Memories of Max - A Father's Story

Chapter 5 - Freedom

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Max’s inability to lead anything close to a normal five year old’s life continued for some time but about five months after leaving the hospital he continuously complained of feeling sick and started to retch for no reason. Sometimes he actually vomited. He also had pains in his leg for a week which were getting progressively worse and he started feeling very tired.

These signs worried us immensely. They were non specific and yet there was no temperature, no local inflammation, no indication as to the cause of the problem. We had been here before. These were very similar to the symptoms which Max displayed before getting leukaemia. We took Max back to the Royal Marsden Hospital with fears of relapse. He was declared clear of cancer.

We continued to be very cautious

The second time we reached the point where we could no longer explain what was happening to Max was after returning from a holiday. Max had a very high temperature and no other apparent symptoms. We were cautious and rather than over react we called out the on call doctor rather than immediately contacting the Royal Marsden Hospital. We explained the complexities of our situation. The doctor admitted that she knew very little about childhood cancer and immediately referred us to the local hospital. As was to occur over a number of occasions, I had a lot of respect for a doctor who admitted that the situation was beyond his or her knowledge and who was prepared to listen to our concerns.

I took Max into the local hospital and he was immediately isolated and blood tests were taken. The nurses, as always, were excellent and I recognised a number of them who had been on duty during Max's first diagnosis. He was given a temporary intravenous line in his arm and over the course of the day started to pick up after he had been given medication to control the temperature. Again I had doubts and wondered if I had possibly over reacted, but the lack of a definitive answer from the hospital put those thoughts to the back of my mind.

Again I lay awake drinking coffee into the middle of the night until the blood results came through. They were clear. The next day we saw the consultant, Dr Patel, who had originally diagnosed Max. He was brilliant. He could not say what was wrong except that Max's illness was probably viral although there was no direct evidence for this. The temperature had subsided and Max's blood counts were normal. We were ushered out of the hospital with the highest priority for which we were extremely grateful.

All was well.

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