At the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (RCH)

So yesterday saw Lauren book into the RCH to start the process of the trial just started here in October. This will happen in stages as Lauren doesn't fully qualify for the trial just yet. One of the stumbling blocks is she needs a 5% blast count (leukaemic cells) and hers have been under 1% thanks to the success of the trial drug Inotuzumab. Even with a bone marrow biopsy yesterday, her blast count is only 1.6%. So we'll have to wait before she can proceed to have her T-cells sent to the USA for genetic modification in the laboratory.

Aside from the bone marrow biopsy yesterday, she had a 'vascath' inserted in her groin which will be used tomorrow to extract her T-cells through a process which might take all day. Basically they'll run her blood through a machine, something like what you see if you donate platelets at the blood bank, extract the T-cells and put the rest back into her. These T-cells will be frozen until she has the required blast count so we can continue.

So tomorrow starts this new journey with the Leukapheresis procedure, which is easier here in Melbourne than having to go to the US to access it.

This hospital is amazing to say the least. Someone had a massive vision what a hospital should and could be in building this. It feels more like a hotel, looks like a modern office complex with shops and eateries on the ground floor - even has a cinema and meditation and prayer room and heaps to keep anyone occupied. It's so modern and what any hospital in any first world country should be these days. Up until now I was under the impression that only people living in the 1800's and early 1900's had any vision to build hospitals.

Turns out we should be grateful a response was never received when querying the RAH Adelaide medical teams' recommended switch from Inotuzumab (Pfizer) to Blinatumomab (A....). If Lauren had ever accessed this later drug, she would have been precluded totally from this trial in Melbourne. However, what's concerning is such a switch would have also have precluded her from the trial in Washington as well, where she was supposedly on a wait list for for the last few months. The trial being the same one. Just confirms that just because a medico says something, doesn't mean it is necessarily correct. People should be encouraged to question their treatment and any professional should be happy to respond to those questions.

The team here at the Royal Melbourne are extremely professional and give you confidence in how they approach their roles. No question is buried and openly encouraged by them. They even respond to emails in writing, which isn't a problem either - at all levels in their hierarchy! This is what all hospitals should be modelled on in admin and professionalism (from what I've seen so far). Makes you wonder what the centres of excellence in Germany and the USA are like?

Here's some photos of this hospital

The trip across to Melbourne was also used to achieve part of Lauren's goal to see all the 'Big things' in Australia. So we visited the Big Lobster, Larry in Kingston in SE (SA) and the Giant Koala at Dadswell Vic