One phone call..

...that is all it took to turn my world upside down.

While we were at the pool on Tuesday morning I received a message from my Mum to say my younger brother had been taken to hospital and that she was on her way to my house. (Mum, Dad & my brother all live in Bunbury). Mum had a 3pm specialist appointment in Perth and minutes before they were about to leave- they got a call to say Mark had collapsed at work and was being taken by ambulance to Busselton Hospital. Dad zoomed off to the hospital and Mum stayed at home. After some phone calls back and forth, Mum decided to drive to my house so I could take her to her appointment and Dad would stay with Mark. More phone calls back and forth- Mark's condition was serious and they were calling the flying doctor to bring him straight to Perth. So to shorten the story, Sarah, Emma & I took Mum to her appointment then we went straight to Royal Perth Hospital to wait for Mark to arrive. We didn't have to wait too long. Mark arrived and was taken straight to be prepared for surgery.

Mark had collapsed because blood clots had blocked both of his lungs. His heart was working overtime trying to keep his body going. In Busselton the doctors gave him some medication to try and dissolve the clots- that was unsuccessful- hence him being flown to Perth. The doctors spoke to Mum and I. Mark's condition, untreated would be fatal however the operation would be major and high risk as it required Mark having open heart surgery and going on to a heart lung machine. We were briefly able to see Mark although he could hardly talk due to his lack of breathe.

Mark was taken to theatre about 7.30pm and we were told the op would be about 3 1/2 - 4 hours long. Mum stayed at the hospital, I brought the girls home and tried to get some sleep.
Mum rang at about midnight to say that things weren't going to plan and they had kept Mark in theatre as internal bleeding couldn't be stopped.
After an epic operation Mark was finally wheeled in to ICU. Still no joy- Mum rang again about 3.30am to say that Mark had a mass near his heart, which was removed however his heart had been damaged due to the huge amount of work it had been doing that day trying to keep him alive. His kidney, liver, lungs and spleen had also been stressed.

The hospital rang me about 5am to say could I come in as Mum was not coping so after a night with very little sleep, I drove up to Royal Perth to be with Mum. I was able to speak to the doctors and allowed to see Mark(not that he knew I was there) .The doctors were considering taking Mark back to surgery as there was still internal bleeding that they were concerned about. The medication that Mark was given in Busselton to try and dissolve the clots was now preventing clotting when it was needed. I eventually brought Mum home so she could have a sleep, rang a million people to inform them of what was going on, took the girls to their next swimming lesson and by that time Dad had arrived from Bunbury. I dropped my girls off with a friend and Dad, Mum and I went back to the hospital.

Latest news- Mark is still heavily sedated. His heart is not functioning as well as the doctors were hoping. He is requiring a much higher dose of adrenalin to keep it working that they would like. His kidneys are also not functioning as the doctors would like and they are considering dialysis. He is still bleeding internally although this is slowly improving. (they didn't end up taking him back in to surgery due to the concern with his heart & kidneys)
The doctors still are unable to say whether Mark will pull through this although he is young, fit and healthy- all positives on his side. At this stage they are also unable to say whether he will suffer any permanent or long term effects from this.

I am so tired, I have listened to so much medical jargon and I feel completely drained.
I am off to bed soon with my mobile phone near my bed- hoping NOT to hear it ring. Mum said she would only ring in an emergency.

Please say a prayer for my brother. I will update tomorrow.
Stay safe,
Janine