Memories of Max - A Father's Story

Chapter 1 - Admission

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Dr Patel could not answer most of our questions. He was unfamiliar with the state of the current treatments for leukaemia. He told us that there were primarily two types of the disease. One had a relatively high chance of survival, the survival rate for the other form was much lower. He could not tell us which of the two types of leukaemia Max had. This required specialised tests which could only be performed at the next hospital.

The nurses and Dr Patel left the room and let us make phone calls. We both phoned our parents who were equally traumatised by the news.

After the phone calls we went through to the Parent’s Room and held on to each other and cried in turn and together. Later Sara went back home to pick up our daughter Paula. I stayed in the hospital to watch over Max.

During the evening I went to Dr Patel to ask about the monitoring equipment and if there was anything I needed to watch for, anything I needed to do. He told me that nurses would be visiting the room regularly but if I had any concerns then just to alert them. I asked him how Max’s condition was affected by the septicaemia. He explained that they were trying to get the infection under control and that if Max got through the night then he would be able to travel to the Royal Marsden Hospital by ambulance the following morning.

“What do you mean ‘if he gets though the night’?”

“As I said before, his condition is extremely serious. If we cannot get the infection under control then he may not survive.”

This was the first of many tremors after the earthquake which just leave you reeling.

“What are the chances that you will get it under control?”

“I can’t answer that. It depends on the extent of the infection and how much Max’s immune system can fight the septicaemia. We will know within the next few hours to what extent he is reacting to the treatment, but in all honesty I cannot give you any fair assessment at the moment how well he will do.“

I was grateful for his honesty.

I went back to the room and sat awake for hours watching my poor unconscious child connected to his monitoring equipment. I dared not sleep in case he died. At about two o’ clock in the morning I was told that Max appeared to be responding to the treatment and I slipped into very troubled slumber.

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