the good side of this is that we may have caught it early. He has not shown any symptoms, and he is still happy and completely healthy. Not sure if the bug is in his blood stream or in the broviac. They have started him on the strongest available anti-biotics. They are talking about removing the broviac, as it can cause major problems for him and septasemia, but will know more as we go. They need to do more tests and cultures. But as its still under control, hopefully the drugs will zap it. Will know more as we go. Hold thumbs and pray we beat this.