Jun

Stop To Smell The Roses

Hi everyone!

You are all probably wondering how my procedure went on Saturday morning, so let me immediately puts your minds to rest that it went very well. After a very early start (we arrived at Morningside Medi-Clinic at 6:30am), and after admission we headed up to the paediatric ward where I am already quite well known. I walked around the ward and popped my head into all the rooms saying ‘hi’ to all the children that had spent the night in the ward. Sometime later Dr Ernest Welch arrived; he’s my anaesthetist. Originally I was only scheduled to have my procedure done next Saturday, but since I was in such pain and discomfort, Dr Cameron Condie (my dentist) agreed to do it a week early, pending finding an anaesthetist. Dr Welch, upon hearing that I needed an anaesthetist, immediately stepped up to the plate, and made himself available for my procedure yesterday. It was so awesome to see him again, and we all chatted for a while. He’s little girl, who is approximately my age, was also doing well, and Dr Welch even mentioned, that despite the early morning and cold weather, had cycled to the hospital, and just for kicks, decided to go via Sylvia’s Pass, from Parkhurst! We thought that was awesome!

Shortly after Dr Welch left the ward, the porters arrived to take me to the theatre. It was Dad’s turn to ride on the bed with me, and it was really funny watching him trying to settle in next to me. I watched DVDs all the way, while the porters wheeled the bed down the passages of the hospital and to the lifts. Once in pre-theatre, Mom donned some scrubs and Dad left, since I prefer to go under in Mom’s arms. Almost instantly I felt my eyes go blurry and close.

After approximately an hour I was in recovery, waking up. Needless to say I wanted to howl, for many number of reasons; I was hungry, having been starved for 12 hours, my throat hurt, my head was spinning and my teeth were tingling. The ventilation tube was still down my throat so I couldn’t howl, but as I felt it being extracted, slowing snaking its way up my throat, past my oesophagus, tickling my uvula. As soon as the tube cleared my mouth I started to howl at the top of my lungs. Mommy was immediately at my side and started to comfort me. She climbed into bed with me and I simply lay on top of her. A short while later I was wheeled up to the ward, still lying on Mommy. Now I was merely whimpering and not howling. Some milk ensued and I started feeling better. Soon I was snoozing, and after an hour’s snooze I was up and about. I had some Coca Cola, which is great to clear the blood from my mouth and throat, and some chips. I was ready to be discharged and we were heading home.

En route, we popped into the Post Office to see if my DVDs had arrived from Amazon, and to my absolute delight, they had, together with another unexpected parcel from Aunty Gillian in the USA. I knew immediately that it was my birthday gift, but since my birthday was still two weeks away, I agreed with Mom and Dad that I’d hold the parcel but not open it. Once home we opened the Amazon box, and I was in Jay Bee heaven. One after the other DVDs came out of the box. In The Night Garden. The Wiggles. And even a little In The Night Garden box set of books. Instantly I forgot about my surgery that morning and got down to the business of watching my new DVDs and reading my books.

In terms of the surgery, the dentist is very satisfied. Because I was under anaesthetic, he also managed to do a detailed examination of my teeth. Everyone, including the dentist, was under the impression that all 20 of my teeth had popped through. However, it is now confirmed that I’m still cutting one molar; hence all the drool! As you are all aware from previous blogs, my teeth basically came out rotting, owing to my being intubated on a ventilator for so many months, and the cocktails of drugs I’ve been on during by short life. Fortunately it seems that despite this, my teeth can be saved, which is very important for my speech development. The way they are being persevered is through applying veneers and resin on my teeth. But as my teeth are still growing out, a gap appears between the veneers and resin and my gums, so I guess I’ll regularly need to have the work redone, until my teeth are fully out. On the upside, no cavities were found, which is remarkable as kiddies who have been through what I have generally get cavities as well. So yippee there!

Now, back to my week.

Monday Mommy went for some pampering in the morning. Lisa doesn’t mind me being in the treatment room while Mom gets her facial, and I basically play with my toys and watch some DVDs. I am pretty intrigued by all the equipment that is used on Mommy, such as steam, lights, multicoloured creams, etc. Afterwards, she looks awesome and her skin glows. Yay for Mommy! Afterward we headed to the licensing department as Granny’s licence had expired. Our visit was a short one; their network was down.

Tuesday was extremely busy! Aunty Birgitt and Uncle Wayne arrived to stay with us for two days. After they settled in, Mom and I went off to see Lauren for some OT. I had a brilliant session; Lauren did a complete assessment on me which involved my sliding down ramps, climbing, rolling on balls, and so on. What fun. Apparently assessments and tests aren’t this much fun as one gets older, so I’m maximising my enjoyment now. We headed home for some lunch, and afterward we visited Kyle for a play date. He is doing so well, and I’m so proud of him. While visiting with Kyle at Broadacres Shopping Centre, Mommy discovered a discount book store and bought me heaps of imported syndicated books at fractional prices. Late in the afternoon Mom popped in to see Dr Anthony, as she is struggling with her sinuses at the moment. In the evening Opa arrived, and together with Aunty Birgitt and Uncle Wayne we had a stunning family dinner.

On Wednesday morning I was back to music, yippee! Unfortunately Aunty Birgitt and Uncle Wayne couldn’t come with, as they were quite busy. Later on in the day, I had a marathon snooze and upon waking I headed off to the kitchen where I asked Mommy for an apple! She was thrilled, and immediately let Dad know, who was just as thrilled. I don’t see the excitement, as all I did was ask for an apple?! In the evening Michelle and Paul arrived for dinner. Chloe, Amy-Leigh and I played up a storm. We even stayed up well after our bedtime.

Aunty Birgitt and Uncle Wayne were heading back to Cape Town on Thursday morning, so we bid them lots of farewells. Afterward Mom and I headed to the dentist, primarily for Mom’s teeth, but mine also had a brief examine, and that’s where it was confirmed that I needed to have my teeth attended to this Saturday, and not a week later. Just before leaving for the dentist, Lindie, who hadn’t arrived for work that morning, called to say she’d taken the wrong bus, and was now in Northriding. So, after the dentist we went to collect her. Once we’d dropped her off at home, Mom and I headed off to see Tammy at school.

By the evening I was somewhat under the weather, running a temperature of 40°C, and doing lots of throwing up. Poor Mommy didn’t get much sleep during the night, as I was up every 45 minutes, crying. We’re not too sure what it was from, as a number of things are afflicting me at the time, such as my teeth, my embolisation in my brain is still settling in and healing, and I’m at the tail end of a cold.

I was still very feverish on Friday, so we stayed home. Mommy managed to tend to me most of the morning, but eventually reinforcements were called in, in the form of Granny, as Mommy wasn’t able to stay awake anymore. After Granny left, and Mommy had had a rest, I had a five hour snooze! Awesome. During the day Mom discovered that I call books ‘um’, the reason being that every time Mom stands in front of my bookshelf wondering which book to read to me or give to me, she says um! So it’s not entirely my fault! I really thought they’re called ums. In the evening Dad took charge of my cares, and Mommy got to the business of preparing for her lectures the next day. Unfortunately some phising had occurred on her laptop a couple of days before, slowing things down to snail’s pace. Mom was very animated and vocal about this so Dad and I figured it would be safer to leave the room while she ran some repair tools during the night. Fortunately she didn’t go lecture the next day, as she opted to rather look after me after surgery. I’m convinced that Mom could still have lectured without preparing though!

Mom taught Dad and I a really interesting thing in the evening. As always, Dad ran my bath, and made the water ‘fluffy’ i.e. with lots of bath bubbles. We both discovered however, that the foam is actually quite cold, and each time a dollop of foam touch my back or shoulders, I let out a shriek. Mom solved this by taking a bar of soap and running it across the surface of the water of the bath. In less than a minute all the foam was gone! Wow. I decided then that I wanted to be a scientist so that I could make sense of things like that.

I’ve chatted about my Saturday morning already. So on to Saturday afternoon. After we arrived home, and we had a team snooze, we headed to Lucy and George’s party land in Chartwell for Chloe and Amy-Leigh’s birthday party. Everyone was thrilled I was there, as they weren’t expecting to see me after my morning’s surgery. I put in a good effort and played on the jumping castle with some of my little peers. I had missed the Dora the Explorer treasure hunt, but Chloe, Amy and Gene quickly filled me in on all the details. I managed to play for almost an hour, but then I was exhausted so we headed home again. I promptly fell asleep in the car.

Saturday night, much to Mommy’s relief I slept really well, and Mommy also got almost a full night’s sleep. On Sunday morning we decided to take advantage of the stunning weather and go to the Rose Gardens. En route we popped into Doppio Zero for take-away breakfast and coffee, which we eat at The Gardens. There we had a stunning morning. I played and ran about, climbed a tree and rolled in the grass. I was feeling much better, and the outdoors and sun were really healing me. We had intended to also feed the ducks at the dam, but by then I was beginning to tire, so we headed back home. The afternoon was then spent chilling at home.

Til next week!

Lots of love,

Jay Bee