11 Sept

Just heard that his temperature has dropped a bit and heart rate is under 100 so that sounds good. I'd like to quote from an email received from Bruce Rothman which probably sums it up and casts a more positive spin on it. Bruce says he's not a doctor but appears to be quite knowledgeable. I think what he says is probably spot on except for the temperature which I think is caused by an infection. I'm not sure how the mechanics of the embolism works. Does it stop the blood supply to the whole lung or to parts of the lung or what and if so how does providing oxygen help?

"Wow! Horror of horrors that bone marrow has caused an embolism in his lungs (from what's been said, nobody uses the word but that's what it's got to be), as it can cause suffocation, so good that the boy is on oxygen to limit the possibility of damage to the brain. Hopefully he'll suffer no more than the consequences of a transcient ascemic attack. In a way I'm relieved that his body temperature is so high as this would appear to reflect the effort of his body to get oxygen to his lungs. The heart is obviously working furiously which I think means that his brain is saying "give me oxygen!" and is not going to give up! Hopefully his liver and other organs are working as furiously to filter out any marrow material and that he'll soon wake up with that "pop" feeling (akin to surfacing from a day long hangover), and that all will be OK!"