Tell the Bees

Archive for June 24th, 2008

One Virus Gone; Two New Ones to Deal With

The brain virus Lina has been battling for over a month is now gone. They completed the treatment for it on Sunday – but in testing for the brain virus they found two new blood viruses to deal with. Dr. Armand said that they are surprised because the treatment for the brain virus should have also knocked down these new ones.  So they are beginning a new round of different antibiotics. So far, Lina has shown no signs of fever or other sickness from the new viruses.

She is eating and digesting well enough now that they discontinued the intravenous feeding Saturday. But her need for 24-hour ‘guards’ continues.

Dr. Armand said the issue of possibly moving Lina out of Brigham & Women’s hospital is now moot for the next few weeks as she will clearly need continued ‘acute care’ to deal with the new viruses. She had surgery today to remove all of her implanted ‘mediports’ and ‘pic lines’ that feed catheters to her veins and heart. They felt the plastic could be aiding in the growth of the new viruses.

Lina’s mental confusion continues but she’s talkative. She tells us she’s been to many performances around Boston this week. She’s been to South America and Malaysia to adopt 6-12 orphaned children and to the San Diego Zoo to adopt two panda bears who were homeless because of the fires. “And the pandas are almost as cute as the kids. Wait ’til you see them!,” she keeps telling us.

My girls and I came home exhausted last night and we’re not sure when we’ll head back down. Seven of 8 weekends in a row in Boston hotels gets hard on all of us. We may go down for just one night this weekend. We got away from the hospital for a few hours and baked in the sun Saturday at Fenway Park – watching the Red Sox lose to St. Louis, 9-3.

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