DAY 78

Dear everyone,

Ellen arrived, as planned, midday, yesterday. We had a quick lunch and then moved on to the hospital, where Steven was due to have his fibreoscopy. By the time we got to his room, we had just missed him and he had already been delivered downstairs to the pneumology clinic. We arrived down and expected a long wait: however, this time things went fairly swiftly – I guess the more often one undergoes these unpleasant procedures, the easier they become. When we were called in, Steven was sitting in a wheelchair and all ready to be delivered back up to Coquelicot 5. Well, he was just looking so good! Nothing at all like how ill he had been the previous two days. Major relief all round, as you can imagine. Naturally, he was delighted to see Ellen.

Back upstairs, Matthew and I arranged to meet with Dr. Nguyen (pronounced en-gee-en) who is the pneumologist following Steven’s case in Coquelicot – she had already examined him while he was in Urgences. This lady is just brilliant – a bit of a tour de force of medical prowess, if you ask me, and wonderfully nice. She explained that, based upon the scan evidence, their opinion is that Steven most likely has bacterial pneumonia in his upper left lung. They were waiting for the results from the bronchoscopy to fully confirm this. Her feeling was that there might also be some residual infection in his central line which would have contributed to the temperature hike, and they were investigating this. She also outlined that Steven would appear to have herpes in his throat. This is visible as white spots and mucus at the sides and back of his throat. This, apparently, is not a major concern and they are already treating this with mouthwash and an anti-fungal medication.

Today, Steven was back to his usual self (the king of the rebound, don’t you know!) and in quite good form. He is very frustrated that he still cannot use his central line and the antibiotics are still being transfused into veins – he literally doesn’t have a vein left in his arms. He is eating very well and the pain in his back is improving and quite under control. More importantly, he hasn’t had a fever since Monday evening. He cannot use his computer as there is no wireless coverage in Coquelicot, so this is also irritating for him, but he does have his PS3 and DVDs on demand to amuse himself and Ellen.

This afternoon, Matthew and I spoke with Dr. Robin who is the liaison for Steven between Trèfle 3 and pneumology. She corroborated the need to wait, possibly until Friday, before they are assured of the safety of re-employing the central line. Like Dr. Nguyen, she is not worried about the throat herpes either.

The ugly memory of Dante’s inferno (aka Urgences) is now well and truly behind us. Steven is very comfortable where he is and we are all confident that he is receiving excellent medical attention. We await the results of the bronchoscopy which may dictate a change in his antibiotic treatment.

In the meantime, love to all and thanks to each one of you for all the immense support you provide.


Evelyn, Matthew, Steven and Ellen