Last Friday (24th September) morning Massimo was taken off the ventilator and put on CPAP, by Saturday 6 am, all his intravenous drugs had been weaned completely and he was put on oxygen. By the time Justin went in in the early afternoon, he was saturating well and Justin took him off his oxygen. We were told that he could have come home on Saturday evening but he was still very grumpy as he was withdrawing from his drugs and not well enough to attend the charity event. On any other calm, quiet Saturday he would have been home immediately, but we decided it was best if he spent another night being well looked after whilst we concentrated on raising as much cash as possible.
Of course last week was very hectic organising things and Justin and I were still hard at it on Saturday, as were Lucy and Marco and all the other helpers! This meant that we unfortunately couldn’t spend too much time with him as we needed to be at the venue at 5 pm. With our usual brilliant time keeping we got there at 6.05 pm! Luckily Lucy and Marco were more organised and had been there nearly all day getting things ready.
As Lucy has said on To The Max, “Many many thanks to all of you who came on Saturday night … The auction was brilliant and … raised over six thousand pounds … We will post the final tally raised during the evening asap”. The evening was a huge success and Sarah Collins, Friends of the Neonatal Unit Charity Organiser, was very pleased.
On Sunday, everyone pitched in with the cleaning up process, except yours truly whose pregnancy was a good enough reason to head to see Max in hospital, but Justin (I hope) did a good job in my stead. Max and I came home in the early evening and although still quite grumpy, he was definitely calming down. Since Sunday we have had a few busy days.
Monday morning brought our long awaited appointment with Massimo’s oncologist at Great Ormond Street and although nothing earth shattering was discussed or done, it was nice to feel that Max hasn’t been forgotten and another routine appointment has been set for mid-January. Massimo’s experimental drug for his tumour is to continue at the current level and we are going to make a concerted effort to get him off the steroids quicker so that we can hopefully reduce his puffiness. At some appropriate point in the future another MRI will be done at St George’s and the results sent over.
Today we listened to the new baby’s heartbeat when the midwife came for our regular visit. She is off on holiday in 10 days time (I will be seeing someone else whilst she is away) but told me in no uncertain terms that she expects me to still be pregnant when she gets back in about 5 weeks. As I said, she’s talking to the wrong person!
The most exciting news is that this afternoon Massimo sat up unassisted for 15 minutes with no wobbling! Sheila and I were very impressed! As far as teeth are concerned, his lower right molar is about half way through, his lower left molar is just under the gum, and his front lower two teeth are now definite bumps under the gum. Nothing seems to be happening on the upper gums but I’m sure it will in time.