True Grit

Wednesday 11th January, and after struggling to get out of bed this morning (combination of bad back and fatigue) I got to the hospital to find Caitlin had had her breakfast, juice and meds! She never fails to amaze as she gave it to herself this time. It's been a "slow" day today, in that Caitlin hasn't had any major treatment, just the usual steroids and antibiotics to help her fight any infections.


Infections are going to be the hardest problem we have to contend with when Caitlin comes home. If she gets any kind of infection it will affect the treatment and could set her back on her recovery. She hasn't had chickenpox, or measles so we're going to have to turn into ninja parents from now on!!! What we are trying to avoid is a condition called Febrile Neutropenia. Basically this means Caitlin would have a low count of neutrophils in the blood. A neutrophil is a type of white blood cell that helps fights infection and a low count of these increases the risks of infection. We have to be extra vigilant with food preparation, storage and the way we cook everything. No more microwave dinners or takeaways!!! In reality, it's just standard food practices but we have to be more aware of them as the consequences could be devastating to Caitlin's recovery.


Caitlin also got a visit from Grandma Sandra and Jessica today! She loves seeing her Grandma and especially Jess as the mischief they both get up to is sometimes of biblical proportions! I haven't really spoken about the effect this is all having on the two sisters and us, and today hit home a bit more for all of us. It's the hardest thing in the world when Caitlin asks to go home and Jess is so desperate to stay with her sister and mummy. When Caitlin comes home hopefully we'll get a bit more normality to our family life, but for now we have to show our resolve and harden up to it. This is what we have to do and we will. Hopefully, when they're both older I can show them this and explain why and they'll understand. For now, I'll just have to accept the cold shoulder off my little girl and the hurtful looks from my bigger girl when she has her needles. 


xxx