Boy in the bubble

Seth has been getting temps here and there. His counts are still not recovering, so we are waiting around in hospital for his neutrophils to return. Seth has been measured up for radiation and been shown around the place so he knows what to expect. He said he now feels much more comfortable with what's ahead of him as far as radiation goes anyway. Seth has just been for a bone scan of his entire body. He has a pain in his arm that doesn't appear to be getting any better. The doctors are just trying to rule out a bone infection. Yesterday we received some game changing and quite upsetting news. Seth has caught a bacteria that is resistant to one of the commonly used antibiotics. It is called VRE and it comes with alot of fuss and hospital protocol. He has been moved out of the oncology ward and into variety ward where they are set up to isolate patients. To cut a long story short, he has to remain in isolation and he is not allowed back into the oncology ward again. Anyone who is healthy cannot be affected by this bacteria - it is harmless. Seth himself will not be affected by this bacteria. It's just that immunosuppressed kids can catch it and then they will have a bug that is resistant to this particular antibiotic. To prevent the spread they have certain rules that are to be abided by. So far the rules seem to be a bit contradictory, for example, Seth is not supposed to leave his room or walk around the hospital, however it was okay for him to walk to the opposite end of the hospital twice to get his bone scan???? It comes down to bacteria somehow mutating themselves so that antibiotics will no longer be able to treat them. Seth will no longer be able to see the nurses he has built relationships with in oncology, he can no longer see the friends he has made in oncology over the last four months. He now has to forge new friendships with the nurses in this ward - who are lovely by the way. He cant be around any other kids now which is really sad. The friendships we made were what made this whole experience bareable. It is just another blow he has been dealt. I'm finally going to say it -"it's not fair". I was told today that most transplant kids usually end up with this VRE which is I suppose a little comfort. They told me that at one time they had so many VRE positive kids in transplant all at once so they had to enclose part of the oncology ward to house them all because variety was filled to the brim with them. So we both feel a little unsettled and a little sad right now, but as we always do, we will make lemonade from lemons:)