Which way is up?!

'I am your biggest fan,  I hope you know I am, but won't you just slow down...'
We are thinking about schools. Big girl schools. My girl isn't big-she's my little girl! Please slow down...

What a whirlwind of a few weeks-4 hospital appointments, 1 emergency booster jab, 1 short admission to hospital and lots more visits to the bathroom. That said, we are happy, healthy and thankful xx

Ear Nose and Throat appointment
I forgot to mention that Grace had a nasal swab at her ENT appointment. I thought it was a redundant detail.  Not so...

Brief spell in hospital
After 3 solid weeks of the squits  (there's no nice way of discussing diarhhea!), the doctor sent us to our local hospital assessment unit. He feared dehydration and felt that 3 weeks was quite long enough!
Six hours later we were discharged with strong antibiotics and a diagnosis of secondary gastroenteritis, caused by a bacteria known as strep pneumoniae residing in her nasal canal. This non-symptomatic bacteria was not a nice one. Turned out that nasal swab wasn't so redundant after all!

Endocrine appointment
G has grown 3.6cm in 4 months, woop woop! The paeditraican reduced our 4 monthly visits to 6 monthly with the view that G would hit her annual target of 5-8cm growth.
(To our dismay, when we returned home and checked our notes, we found that G had only grown 3.8cm in nearly 11 months. It doesn't look like she is on target...)

The paeditraician was happy with G in general-her bone age scans came back fairly normal, as did her bloods.

One surprise result was that her childhood phneumoccocal vaccination had been unsuccessful.  For 3 years we'd thought she had been protected against meningitis C, and she wasn't! I had faught for the meningitis B jab to help protect against as many strains as possible. Little did I know it was possible that her  body had not built up the antibodies after her baby jabs. Cue the emergency booster and a form for repeat bloods to check for antibodies.  I'm so thankful for vaccinations, and our NHS!

Gastro appointment
G has officially been discharged by the gastro team. Woop woop! One less appointment every 4-6 months.

Dietician
G's tummy issues will now solely be under the care of the dietician. Once her digestive system has settled after the gastroenteritis, it's time to start that dreaded dairy trial again. Perfect summer holiday gap task!!

Sleep solutions?
Have we any? We are close to being signed off due to her sleep improving, but I use the term loosely.

So that's us up to date. Time to run- church house group. I've a lot to be thankful for!

Fitting in

Watching a programme the other night about a children's hospital,  one of the doctors verbalised what many parents think, whether we admit it or not is a different matter but I'm sure many think it at some point. Especially us mothers of children who were diagnosed with a Syndrome or condition whilst in utero. I did. More than once....'I hope that my child will be normal.'

I beat myself up about this thought many a time. How awful must I be to care about how my child looks or acts. Of course I'd love her regardless. But I didn't mean it from a superficial point of view. And what is normal anyway?? You see it's because we as parents want the best. We want our children to have the best chances in life, to face as few obstacles as possible. To have the easiest ride in life.
But I realised it didn't matter. The day she finally arrived by the skin of her teeth, so close to not arriving, I didn't care less what she looked like, or what she'd become. It's the love that we surrounded her with that mattered. The strength, resiliance and confidence that we instilled in her. But love, that matters the most.

As for easy rides, it doesn't matter how clever you are or how you behave or what job you have or what you believe in. People can be nasty ass regardless. I know that from experience.
It's how you deal with it that matters.
As it stands we have one feisty little babe on our hands anyway. That and the prayers of her over-protective, over-anxious, ridiculously proud mother. And some.

Tummy troubles
We just cannot get to the bottom of G's tummy troubles. Bottom being the key word. 17 days and counting.  Several days of jiggling childcare, several missed preschool sessions (much to her disgust) and the over familiarity of many many bathrooms! Thank goodness for the newly decorated downstairs toilet...I've been rehearsing in my head what the sheet music wallpaper would sound like.

We have a gastro appointment in just over a week and we really hope they can shed some light. I'm also keeping a food diary to see if the dietician can spot any patterns.  Though a dairy free, gluten free diet is fairly gentle on the old digestive system anyway,  so who knows?!

So you won't try and discharge us?
Finally we have found an ear nose and throat consultant who doesn't dismiss our worries, or more to the point the very real impact of Turner Syndrome on our girl's ears/hearing.
Thankfully for now G has perfect hearing, no fluid behind her drums and has been infection free for 4 months. 
We've been promised annual screening until at least 16, and should or when the infections resurface, they will see us more frequently.
Six months of antibiotics will be prescribed this coming winter also. Downside....her poor gut will take a further bashing :(

The beauty of the NHS
G received her second meningitis B jab recently.  I know this a sore subject for many families, rightly so. But I just have to be thankful that her poorliness qualifies her (at our doctors in our county at least) for another potentially life saving jab.

Next week we have growth discussions with her paediatrician at our endocrinology appointment, and the week after is the much anticipated gastroenterology appointment.  In the meantime I need to crack on with school reports. The past few weeks have reminded me that being a working mummy to a girl who doesn't have the best track record with good health can be a tough one.
Wouldn't change a thing though. Love you G!  

Ps...G's current favourite phrase- I ABSOLUTELY like that. And game-school assemblies. Haha!