Another long day and I’m typing this at midnight – but I want to make sure everyone knows what’s going on.
Visiting Lisa and George in hospital today wasn’t fun. Sam and I went in at 11. They’re staying in “camel” ward in St Thomas’ – a brightly coloured and trendily decorated new wing of the Victorian hospital. The hospital seemed to be playing host to a traditional country fete today – complete with a tombola and home made jams.
Seeing George, I was very upset to see the pipe stuck up his nose. I suppose it brought it home to me that he is actually ill – despite the fact he doesn’t behave as though he is. Still, lots of people on the ward are putting up with more serious and worrying complaints and the atmosphere is friendly and positive. His weight is 2.68kg - no more than when he was born.
George is the youngest inmate by a long way, and we chatted to one woman whose child had just had open heart surgery. It seemed as though her problems were much more serious, but they’d been happy to leave it a year before operating, and the operation was a complete success.
He’s had lots of tests, and the most thorough scan of his heart I’ve seen (even I recognized what it looked like – I’m getting to be quite an expert in reading scans what with George’s right aortic arch, the hole in his heart and the empty sack we found at 14 weeks of Lisa’s first pregnancy), but no conclusions yet.
For the first time the idea was mentioned that it might not be the hole in the heart that’s stopping him from gaining weight. Other babies with holes don’t have a problem, so it may be that there’s something ‘underlying’. Don’t like the sound of that, but I’m trying not to jump to any conclusions. It could just as easily be something LESS serious stopping him from growing.
We saw a dietician who put him on high-calorie milk, and he’s now on stronger medication. Let’s hope he starts to gain weight now. It looks as though they’ll both be in there at least until Tuesday.
Lisa is staying over – on a very uncomfortable bed – so Sam and I are trying to make her more comfortable by bringing in food and comforts. I hope tomorrow, I can persuade her to take a couple of hours out and leave the hospital – if just for a walk around. Understandably, she doesn’t want to leave George while he’s there.
We stayed all day – and took in a selection of snacks. Unfortunately Dyke couldn’t get in to see us as his flight was just too tight. There will be more visitors tomorrow, though – and hopefully more positive news. We’ve been warned against expecting his weight to rise suddenly, but it’s hard not to be impatient.
1 comment:
Me and Pietro would like to visit after work today, we can leave after 16:00 and get there about 16:30. My mum and dad, and Ben and karen send their love and are thinking of you.
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