On Wednesday the 14th of August we returned to Melbourne for the third round of intra-arterial chemo. The appointment with the oncologist was cancelled this trip, as nothing had changed and there was nothing new to discuss following the last two appointments with him. So that meant we had most of Wednesday free in Melbourne, we just needed to be there for Isla to be admitted early the next day.
We were staying at Ronald McDonald house again and we were very lucky this trip and got a great room! The rooms are usually just a bedroom with a small fridge and a tv and you use a shared bathroom and shared kitchen. This time we had a lovely big corner room with views of the park and our own private little kitchen and bathroom. After checking in we went to the zoo for a couple of hours. After the zoo we just went for a bit of a walk around Carlton before heading back to our ‘suite’ to have dinner and get Isla to bed. Even though it’s only a small thing, it actually made a huge difference, just to be able to put Isla down to bed and have another room to go to and watch TV and relax for a bit without disturbing her. So that was really nice.
We headed over to the hospital early the next morning and Isla was admitted. Isla had a bit of a snotty nose at the time and we thought she was just getting over a cold. The anaesthetist reported that she seemed to still be in the thick of her cold and the GA could make that a little worse.
The normal team were back this month, so we went and had a coffee and a quick bite to eat before coming back to speak to the eye doctors after the EUA. The results of the EUA weren't overly positive. There were no new tumours, but the main tumour looked much the same as it did last month, which was little disappointing. They were considering bringing us back the following week (the normal scheduled EUA week) to have another look and do some measurements using ultrasound and also do a fluorescein angiogram to look at the blood supply to the tumour. At one stage the ophthalmologist thought it probably wasn’t necessary bringing us back so soon, but they later decided that they did want us to come back the following week.
NOT ISLA – Fluorescein angiogram example.
By L. Bacud - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1858050
After speaking with the eye team we went out for a walk and got some lunch while we waited for the radiologists to complete the intra-arterial chemo. They gained access to Isla’s ophthalmic artery (via the vertebral artery still) quite quickly and easily today and infused the two drugs successfully. We were back in the hospital with her by around 12.30pm.
Once Isla was feeling better and our room was ready, we were transferred to the ward and got Isla settled in there. Again Garreth took the hospital shift and I went back to Ronald McDonald house that night.
We were discharged fairly early this time and we waited in our room at Ronald McDonald until it was time to meet our taxi to head to the airport. Since we are now platinum virgin velocity members, we don’t have to worry about eating lunch until we are in the virgin lounge at the airport, which is very handy!
Catching some zzzzz’s before the flight.
Yay!!!! Lunch time!!!
We left Melbourne planning to return one week later for another examination under general anaesthetic (EUA).
Isla’s cold got quite a bit worse very quickly after this Melbourne trip/GA. I stayed home with her the following Monday and took her to the GP. Our doctor thought it was just viral and she just needed rest. I spoke to the Melbourne team the next day (1 day before being due to fly to Melbourne again) and explained the situation and Isla’s symptoms. The anaesthetist along with the ophthalmologist decided it was best to cancel that trip, as it was purely elective, and allow Isla to get over her illness. We would be back in 4 weeks time for another EUA and they will just do the ultrasound and fluorescein angiogram then.
Isla continued to get a little worse with a very nasty cough and several temps above 38, so I took her to the GP again on Wednesday and she was diagnosed with her second ear infection. With some antibiotics and rest she eventually started to feel better again.
© Alison Davey 2021
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