Scan date

Hi,

Anna's CT scan is set for the 11th September. We'll keep you posted on the results.

Those of you who worry about my sanity will be relieved to hear that I have had a lovely few days celebrating my birthday (like the Queen, I prefer to celebrate over a period of time).

I received lots of cards and pressies on Friday and then went on a rare date with my husband in the evening. Saturday was also excellent as I saw 'Volver' - the new Pedro Almovodar film - with my friend Chris. What a wonderful film!

I still have a luxury spa day to look forward to, so I'm sure that you will agree that I am a very lucky girl.
Janie x

PS: Andy and I love this shot of Anna. She looks so grown up and it captures her 'sparkle'!

No More Mr Nice Guy

Andy finally cracked and took his frustrations out on a poor defenceless bird... The swine!










Well, Anna fans, since our last post H.R.H has been in hospital TWICE.

The first time was during our trip to Scotland to visit Andy's parents. We took the opportunity to visit our great friends Charon and Dr G in Dundee and, following many, many bottles of Prosecco, (we were on our holidays!), had to take Anna to the local infirmary. We were only in for one night and managed to complete our three-centre breakaway with a night in Beadnell with my fab pretendy cousin, Michael, and then spent a lovely couple of days in Hartlepool with my sister and her children, Hugo and Georgie.

Anna has been discharged from the RVI today having been admitted on Sunday. She is really thrilled to be home. Her consultant has now said that she may be having her CT scan in the next couple of weeks and that they are going to take some cross section images of her lungs as he suspects that something else might be going on with her little body.

Her admission was a real shame as we had a wonderful time on Saturday celebrating Dendle and Margaret's Golden Wedding Anniversary near Sherwood Forest. Andy's sisters did a brilliant job of arranging things and we met lots of very funny, very warm relatives and friends of the family. Many of them have followed Anna's progress closely since her birth so it was lovely to introduce her to them at last.

Anyway, I have survived my first stint on an open ward at the RVI. Anna no longer has MRSA so we've lost our 'instant upgrade' to a cubical. All I will say is that having listened in to a couple of conversations I decided to hide my wallet in a wipes container in my suitcase! All human life is there, but Anna far preferred it to being shut away in a cubical.

Janie
xxxx

Results

Hi,

We are not staying overnight in the RVI as Anna pulled her PH probe out on the way down from theatre, so we are back in Hexham. Hooray!

The good news is that the doctors were able to find out what is causing Anna's respiratory problems. She has tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia. I know that most of you will Google this, so a very quick explanation is that her trachea and the airways in her lungs are the wrong shape. They tend to hold onto infection more readily as a result.

She may also have something called vascular ring and that will be checked in a CT scan under anesthetic in a month or so. She would need an op to correct that.

We will get the blood results back soon. We know that she doesn't have cystic fibrosis which is obviously fantastic news.

We have been told to expect another rough couple of years with Anna. However, she should slowly grow out of the tracheomalacia and bronchomalacia. We have decided to take our holidays in the UK within striking distance of a major children's hospital until she is four or five, so at least the environment will benefit!

Janie
xxx

PS: Ella took daily swimming lessons this week and can now officially swim! You can see above her first ever swimming certificate and badge (five metres).