We met the plastic surgeon

August 7th, 2010

Well, we had a very cool appointment at the hospital…we got to meet with the plastic surgeon!!

We went up just for Ellie’s regular dermatology appointment and he’s always said that when she’s 1, we’ll also be put under plastics.  So I asked how we made an appointment for plastics and his reply was “Well, I just go and get him for you”  (luckily dermatology and plastics share a floor).

The surgeon was really nice and answered all of our questions.  Here’s what’s happening….

At 3 years old we can get started on getting Ellie some new hair – yeeha!

She’ll have 3 individual balloons done (dermatologist said it’s like getting a boob job, lol) at seperate time (so 6 operations).  It’ll take 18 months in total so she’ll have hair before she starts school.  The news just kept on getting better because she can go to kindy just like a regular kid.  We were worried she wouldn’t be able to go incase of the tissue expanders (balloons) making the skin to fragile, but it doesn’t.

This is such an exciting time for us, we’ve finally been given all the answers we’ve been waiting a year for :) :)

The Pox

July 4th, 2010

We have been a house of pox over the past month!  First, Brenna came out with them (we think we traced it back to kindy…of course!)  then 2 weeks later to the day…BAM…Ellie comes out with them.  My poor girls :(  Brenna was easy to deal with.  She understands not to scratch and can tell me how she’s feeling.  Ellie on the other hand was not so easy…the poor girl was miserable!  She has enough motor skills to be able to rub her face and eyes (where she had heaps) and her only ability to communicate her unhappiness was through crying/grizzling/grumping.  We had lots of cuddles that week!

I am happy to report our house is now all clear and any visits by friends with children who have not had the pox are more than welcome!  I don’t think I’ve ever spent so much time at home for so many days running!

Of course, the one week of the year that Ellie contracts a contagious bug was also the same week that we had 3 specialist appointments booked for.  Her dermatology check up was due as well as getting her hips x-rayed to (fingers crossed) be given the all clear for her clicky hips and also surgery to have grommets put it…Murphy’s Law anyone???

So grommets are now being done in 2 days, hips in 2 weeks and head in another 4 weeks.  Hopefully it wont take me that long until I post in here again.  I’ve been slack!!  I need a post-it on the fridge to remind me to keep everyone updated…woops!

Until then xo

P.S…check out the magazine stand tomorrow :)

It’s been so long!

May 5th, 2010

Far out, I didn’t realise it’s been so long since I last wrote on here…how time flies.

Ellie is doing so well.  Her head is fully healed, all that can been seen now are bald areas (which thankfully because she is blonde aren’t too noticable) and red/purple scars (she’s like a hyper-coloured t-tshirt…changes colour with the temperature lol)

She’s got her ckeck up x-rays for her hips this month and I’m feeling positive that they’ll be fine. 

ANZAC day was a day to remember for more than one reason…Ellie started crawling!!!  All I can say is…bloody hell!!  It feels my job requirements as a mum has just tripled.  Brenna and I had to safe-proof her room on Monday.  It took us AGES.  3 year olds certainly collect a lot of junk over time.  She had a big biff-out and now all small toys are out of reach for a too keen crawler. 

Today, it was Ellie vs the Yucka Tree.  Ellie won.

We have discovered that her new skin on her head is very thin as she knocked it slightly on something (I can’t keep up with her escapades) and it’s ‘ripped’ it slightly.  She’s a tough cookie though :)

P.S – next derm appointment: 17th June :)

The news just keeps on getting better

March 5th, 2010

We got the all clear from the kidney scan!! :)

Ahh, life is good :) :)

Award for the best support in Hamilton goes to…

January 25th, 2010

…the…

Waikato Family Centre!!!!! (and of course my lovely GP)

If any of you lovely, busy ladies who work there get a chance to read this: THANK YOU!!!!!!!! :)

For those people out there who know about the Family Centre, I’m sure you’re with me here in saying that these ladies are amazing!  They certainly know their ‘stuff’ when it comes to mums and babies.  They were the ones that diagnosed Ellie with silent reflux (yes, I know…another lovely string to add to our bow of ‘things’ to deal with regarding Ellie).  When they first told me she had it, I was also in the stage where I hadn’t been diagnosed with PND (OMG – diagnosed– makes it sound like a contagious disease, lol).  I was in denial…no way I could handle another problem.  At this stage she was also in her harness and I’d always had an excuse in my mind as to why she was so hard to settle and to get her to actually stay asleep! 

I had the following as theories:

  • She was being disturbed when I was taking Brenna to/from kindy.
  • She was being disturbed with her many hospital/doctor visits.
  • The Harness was annoying/uncomfortable for her to wear (this is actually partially true…I mean who would want to be like a frog 24/7??????)
  • This is just was babies did.

Oh, how wrong I was!!!!  Once she was diagnosed, it was then straight onto finding out how to help her to get better.  We first tried topping up with thickened formula…no luck.

We then tried gaviscon and topping her up with regular formula (my supply was low due to anxiety/lack of sleep…or PND if we’re going to be ‘formal’)…no luck.

Next onto the Big Guns…losec.  Finally a difference!  BUT only in combination with the gaviscon.  We learnt this the hard way by trying to stop the gaviscon after a few weeks and it quickly turned down hill.  So we are now on the magic formula of losec twice a day (morning and night) and gaviscon before all other feeds.

So this was going really well but the past week, I’ve been trying to ignore the very gradual down hill slide we are on…she’s going back to the old ‘ways’.  It’s a mission getting her to take the bottle, so my darling 3 year old has learnt that by shaking the nearest toy right in front of her face stops her crying and distracts her enough to drink.  She’s a clever girl (Brenna that is)  she knows how to fix any problem that interferes with any TV she may be trying to watch(“Mummy…Ellie’s too noisy!  I can’t hear my programme!!”)

So anyway, Murphy’s Law has intervened and has made my GP go away on a holiday this week.  So where am I off to tomorrow????  Yup, you guessed it…Waikato Family Centre :)