EXCERPT FROM EMAIL TO FRIENDS
These are friends from the kids’ school. Their child has had surgery and treatment for a life-threatening illness, at the Royal Children’s Hospital
“. . . maybe I'll bump into you at school again soon. That's about the only time I'm out in the real world these days, but I must admit it doesn't occur to me to think about what I might be missing out on socially. Priorities shift down to the ultra basics, and I'm content with that as we concentrate on steering Rose to good health.
I don't know about your social life, . . . but ours is very much on hold in the leadup to transplant, with visitor restrictions, etc. The hospital team is getting pretty protective about Rose, especially as she needs to stay in tiptop shape if she's going to make it onto the transplant list. We're just having family in the room at the moment.
. . . We heard today that Rose's official placement on the transplant waiting list is probably blowing out by 4 or 5 weeks. The doctors agonized over a decision about whether or not to immunize her against measles-mumps-rubella before transplant, even though babies usually need to be at least one for that particular vaccine. They have decided to go with the jab, but that means she needs to wait till the live virus is out of her system. About 4 more weeks.
It's a setback, but a tolerable one, especially when we consider the possibility that her life post-transplant would be threatened if she caught an infectious disease. She'll be artificially immunosuppressed for life, to prevent organ rejection, so it's worth being thorough about immunization before she has a transplant. She's had lots of extra vaccines lately, sweet little pincushion!”
These are friends from the kids’ school. Their child has had surgery and treatment for a life-threatening illness, at the Royal Children’s Hospital
“. . . maybe I'll bump into you at school again soon. That's about the only time I'm out in the real world these days, but I must admit it doesn't occur to me to think about what I might be missing out on socially. Priorities shift down to the ultra basics, and I'm content with that as we concentrate on steering Rose to good health.
I don't know about your social life, . . . but ours is very much on hold in the leadup to transplant, with visitor restrictions, etc. The hospital team is getting pretty protective about Rose, especially as she needs to stay in tiptop shape if she's going to make it onto the transplant list. We're just having family in the room at the moment.
. . . We heard today that Rose's official placement on the transplant waiting list is probably blowing out by 4 or 5 weeks. The doctors agonized over a decision about whether or not to immunize her against measles-mumps-rubella before transplant, even though babies usually need to be at least one for that particular vaccine. They have decided to go with the jab, but that means she needs to wait till the live virus is out of her system. About 4 more weeks.
It's a setback, but a tolerable one, especially when we consider the possibility that her life post-transplant would be threatened if she caught an infectious disease. She'll be artificially immunosuppressed for life, to prevent organ rejection, so it's worth being thorough about immunization before she has a transplant. She's had lots of extra vaccines lately, sweet little pincushion!”
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