Apr

Double Digits

Hi all!

Today I turned 10 months old, so I’ve finally achieved double digits. To boot, Friday was also a day worth celebrating, as it marked the day that I had been home six months, or 26 weeks. This past week also saw my visiting Unitas Hospital again on Wednesday for a check-up and next steps. I saw my hero, Prof Fourie, who was most impressed at my progress. I also saw Charlotte and Lizl at Prof’s offices again, who diligently follow my story every week. The Prof suggested I be examined by a neurologist, so Mom and Dad made plans to meet Dr Michael Lippert downstairs from Prof’s offices. He was very accommodating and managed to squeeze us into his busy schedule. In his examining rooms he threw a bunch of hurdles at me to jump – I did them all in my stride.

My first task was to spin the propeller on a Lego plane. I gracefully obliged, but did point out that the pitch of the propeller was 17.5° negative and as a result the increased drag coefficient of the blades would prevent take off. Next Dr Lippert asked Mom and Dad a bunch of questions about my development and progress, and I was really impressed with the detailed observation that they answered the questions. Thereafter I sat on a bed and the Dr made sounds behind me that I turned around to investigate. I was in top form, as not only did I turn to the sounds, but I also smiled broadly at this game. Peek-a-boo was the next exercise and lastly my reflexes were tested. The results yielded that neurologically I’m in order. My brain has not been ‘insulted’ by the AVM, but it is still present. There is still evidence of 2 or 3 large abnormal suppliers to the AVM, and these may need to be occluded in the future.

The next procedures will in all likelihood take place in approximately five months – the reason for the wait is not too clear as yet, but Mom and Dad are investigating that. The other thing is that there may be the possibility of taking the awful MIC-Key out my tummy, as it has not been needed for months now. I eat all my food orally, and Mom and Dad are only using the MIC-Key for medication, as it’s convenient and avoids my having to taste the horrid meds. On Tuesday we’re all back to Unitas Hospital to see Dr Potze, my paediatric cardiologist.

The remainder of the week was pretty quiet. Monday was an interesting day though; it was another Public Holiday, so it was totally awesome that Dad could stay home with me. I woke up to find there was a hive of activity in the house. I then remembered that Mark and Lisle, and Barrett and Jackie were joining us for breakfast at home. Mom rustled up a most amazing feast of hot and cold breakfast, as well as varieties of pastries and confectionary. Dad was on table duty and laid the table and sorted out the patio and garden. At around nine o’clock they all arrived. I’d not met Mark before, so this was really exciting. Although I had met Lisle before, I’d not had a chance to spend much time with her, which was about to change. After the mini-reunion, and champagne bottles were popped, we all sat down to indulge. And indulge we did! Breakfast turned into lunch with cocktails, and cocktails turned to afternoon tea. I thought I took long to eat, but these adults take the cake – a seven hour breakfast. It was awesome though, all of us just lazing about chatting, catching up, and noshing and sipping drinks. I’m going to enjoy adulthood!

Tuesday Mom and I went for our usual walk, this time accompanied by Granny and Tamsin. It was a bit of a more awkward walk, with Tammy needing to be really close to me all the time. We’re really fond of each other, but as a result, we got into each other’s ways, much to the adult’s frustration. Mom had bookclub on Wednesday evening, so I was left in Dad’s charge for the evening – we had an awesome time together. Thursday I had some physio again, which really loosened up my joints and muscles. Friday Mom and I stayed home the whole day; Dad popped in for lunch between meetings. Later in the evening Dad came after dark, but in time to bath me and do my traditional bunzy run.

I was very curious as to where he had been so late on a Friday afternoon to hear that he’d been to a live cricket match at the Wanders Stadium. It was the final One Day International between South Africa and Australia. Although Dad is pretty clueless about sport, he really seemed to have enjoyed seeing his first cricket game ever.

On Saturday morning we went to Sandton Library, in the Nelson Mandela Square. I was overjoyed at being made the member of the library. It was incredible being around so many books, covering almost four floors. I actually felt intelligence oozing into my pores from being around such a collection of books. I can see myself coming back here regularly for books and read-wares. After joining the library, the three of us headed off to Annica’s which is a really awesome Russian Tea Room in the Michelangelo Towers. There we celebrated my 10 month birthday, as well as my being home for six months. Mom had the best spaghetti bolognaise (spag-bol) ever, and Dad had a salmon and vodka pasta. I savoured both, and they really tasted fantastic. Most of Sunday we chilled around the house, with a late afternoon lunch at Primi Piatti in Blackheath.

Well that’s about it for this week. I spent much of the weekend supervising Dad’s finalisation of my partner WebPages www.kidzhelp.com. We’re planning its official launch on 23.04.2009, so watch this space closely.

Love,

Jarrod