ICU battle

Brett may have lasted till morning but it emerged quickly that the fight was far from over.
Person after person filed into Brett's cubicle.
Some people I recognised but most I didn't.
The various people introduced themselves but I couldn't take much in. Dr of this , professor of that - I didn't care for titles I just wanted to know what they thought was wrong and more importantly, what they could do to fix it.
The skin specialist thought he had cellulitis
The plastic surgeon thought he could have an abscess in his stomach
The normal surgeons still thought he could have a hole in his bowel

He was confirmed as having the HHV 6 virus - which is a common virus found around us and can attack post transplant patients.
He was also confirmed as suffering septic shock / septicaemia - reason unknown.

Eventually tests confirmed Brett had Gram negative septic shock - a quick google revealed that it was the biggest killer of ICU patients across the world.
Oh God!

I was then stupid enough to goggle the mortality rates for both HHV 6 Virus and gram negative septic shock in a BMT patient.
I quickly added both sets of stats up and realised Brett had a 85-90% chance of death.

Which also meant he had a 10% chance of living -
my mood immediately lifted

10% = Hope

We had hope and once you have hope, even the tiniest glimmer of it, you have the world of chances and opportunities.

Over the next few days my husband and I kept a constant vigil at Brett's bedside.
Kev went home to be with Poppy for a while.
Poppy couldn't face seeing Brett in intensive care again - the first time was bad enough she felt.

It was just as well because Brett didn't wake up, he had periods being conscious but they were times of distress for Brett.
He tried to pull his various lines out in total confusion and had to be calmed down. Luckily he doesn't remember a thing about it all.

After many days Brett eventually was classified as poorly but stable and was able to be transferred on to the teenage cancer unit at BCH.
He remained very ill and was constantly monitored.
But the path of slow recovery was finally beginning.

But even we didn't realise how slow and arduous that recovery was going to be.