Bad news

Ruth with Jasmine

I was feeling better and tired of going from our flat to the hospital without seeing anything so we got the tube and Neil made me sit down every five minutes. The family support nurse chatted to us about facilities at GOSH and turned out to be from the same place near the Boro. Becky was looking after Jasmine.

In the afternoon we sat down with two specialists who told us the news we had feared. Jasmine has no kidney function on the left and barely 1% functionality in the right kidney. Some fluid is draining from the right kidney, but it is not working well. In a best case scenario Jasmine is looking at a future of dialysis and kidney transplants, if her lungs recover.

We were able to hold Jasmine’s hand and help feed her through a tube. She was on fewer muscle relaxants and able to move her head a little as she was waking up from the various drugs. Every time Becky came over to look Jasmine stopped moving, rather like Andy from Lou and Andy in Little Britain.

Jasmine was moved off the oscillator venatilator, which kept her lungs inflated the whole time and just `fluttered’ air back and fort, and onto a regular ventilator. It is easier to move patients on a regular ventilator, as they can be hand pumped as they are wheeled around the hospital.

We got a taxi back in the evening, had a good dinner and I got an early night. Neil stayed up, reading about kidney dialysis on the web and consequently didn’t sleep at all.

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