So we were back at GOSH last Tuesday (16 Oct) for an angiogram for Little S.
Little S has grown up a fair bit since last time – in particular she can talk now, well she can say a few words anyway.
This meant that when it came to leaving her with the doctors for her general anaesthetic, instead of just crying as we said goodbye she looked straight into our eyes and screamed ‘Mummy!’, ‘Daddy!’ whilst we tried, choking back tears, to say that we loved her and would see her soon.
Ninety minutes later we were told that the procedure had gone well and that we would soon be able to see Little S again – in fact we heard her first. Although it’s not pleasant to hear your child’s cries down a hospital corridor, there is also something comforting in knowing, even before you see her, that she is in a position where she can cry.
Once Little S was back on a ward, we found that the iPad we had with us proved to be invaluable – Peppa Pig and Pocoyo videos kept her occupied for ages and she loved flicking through the family photos that we had on the tablet as well. However, one of the photos we looked at included a picture of our car – I realized that I’d used the wrong number plate to get a parking voucher when we’d arrived at 7:30 that morning and, by the time I got to the car, the parking officers had just slapped on the ticket!
After an angiogram they need to see that Little S’s oxygenation levels are good enough before she is allowed to go home. Dr D came to see us – he let us know that the procedure had gone well, that they saw nothing that they weren’t expecting, that they didn’t have to widen any arteries during the procedure and that based on the results they would get in touch with us soon to discuss the next stage (or operation) – he said that Little S needed to be over 75% oxygenation by the time the day ward closed, otherwise she would have to be admitted overnight – she made it, but only just: she fell asleep for an hour and that tipped her sats upto 76% allowing us to go home … just.
And now we wait to find out when we have to face the next, much bigger, hurdle – but, yet again, Little S, our miracle girl, is being a trooper and, in the words of The Beautiful South, ‘carrying on regardless’.
