The sluice

Zac spends the day in and out of sleep.  He’s had a fever for the past few days so is being closely monitored by the nurses.  The staff at the hospital have all been brilliant and we have come to know a lot of the nurses well, along with the health care assistants and cleaners.  You look forward to their visits to your room, the chats that provide a bit of light relief and humour.  I do believe the NHS has its problems, exacerbated by the chronic under funding from government over the years, but the care we received from all members of the team was nothing short of world class.  So many people had a huge impact on us while we were staying with Zac and we will always remember and be grateful for them and the amazing work they do.

The days are spent alternating between lying with Zac, meetings with the team, chats with the nurses and anticipating trips to the sluice room.  The sluice room is a closed room found in hospitals that is specifically designed for the disposal of human waste.  During chemo, kidney function must be monitored, one method being to check what goes in versus what comes out.  We had to collect everything that came out (and I mean everything) into little cardboard bowls and transport them to the sluice room so everything could be measured and compared with what fluids had gone in.  You could tell when it had been a particularly busy night on the ward by the number of bowls containing various bodily secretions balanced precariously atop each other on the side.  Pity the poor soul who’s job it was to sort everything out in the morning.