An Attitude of Gratitude!

Backblip

Well here's an image I barely dared hope to imagine a week ago.  Alan at the kitchen table having eaten his lunch, the first solid food to pass his lips in over two months!  

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  An update is required since I am never going to fill in all the blanks when I backblip my images.

My last blip showed Alan recovering well from his surgery.  Long story short (or as short as i can make it! :-) the following day things started to go a bit pear shaped.  His temperature shot up to 39.7, he was sick, nauseous and really lethargic.  We had been warned that any post-op infection would be really dangerous for Alan so you can imagine how worried we were.

The following morning, David noticed a rash/spots on his body.  By the time I arrived at the hospital at lunch time, there were more of them and before our eyes they began appearing on his back, face, ears and his mouth.  I immediately said chickenpox, but no one staff wise seemed to take me up on my suggestion.

The nurse in charge decided to get someone from Dermatology down to have a look.  One of the registrars arrived and checked Alan over.  He said it was a post-op viral rash, common after surgery and that it would go in its own time.  He advised not to put anything on the spots, just let it run its course.  

By Friday he wasn't any better.  Temperature still out of control and rest of symptoms still the same.  His surgery had taken second place by this point as recovery on that front was going well.  He just couldn't seem to shake this infection, despite being pumped full of three different antibiotics and getting chest physio (yes he had a chest infection too with the dreaded pneumonia word being bandied about at one point)  

On the Friday he was being moved to another ward and the dermatology registrar was asked to come and look at him again.  In the move between wards the registrar missed him but bumped into me.  I told him he was still the same but despite not seeing Alan, he again concluded the rash was viral and had no connection to the nausea and high temp.

By Saturday 17th we were beside ourselves with worry.  David spoke to the nurse in charge and she agreed to get the Dermatology Consultant down to look at him.  He came to a different conclusion to his registrar, stating the symptoms were the result of an enterovirus and this would cause a high temp and nausea.  He agree to take a swab of one of the spots.

I was heading home from hospital on Monday 19th when I got a text from David saying the result of the swab taken on Saturday was in and Alan had chickenpox!   I won't repeat what I said here.   

All hell broke loose.  Infection control arrived (luckily Alan was in a side room) and put the NHS equivalent of a skull and crossbones on his door, nurses had to gown and mask and anyone who hadn't already had chickenpox wasn't allowed in the room.  Of course by this point his spots had mostly crusted over so he was probably past the infectious stage!

They started him on a drug to help flush the virus out of his system and at last he got some cream on the horrible spots.  I can't imagine the agony he must have been in!  

When the Dermatology registrar came to speak to David the following morning to officially deliver the diagnosis, he was full of excuses as to how the had mis-diagnosed him but David refused to accept any of them and eventually he apologised and conceded he should have had the spots swabbed at least 5 days earlier.  He returned later and apologised again.  

Over the next three days there were slight improvements in Alan each day.  He was determined to come home on the Thursday (23rd) and on the 22nd the docs agree this was a possibility.

On the 23rd it was agreed that rather than discharge him, he would he let out on pass till Monday 26th so that if he felt worse or we had any concerns, we could just contact the ward and take him back in.

Thankfully since coming home he has come on leaps and bounds .  Of course he's been able to get a decent sleep at home, without constant interruptions and I am absolutely delighted to report that on Christmas Eve, he ate his first solid food in over two months.   Ravioli at lunchtime with me and mashed potatoes and roast beef for dinner with David.

Today we had a leisurely start to the day.  Alan didn't get up till 12.30!  He was greeted by David and me and his support worker Christine dressed up as Santa!  (see extra :-) Lots of laughter, which is music to my ears.

Gift opening followed by such of ravioli again then Alan sat in the kitchen with us while David, Christine and I had bagels and bacon for lunch.  This was wonderful as usually he wants to go and do his own thing, so to have him sit there all afternoon, listening to our music and chat was just amazing.

He scoffed his dinner in the kitchen too whilst Christine and I chatted and laughed while making our Christmas dinner, then chilled out laughing at his favourite pressies, an absolutely hilarious dancing Santa from my blip pal Peter (thank you Peter, we were all in stitches! :-) and a whoopee cushion!  It's the simple things that are the best.  

Once Alan was in bed Christine headed off home and David and I were left sitting together, watching Love Actually whilst counting our blessings and feeling tremendously thankful.

Alan you are the bravest person we know.  You have had to endure so much pain in your young life yet you still emerge smiling and uncomplaining.   

We are in complete awe of you and how you love us and forgive us when we are completely helpless and unable to take your pain away.   Please know that we will always be here for you and will move heaven and earth to make sure you have what you need.  We are a team us three.  We are family.  Love you to the moon and back and then some. 

Backblips start here.


PS  Chickenpox debacle, aside we can't praise the hospital staff highly enough.  They were absolutely amazing with Alan and with us and their kindness, support and humour made a difficult and emotional time all the more bearable.