Hospital update 4

Since our last update, there have been a few changes in Cha and only good progress.

Today she was extubated at around 1:30pm and hopefully, her airway holds up okay and doesn't need to go back into intubation. Her airway is partially swollen just due to having the tube down her throat which is quite common.

Charlotte had a bone marrow swab done during the week to look at why her haemoglobin was dropping and thankfully that all came back normal.

The doctors are confident that they understand what happened which led Cha to need to go to the emergency and the good news is, they are working to ensure this doesn't happen again. It was a mix of medication management and haemoglobin management then put the virus in on top of that and here we are.

Our next steps are to get Cha well enough to get out of ICU and into a normal ward to recover further before heading home.

The picture attached is where Charlotte just came off her intubation and was a little sedated and feeling a bit tired.

Comments

"Are you sitting down?"

Charlotte and I had just got back from our monthly clinic appointment at SCH Randwick and I'd just given her some meds and food when I received a call from an unknown number. It was Dr Spicer, our regular renal doctor, and she said, 'Scott, are you sitting down'? She told me the news that they have a suitable kidney donor for Charlotte. I am normally calm but I just started shaking. As most of you know, our journey here has been challenging but Charlotte has always taken each moment as it comes. We were told this was not going to be a normal transplant and could run into complications but after the 8 hour surgery Charlotte has been showing lots of signs that her new kidney is working well. **Warning** Some images could be confronting to view. 16/10/25 - The day before 17/10/25 - Post Transplant 18/10/25 - The next day

Hospital Update - Week 4

17.05.24 On Tuesday this week, Charlotte went under general anesthesia to have a scan done for all the different teams to discuss her kidney transplant. We won’t, however, know the information until the 11th of June so you can imagine we are both excited and anxious. Charlotte’s potassium has been higher than normal over the last week so medication was given and several ECG’s done to monitor any issues which all came back fine. The renal doctors are fine-tuning her medication and dialysis regime for us to hopefully go home soon. Charlotte still gets her observations (blood pressure, heart rate and temperature) checked every 4 hours so they can calibrate her BP suitable for going home. This hospital visit has made me realise that having a boring home routine is a good thing. Even if at the time you think your life is not exciting, this I feel is a good thing. Getting out of your comfort zone is important but being bored is underrated. I would give anything to do 'normal...

Hospital update 1

Hospital Update 1: Charlotte's hemoglobin has been slowly declining for the last few months. Her blood test last Friday showed the levels are very low. It was yesterday (Monday the 22nd) when we noticed Charlotte's behaviour really started to change and quite quickly. Kristal took Charlotte into Sydney Children's where she was rushed into emergency. Charlotte was moved a few hours later from Emergency to ICU where she currently is now. What seems to have occurred is the low red blood count has increased her blood pressure and potentially caused liquid to fill her right lung. Yesterday Charlotte had a blood transfusion and as I'm writing this she having her lungs drained of the fluid. At 3:45pm she will also have a bone marrow biopsy. She is sedated and the ICU have been amazing. We are also ok. We are looking after ourselves and each other. We expect Charlotte to be in ICU for about 7 to 10 days and the doctors have said she is in a stable condition.

THE CHA CHI

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