Summer Time and the Livin's Easy.....Until it's Not

 Summer Time Fun

Happy July 1st Canada!

The zoo reopened and we went several times.

It's amazing how much fun the girls can have in a small pool!

We even managed to rent a cottage right on a lake and have some time away from the city.

Summer Time Not So Fun

Zoe had to have the PORT catheter in her chest replaced this August.  It was a planned surgery and all went well that day.  However, a few days after the PORT insertion Zoe became very ill.  She had picked up a bacteria while getting her new PORT and it had infiltrated her blood stream.  Zoe was very sick and had to have the new PORT removed a week after it went in.  The infection began to clear up once the PORT was out and Zoe was on strong IV antibiotics for several days.  Because of the seriousness of the infeciton Zoe had to be on the antibiotics for 14 days after the PORT came out.  During this time Gavin and I talked about the PORT- infection is a risk with having it, should we put another one in or wait and see?  It was hard to believe that a choice we made- Zoe having the PORT- had resulted in her being critically ill.  Zoe quickly told us what she needed- after a week on IV antibiotics with no PORT, her vein access got worse and worse.  She started going through a new IV (which took several attempts and sometimes several hours between attempts) every day.  Then she started needing a new IV every 12 hours...then after every dose of medication which was given every 8 hours.  Finally they could not get vein access at all so they had to start doing IM (intramuscular) injections which were painful and not as effective as medication in the vein.  So obviously, Zoe still had poor vein access and needed her PORT.  This was not a choice but a necessity for Zoe to receive the IV medications she will need when she is ill.  And so, for the third time in three weeks, Zoe went back to surgery to get a new PORT put in place.  She still had a bumpy road to recovery but the new PORT did not become infected and Zoe was finally off the antibiotics and able to come home.