Yesterday we were at Ipswich Hospital early as Alisha had a physio appointment, and as Caitlin was due to have a blood sample taken it made sense for us all to be there. Alisha soon went from physio to the Fracture Clinic as it was apparent that the damage to her leg was worse than they first thought. We disappeared to our usual section of the hospital (PAU) for bloods and a quick change of the Hickman Line ends, leaving Alisha waiting to be seen. The nurses let Caitlin play in the Play Room while Alisha was having her leg assessed but after a while we left (I'll get to this bit later on in the post) to pick Jessica up and Alisha soon followed us with a brand new cast! We got the phone call later from the Oncology team that everything was all clear and we were good to head to Addenbrooke's the next day.
Today we were up early and on the road, it was a procedure day and Caitlin had been Nil By Mouth since midnight. She was due a lumber puncture today with chemo, a new NG tube and a change of dressing for a Hickman Line. The human equivalent of a Car Service!!
The doctors observations came back fine, she's dealing with the chemo really well, surprising everyone as she's bubbly, happy and full of energy. Her weight had come down though, which has now prompted an increase in her overnight feeds again. This time, instead of one bag of nutrients, we have two with a double giving set overnight. This will hopefully bring her more in line with her weight and height ratio. I mentioned her aggressiveness to the doctors and we discussed speaking to a child psychologist. Maybe we'd just taken for granted that Caitlin was dealing with the chemo and the normality of hospitals. The psychological impact on her must be immense. The lumber puncture went absolutely fine but it was a different story when it came to leaving both Ipswich and Addenbrooke's hospitals. She flat out refused, throwing herself against anything in the way, kicking and punching as I struggled to get her jacket on. She screamed, tries to bite and cried trying to get her even out of the ward, and this is now where the problem lies. Whenever Caitlin doesn't get her own way, she'll kick off and turns into a completely different child. It's hard to deal with as we have to maintain discipline with her, yet knowing what she has been through we have to give her some leeway. There's a fine balance with it all, and hopefully we can speak to the psychologist soon to help us and most of all, Caitlin. We're back to Addenbrooke's again tomorrow for more chemo but usually it's a short day so hopefully they'll be no tantrums tomorrow!
It's just over a week till my Dad does the BT Three Peaks Walk for the 13th time, and this time they're proudly doing it for Clic Sargent. Clic Sargent are a charity that offer support to parents with children who have been diagnosed with Cancer and they really have helped us immensely. There's still time to donate as £750 would be an excellent target/donation to an amazing charity. Follow the link and it's easy to do!
http://charitygiving.co.uk/roystonsmith
I'll leave you all with a picture of Caitlin after waking up from her lumber puncture. Update again soon.
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