Contagion

This week has probably been one of the roughest we've encountered so far. It started on Monday with Caitlin needing a blood transfusion after a routine sample on Sunday. She played up on the Sunday and we were in Ipswich Hospital all day on the Monday, Caitlin kicked off massively! It was the worst she had been, and something that is being monitored by both hospitals as this aggressiveness can't continue. We're facing the brunt of all of Caitlin's anger and the added stress on us is so intense, its affecting us all.


Alarm bells started ringing for a different problem though on Tuesday. Caitlin had a blistery spot appear on her neck, which soon followed by a few more. Today, she was getting covered in them early on. It looked like our holiday fears had been realised, and Caitlin had chickenpox.


Ordinarily, Caitlin getting chickenpox at this age wouldn't be too much of a problem, because she has Leukaemia, it's dangerous. It can interfere with the chemo and most of all set us back hugely in Caitlin's treatment. We've been with Caitlin in Ipswich Hospital all day, there was talk of her being admitted to Addenbrooke's but they're happy for her to be treated at Ipswich. She's on anti-viral fluids and anti-biotics to combat the chickenpox and all we can do at this stage is wait.


I think this is rock bottom for us currently. As parents we're really strained and its been increasingly tough on all of us. This is to be expected but you're still not prepared for it, there's no manual on how to deal with the emotions you go through, just an expectancy that it will happen at some point. With Alisha and Caitlin at Hospital and Jessica and I at home, it always feels like the family is split and the feeling of isolation and sheer helplessness just overwhelms us. We can't feel sorry for ourselves as we have to be happy for the girls, we have to stay strong and make sure they're ok. As always this setback won't stop us from getting to where we want to be, it just might take us a little longer than we'd hoped.


I'll leave you all with a few pics of Caitlin from Monday, a lady whose daughter had Leukaemia brings the lovely animals in for the kids to stroke and feed:

I'll update when we know more. I'm not sure when that will be.


XxX