Tell the Bees

It’s another Monday night and my girls and I are back at home. Tomorrow it will be three weeks since I brought Lina to the emergency room at Brigham & Womens to be admitted.

When we arrived Friday night I was surprised Lina didn’t still have the feeding tube down her nostril. She told me that she was getting ready for a trip to Europe and couldn’t travel with that thing hanging out of her nose. She apparently had ripped it out several times. So… on Friday the docs had installed an intra venal feeding tube into her arm and had heavily taped it in place.

Also on Friday she underwent a series of tests including another MRI. They told me that the results won’t be back for most of the tests until Tuesday. But she did test positive for the HHV-6 virus in her brain
(see: http://www.hhv-6foundation.org/hhv6_transplant.html) . It’s a herpes-family virus that we all have but it usually lies dormant. Transplant patients often develop it. They began treating it Saturday.

Lina still isn’t eating. She still has the diarrhea and vomiting. Her open wound on her back is still raw and painful. And she is still confused. Not 100% confused – she can maintain a reasonable conversation but drifts off into fantasy world. The doc Saturday asked her what year it was – she said, “Why are you asking me such stupid questions? It’s 1987”. What month? “Late October or early November.” The nurse said “We’re not sure where she is but she sure is having a good time there.”

Starting last Thursday night, they have put Lina under constant guard. A nurse or a CNA sits at her bedside 24/7 to make sure she doesn’t rip out anything or try to get out of bed again

Lina’s good friend Mary Carey and her husband John drove up to Boston from NYC to visit Friday and Saturday. It was good for Lina.

I’ll write more after getting a report from her chief doctor at Dana-Farber tomorrow.