O/S thread for 29th Dec 2006

Pink.

Good morning everybody.:hello:

It's so stormy here that I've given up on getting back to sleep and decided to make a start on the day.

I didn't get much done yesterday....As usual Dad plied us with a fantastic four course lunch complete with red wine. I'm never any use after a heavy meal let alone red wine during the day so we just came home afterwards and lazed by the fire. Now I know where I get some of my OS roots from....Dad had made some sloe gin and I tasted it for the first time. It really is delicious. I'll have to try to find some sloes next year.

Although I couldn't face battling my way through the sales, we did have to pop into the shops for a few essentials on the way home and I got lots of sausage meat reduced to 10p so planning to make some sausage rolls this morning.

I'm not sure what else we're up to today but if the weather stays like this it will definitely be something indoors.

Snowy, Sorry to hear you're still feeling bad...wrap up warm and look after yourself.
dlb, You sound really positive today...good luck with stopping smoking!
twink, hugs for kyle....I hope she feels better soon.

Have a good day everyone.

Pink

rchddap1

I've got a very good excuse for my absense over the past 3 weeks honest. The tale is a rather scary one so I hope everyon is sitting comfortably and has a nice sofa to go and hide behind at the appropriate points. I would have loved to have come and told you all what was going on in my life, but to be brutally honest you lot weren't very important at the time. Which probably doesn't make much sense at the moment...but it will do in a few seconds.

On Monday 4th December my little baby wasn't very well. I think I remember posting about it at some point. But by the end of the day she'd gotten worse. And it didn't look like a cold.

I could go into all the ins and outs but the end result was that Daddy raced her up to A&E that evening because he was very worried about her. By that point I was a jibbering wreck and he left me tucked up in bed. As soon as he got to the hospital they rushed her straight through and her treatment began. By the time I woke at around 3am Tuesday morning Daddy had left me a message saying that things weren't good and that I should get there. So I grabbed a few clothes for her, some cash and off I went. By the time I got there the decision had already been made to transfer her to a more experienced hospital. The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of a childrens hospital. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Her heart rate was around 180 - 190, but we had seen it go up to over 210. Her normal rate is around 150 - 160 (or so we found out later). After spending some time in the children's unit we were moved to SCBU ready for the PICU retrieval team to come and get her....she's a small baby and had to be ventilated for the trip. And SCBU have the experience in tubing small babies.

When the retrieval team arrived we were banished and we waited for the consultant to come and talk to us. He confirmed what we suspected in that she probably had meningitis....but no-one knew what strain.

The next day or so she spent at the children's hospital being constantly watched by a nurse 24 hours a day (great people by the way). We stayed in a house that the hopital laid on for people who've come to them from a distance...free of charge. Couldn't have done without any of them.

They put a needle through her soft spot to try to get some fluid to test for the bug....couldn't do a lumber as she was so ill it would have killed her. And finally we had some good news....it was Strep B meningitis. :j Yes that was good news considering the alternative that it could have been.

The rest of the tale is nicer. After they stopped her sedation and paralising drugs she coughed up her own ventilation tube....before having some fits and having to be re-ventinlated for a MRI scan (they were looking for something nasty, and fortunately didn't find it).

After that we spent some time on the Children's unit ward before moving to a ward at a hospital nearer to home. Finally we came home yesterday.

She's still on some anti-fitting drugs, and we do know from a scan they did in PICU that she has a substantial area of 'potential' brain damage. They don't know the true extent as there isn't a scan that can tell them exactly what bit is fluid and what is dead...comes up the same colour on the brain scans.

The good news is that she is acting like our little Lily again. We did have a problem with our right eye in that it didn't open...but on Xmas day she started to open it properly again. We've been told that this is good news as it probably means that one particular nerve is just bruised and not dead.

I am sorry for the length of the tale, and for the lack of old style content. But most people that I talk to are here. Over the past 3 weeks we nearly lost our little baby twice. If we hadn't taken her to A&E Monday night we would have had a dead baby Tuesday morning. Whatever the future holds for us now we count ourselves very lucky to still have her.

hypno06

Having had a meningitis scare with my son last year, my heart goes out to you all.

I hope that all future tests are encouraging and that you all have a happy and healthy 2007 x

Dumyat

rchddap1 - my goodness what a terrible thing to have happened. glad to hear she is on the mend. as an aside isnt it great we have the nhs. people moan about it and it isnt perfect. but there is so much good stuff goes on.
best wishes for a speedy recovery. and a big hug for you and your hubby - I'd imagine you are both still needing one

today for me is last day at work for over a week
last night we went to see Chitty chitty bang bang. was lovely the theatre was full of kids and there was hardly a sound. they were all mesmorised. the little gasps when chitty flew was sooo sweet

apple_mint

Good morning everyone :hello: ((((hugs)))) to those who are not feeling on top of the world this morning.

Did a bit of sales shopping yesterday and picked up one or two bits and pieces for birthday presents over the year. I also popped into Lakeland and got a nice roasting tray for £2.95 and restocked on plastic bags to put our HM bread in for the freezer.

We spent yesterday sorting out spreadsheets for our bank accounts. We have done this before but fell by the wayside for keeping them up to date For the past year we have not gone overdrawn and have just got through December and remained in the black :T Living OS has definately been the reason for this. We want to know exactly where we are finance wise and not rely on checking the bank statements.

Today we are going to increase our standing orders into our household account in preparation for our next heating oil and coal bills.

Have a lovely OS day every one!

mrs_mix

Morning everyone
rchddap1 ((((((((((hugs))))))))) to you and your dh and baby Lily

forgot that the bins were being done today just got them out in time they are usually done on weds but late this week

jobs for today go and pay some bills might have a mooch in peacocks to see if there are any bargains
wm to go on
not nuch else to do just general tidying and stuff

have a good day
(((hugs))) to all

pam xx

apple_mint

rchddap1 I was typing my post when you posted and I didn't see your message. Can I just send you a big ((((((((hugs))))))))) to you and your family!

I am so glad to hear that she is so much better ... I have nothing but appreciation for our nursing staff and doctors - there are some real angels working in the NHS. Just look after your family and yourself and I hope that the next year is a lot better for you all healthwise.

Pink.

Hi rchddap1,

I really don't know what to say....meningitis is every parent's nightmare. What you've been through in the last couple of weeks has put all my little moans and gripes into perspective. I really hope little Lily will make a full recovery.

Hugs for you all,

Pippa x

starlorna22

Hi All,

Not posted for quite a while, but am trying to get back into O/S for the New Year. Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I'm trying to get our finances in order now, as we're hopefully moving house around the end of January (fingers crossed).
Rchddap1 - what a very scary thing to have happened to you. Thank goodness you knew what to look out for, and got her to hospital straight away.
Must go now, as am working from home today, and want to use my breaks to get the house in some kind of order.

kiwichick

HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGS to you and DH and baby Lily rchddap1. What a terrifying thing to have gone through, so glad to hear Lily is begining to be her normal self again. Fingers are crossed here for a full recovery. We had DD1 ill with Glandular Fever as a baby, not nearly so dangerous as what you've been through but I can appreciate how scary it is to have a hospitalised and completely unresponsive baby. Give her a big cuddle from us.