Over the past six weeks, Hayley has spent many nights inside hospital rooms with Camille; dealing with increased night terrors and the constant interruptions of hospital staff doing their regular observations. Tonight is the first night that I have hospital duty, but before I provide an insight into how short the bed next to Camille’s is, I need to take you back to Saturday.

As with any normal Saturday, Lucia came flying down the stairs at a bright and breezy 7.00am and we ventured down stairs so as not to wake up Hayley and Camille who I had carried into our bed a good two hours prior. 8.00am came, followed by 9.00am, at which time Lucia headed out of the door with her auntie for a morning of fun and frivolity. Soon after Hayley and Camille appeared downstairs; but all was not as it should be, Camille was slightly warm. Now, for most children this is common place and nothing to be concerned about, but with Camille’s immune system very low at the moment we have to take her straight to hospital. I tried to apply a five minute wait rule to the situation but Hayley rightly overruled and we were back at Ipswich Hospital within that five minutes.

We were shown into our room and a temperature was 38.2. The doctors were sure she had an infection, as the bloods soon proved. So once again we were in Ipswich, the minimum stay for this was 48 hours and a third type of antibiotic. Two of her antibiotics were now being administered through the cannula that was inserted the previous Sunday. Yesterday, when Camille was being given one of her antibiotics the cannula began to drip ever so slightly, this looked bleak for the future longevity but it was left hoping that it would last until the following day. At 10.00pm last night the cannula failed and a new one was required straight away. The poor sleeping Camille was wheeled in her buggy to the treatment room, where bright lights blinded her, for a doctor to stick another needle into her veins. The process is normally very difficult for Camille as she become petrified as soon as the cold spray is applied, but last night she was beside herself with panic and fright. Camille has now got used to saying the words “He’s hurting me”, which breaks our hearts; today she said “Ouchey” in the cutest possible voice. We know that the Hickman Line will enable her to go through the remainder of the treatment with little need for further needles, and that has to be something we now look forward to.

Not only has Camille has Cannulas inserted, but also she has been required for blood counts to be taken each day she has been here. Again, this requires a needle into the vein and a sample to be taken. Camille’s red blood count has slowly been decreasing and today it was decided that she could do with a top-up through a simple blood transfusion. The idea of this horrified us, but for the first time in a while, we were greeted with a rosey cheeked Camille as the blood bag emptied and her body took on foreign blood.

After last night’s battle with the cannula and the continuing night terrors that Camille is suffering with, Hayley needed some sleep. So here I lay, in hospital for my first overnight stay. I really don’t know what to expect, I normally sleep well anywhere, but I guess only time will tell. I will say this, it’s 21.30pm and I feel like going to sleep. Home tomorrow, we hope.