Ella Bella

Here is a shot of Ella taken on Saturday (the poor child is very neglected on this blog I've noticed!). I know I'm biased, but she does have a most beguiling face.

Anna can walk (as in from room to room rather than a few steps). Hooray!!!!! She is so thrilled you would think she had invented it and often stares at her feet in amazement as they're moving.

Following on from my last post, I mailed the resp team today with some queries about the reflux. I am hoping that as a result we will be able to try some medication/dietary changes regarding the possible reflux rather than going straight for the surgical option.

Janie

Things are going well:

a) I went to an Abba tribute night last night - it was almost a spiritual experience for me. I am thrilled to have finally found a group of girl friends in Hexham who are as childish and into naff music as much as I am. We were the ONLY members of the audience dressed up out of 350 people, but that's rural Northumberland for you...
b) Anna has stayed well for almost four weeks! She caught a cold earlier this week and so we anticipated a trip to the RVI, but so far she is fine.
c) Katie is having a baby in May ( I feel like this entry should be in flashing neon!). We are now moving back to London, so that we can dote on him/her to the required standard (only joking Lucy!).

We have a date in late November for seeing Anna's surgeon, the sainted Mr Bruce Jaffray, to discuss the proposed fundolication, but he must be pretty bullish about it as Anna is already on his list for the procedure. We may be looking at a December op and up to two weeks in hospital, so I am getting my Christmas shopping now!

In the meantime, we have been going through Anna's history to see if anything comes up as another possible cause for her problems. What we can't understand is that if she has reflux (most severe in infants) then why didn't she have these respiratory problems before the age of 11 months? If Mr Jaffrey advises us to say ok to Anna's op then we will go for it, but we currently have real doubts as to whether it will achieve anything. Hopefully, time will prove us wrong.

Janie
xxx

There's No Place Like Home

Hi,

I am thrilled to say that Anna and I came home yesterday afternoon. What a marathon that was. However, we were on lovely Ward 6 with some really nice families and also had a room to ourselves, so it wasn't as grim as it could have been.

Following this latest episode the respiratory team are looking again at Missy's problems and are proposing the following:

In a couple of months, she'll have a fundoplication - basically keyhole surgery to tighten up the loose sphincter in her oesophagus. The new theory (and it is only a theory) is that Anna may have reflux which is making her lung problems worse. The procedure might cause her other problems but it is a reversible.

We'll need to see Mr Jaffrey, super surgeon, about the op as it is his call as to whether it happens. However, as the resp team are now concerned about Anna having long-term lung damage if nothing is done, I think it's likely that he'll go for it! The other worrying possibility is that if she has another couple of hospital stays they may take her into hospital until her op to keep her well and protect her from any more lung damage!!!! To avoid that nightmare scenario we'll be keeping Anna away from bugs as much as is possible - I'm thinking of investing in a little baby mask!

Janie

Hope springs eternal

Hi all,

Anna's been improving (in a zig-zag kind of way) and we're hoping that she'll be sent home today (Monday)... Fingers crossed!

In the meantime here are a couple of pics from yesterday.



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