Ana Updates 024 February 26th 2009 (English)

February 26th 2009


Hello Everyone


Here we are still at the Baptist Hospital. It’s been almost 4 weeks since we came back to the hospital thinking we’d be home in 2 or 3 days. Regretfully all sorts of complications appeared and things just snowballed. These last weeks have been very stressful for everyone. We’ve had a lot of new challenges and had too many emotional ups and downs.

I’ll give you a rundown of the events.

As you remember we resolved the initial leakage from the Ommaya port. Then we detected the pneumonia right at the beginning. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise since we were able to fight it and stop it in its tracks before it developed into a more serious case.

When that was clearing up we had new problems with the Ommaya port so Ana had to get surgery to take it out and replace it with a new one.

We had the fistula and perforated intestine false alarm that had us all stressed out for about 72 hours.

Last Tuesday (Feb 17th) it looked like we would be home by the weekend and we got hit with another bucket of cold water. A bacterial infection was detected in Ana’s spinal fluid, in other words she was diagnosed with a form of meningitis. We had to wait until Thursday to know exactly what bacteria it was. On Thursday they said it looked like lab contamination because it was a type of bacteria that normally shows up in the intestine. So another sample of spinal fluid was extracted to verify. Saturday afternoon I was informed that the same bacteria appeared again in the cerebral fluid and the doctors determined that the Ommaya connection had been contaminated. So it was necessary to remove the Ommaya port completely. The procedure is very quick but it needs to be done by a neurosurgeon under anesthesia.

So once again on Sunday Ana went to the operating room and had the Ommaya port removed.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Ana has been receiving her three types of chemotherapy on a regular basis. As everyone knows the chemo in itself shakes up anyone. Ana is getting 3 kinds at the same time. Imagine what that does to her, plus the surgeries and the anguish of being at the hospital for almost 4 weeks this time. None of us are in the best of shape.

She’s currently receiving antibiotics to make sure the infection disappears. The test that was done on Tuesday was ok and will be tested again in the morning.

In spite of all this Ana is doing better than could be expected and it looks like tomorrow we’ll finally be going home. We depend on final clearance from the infectious disease doctor and that will be determined by some new test in the morning.

Like I said all these ups and downs have been very difficult on Ana and her emotional fortitude has really been tested. Her will to live is amazing and in the last few days she’s bounced back a bit, she has become a lot more communicative again and is in a pretty good mood.

My mom arrived from Argentina a few days ago. Her presence has been a much needed breath of fresh air. She takes care of the kids and allows me to spend more time with Ana. The nights at the hospital a very long and I’m eating a lot of ice cream and other sweets that I normally don’t touch. So I can imagine I’m putting on weight.

Ana really needs to feel love, human warmth and support from everyone so don’t hesitate to visit her or send her cards and letters.

Hopefully this weekend Ana, the children and I will all sleep under the same roof again.

I pray and hope that she remains well and we can celebrate our wedding anniversary on March 11th at home.

I will let you know as soon as we get home.



Best regards



Victor