Vomo-matic and Splotchy (by sarah)

Alaric is officially a medical mystery with his splotchy legs as the three main contenders are all things you wouldn't expect him to still be walking around with/not have a sky high temperature. Also they don't quiet look like any of them but sort of like all of them. So it could be Lymes disease, cellulitis or meningitus (or blood poisoning). They took bloods and his GP has prescribed antibiotics. The blotches are already reducing but the skin over the affected areas is all shinny and a bit well sort of dead looking if I'm honest :/

But it does seem to be responding well to treatment.

The other two things it could be are spider and snake bites though that has not been suggested by the medical people he's seem but by a wider group of 'services' friends ie police, nurses and the like who have had to deal with such things. What ever it is the treatments seem to all be antibiotics.

Also because this didn't make our lives interesting enough....

Yesterday Jeany woke up and said she felt sick but then perked up and ate breakfast and this is often the case with her in the mornings anyway. She went on an outing with friends were she proceeded to spew up all over the cafe and her friends mum's foot - ewww!

It was very hot and heavy yesterday with the impending thunder storm and she seemed fine after cooling down with head bands and what not. So we had dinner and she went to bed and covered herself up in her dovet! And so at about midnight there was the splatty sounds followed by a pathetic 'Mummy!'

So I ended up cleaning sick out of hair, jet washing the road rug and making her stand outside in the cool air outside whilst daddy cleaned the carpet in the girls room and constructed a floor bed with only a sheet to put over her. We also added a cool foot bath and a wet flannel into the mix - not all at once as you don't want to shock the system cold.

However though she seems alot better it may not be heat exhaustion and so if she throws up again today I can't take her with me to my workshops at the weekend for health and safety reasons 🙁 ie don't spread the plague!

So fun and games here! Plus I am sort of running on no sleep now.

Health Update (by sarah)

Midwife came around again on Friday - the infection appears to have cleared up, I still feel fluey due to the anemia which is also why I am still going faint and seeing stars when I stand up. It is also causing me to be breathless and have heart pangs. Apparently part of this is to do with losing 600 ml of blood during surgery - I didn't think this was too bad - it is only just over a pint and I lost like three prints with Jean's delivery and then continued to have high blood lose (though that did result in me needing fluids put back via drips and talk of transfusions).

But the antibiotics have finished and the large red triangle rimmed in white on my belly has gone (this was hot to the touch and lumpy meaning it was cellulitis - it went from my belly button down and was the reason I wasn't even initially allowed to move hospitals). I have some brusing/blood pooling in the bottom of my belly still where the 'clamps' apparently went but my wound is now only weeping straw coloured liquid which is a good sign. I'm still cleaning it the three times a day - I'm having to run on full body washes as I don't yet have my shower seat and can't get into the bath for a shower due to pelvis.

But! Even the pelvis is not actually that bad! If it wasn't for the wound and the stars I could be out and about with the crutches!

I've been at home for a week now and it is two weeks and a day since Mary was born and I am on the mend - I am a bit run down but that is the Fe issue again. I can't yet face another car journey - the one to get home caused my wound to bleed/weep to the point that I had to go and change all my cloths :/

Mary is fine 🙂 She is infact putting on weight from my breast feeding - which itself is so much easier than it was with Jeany! Her umbilical cord has still not fallen off which we're a bit nervous about so keep making the midwives check (Jean's one got infected so we are being ultra careful and nuerotic about it especially as it is actually a bit fatter than normal - apparently it was full of lots of the jelly!).

I am feeling quiet optamistic about getting better - at the beginning of the week I could bearly lift my feet unless I woddled which strains the pelvis more - now I can lift each foot in turn about an inch and a half off the floor though I cannot sustain this with out pain.

I'm still sleeping on my back but have awoken two days in a row on my side - this causes a lot of pain to move out of but the pain of moving into it did not wake me up so that is a huge improvement 🙂 The right side feels more mobile than the left which was the case after Jeany.

The Dr is coming to visit on Monday and the Health Visitor on Tuesday and there is going to be another Midwife visit next week too so things seem very busy here.

I am getting a little bit board with reading and watching films but at the same time can't really see me going out at all in February to be honest. This translates as your welcome to visit but check first!

Diverticulitis (by sarah)

Mum came out of hospital about this evening and it turns out that though she may well have a 'grumbling' appendix the CT scan showed that she has Diverticulitis which is were pockets and pouches form in the gut where there is pressure on the system.

These get filled with erm.. 'stuff' you find in your intestines - ie half digested food and poo. It then becomes infected and inflamed. Interestingly it normally occurs in the sigmoid colon in Europeans but mum has it where Asians and Africians get it - were it is mistaken for appendicitis!

It says that it is cuased by a lack of fibre in the diet but mum drives us all potty with her insistance of eating Brassicas all the time (stinking the house out!) so I'm not really sure how she is going to increase fibre intake - dad already adds bran to her porrage - maybe he will finally get his way and get her to eat brown bread?

Anyway they are not going to opperate but will do if it comes back - they said that she also has the grumbling appendix but again they don't opperate for it grumbling and they wont touch the hernia either - mainly due to the risks of surgery and the anasthetic.

Still she is out - on yet another lot of antibiotics - I am starting to get worried that they will run out of ones they can give her - these are broad spectrum again - she must have bacteria resistant to alot of antibiotics in her system by this point which with super bugs infecting her surgery wounds and the cellulitis etc...

So fingers crossed its all ok anyway.

Mew – Mum (by sarah)

Mum and Dad had to come up and see us as they currently have no vechile and we have two!

But obviously a long train journey when you are supposed to be elevating feet has made her condition worse 🙁

Then on top of that she has a lump in her breast - its quiet large - we are hoping its the cellulitis but she has doctors apointments and stuff this week 🙁 She is supposed to be seen as soon as possible but obviously being stuck here thats a bit awkard 🙁

Our Visit to Essex (by sarah)

Last week we wnet to Essex for a couple of days - apologes for not contacting peeps like I said I would for Birthday drinks but things went a bit arie!

First off we where originally supposed to be going for a week but with Al being ill over Christmas and New Year he a) had to catch up on work and b) couldnt drive. We probably wouldnt have come up at all but Mums just been diagnosed with cellulitis and we where worried about her!

Once in Essex we thought about doing my drinks but one of our servers broke 🙁 Which in someways was fortunate as it resides in the Docklands which is a lot easier to get to from Essex than from Gloucestershire! However this did basically eat up any time we had spare so I priortiesed and just saw some of the family - didnt even get to see all of them!!!

Still it was fun and it ment we had a whole lot of presants waiting for us there so it was sort of a second christmas - only this time Al could see! didnt seen to stop him perversly guessing presants by smell and taste!!!!