That Was The Week That Was...............

................And what a week it has been!! Last Sunday we had to interrupt our usual boot sale activity to bring my 13 year old daughter, Holly, home and take her to the hospital with severe stomach pains, ominously located in the region of her appendix. She spent two days at the local hospital being poked, prodded and tested in a variety of ways to ascertain the cause of the problem but to no avail. They even squeezed in an ultrasound scan for good measure but everything drew a resounding blank. SWMBO stayed with her on Sunday and we all came home Monday evening although Holly was still a little uncomfortable. She stayed at home for a couple of days and felt well enough to go back to school on Thursday but halfway through the morning had to come home as the pain was back with a vengeance. So it was back to the hospital for another round of tests only this time it was decided that more drastic action was needed. She was drugged up to the eyeballs but I was very impressed by the fact that despite her pain she managed to retain her sense of humour (obviously gained from her dad....) because at one point, after her third dose of morphine, she managed to unplug herself from the monitor (showing such things as heart rate, blood pressure and blood/gas levels) and so all her vital signs 'flat lined' and all manner of alarms and beeps sounded. She looked me straight in the eye and said "Am I dead yet?!" with jaw dropping dead pan delivery. Such is the stuff of comic legend!

It was decided that another overnight stay was in order (again with SWMBO) with an exploratory operation (using a camera) to finally decide, once and for all, what the problem was. This kicked off mid Friday morning and as a result of what the surgeons found my darling daughter is now minus her appendix - which the surgeon lately described as looking like 'a curly fry'. She is now home and aside from being very sore (with keyhole surgery they literally blow you up with CO2 which has the effect of making everywhere ache for a few days or so) will make full recovery in a short while. Two weeks off school and a further two excused from PE is also the result.

It is staggering to think that after some half a dozen blood and fluid tests, an ultrasound scan and an X-ray and the attention of several doctors and surgeons the only way they could find out what the problem was was actually to operate.

As a parent the worse thing you can experience is watching your offspring in pain and so this post is really one of self indulgence as I wanted to share with you all the joke from Holly for whom I have enormous respect and love for showing such bravery in the face of her obvious suffering.

On a completely separate subject I have also managed to get my PC 'deloused' and have also doubled the RAM so it should be a little faster to use and less 'clunky' in operation. I now have the small matter of a number of college items to catch up with as a result of the dramas of the week but am pleased and relieved that all ended on a positive note.