Long time no see

Posted by Sari I know I have not posted for ages, I have not answered e-mails, I have not hung out at my usual hangouts on the net, I have not even SMS:d to people. So this is a collective apology to you all. We had loads of wonderful presents, christmas cards, and whatnot from y'all, and I have just been too tired to do anything about any of them. I promise I will get to it, really. At the moment, just getting the work done seems like a huge effort. The bad news is that Jukka is at hospital again. Hopefully nothing worse than an infection under the operation scar, but it still gets us both down. On Thursday he went back to blood tests as planned, and the infection indicators were way high. So after looking at his arm-pit Maija (four) and James (five) decided it would be better to have surgeon to see it so they sent us to Töölö for a surgical consult. There we had a reunion with the plastic-surgeon-on-call Suvi. Her numerical designation was under dispute but after calculation we decided on -2. So, Suvi (minus two) was of the opinion that operation was not necessary but recommended antibiotics straight to bloodstream. So after waiting around, going out for a kebab, waiting around some more, stopping Jukka from yelling at an innocent X-ray nurse, waiting around even more and finally getting necessary papers, we were off back to the Cancer clinic where they gave Jukka a bed and hooked him up with an IV. And there he is still. The infection indicators have come down, but nobody really knows (or at least tells) what is going on. Also, the smell of the hospital food seems to be enough to trigger his gag reflecses, so I have been doing twice daily supply runs so he gets something to eat. He is felling a bit better, partly I suspect because of the visits by his brother Pasi, my sister Merja and her shiny new boyfriend. I was certain the nurses were going to ask us to tone the laughter down. [A side note: there has been a nasty hospital bacteria doing rounds in Meilahti hospital though not in the Cancer clinic building. Even so, I have been little more careful with hygiene when going in and out of the building. And can I just say how much I love the disinfectant you rub on your hand and leave it there? It makes me feel all clean professional. Such a pity you should really not use anti-bacterial products at home, otherwise I would get tons of it...] Anyway, they may let him come home today or tomorrow, but it is also possible he has to keep taking the antibiotics intraveniously(?), so that would mean a visit from a nurse every six hours. Or that is what Jukka says. Would they really com knocking on our door at 2 a.m.? We'll see... Sari