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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Best laid plans...

Henry getting very excited about the 'World's Largest Chocolate Waterfall' the day before he ended up in hospital.


I don't want to sound paranoid but this is the third Christmas in a row that I've spent part of the Christmas season unexpectedly sitting beside a loved one in hospital. Last year I spent much of Christmas Day night sitting in the emergency department of our local hospital with Henry after he had a massive asthma attack bought on by suspected pneumonia.

This year we managed to get through Christmas and the weekend but by Tuesday night I found myself in a familar situation when Henry woke up gasping for air at about 3.30am. Off we rushed to the hospital again where he was put on oxygen when his oxgen saturation levels were found to be very low. Many doses of Ventolin, a chest x-ray, saline masks and vomiting later he was admitted to the short stay unit where we spent another two nights (with me on a very narrow fold out couch). He was released on New Year's Eve and we saw in the New Year (at the child friendly time of 10pm) with sparklers, party poppers and bubbles and it was lovely to see him smiling again free from oxygen tubes and with the colour returning to his cheeks.

As you can imagine it has been a very stressful time for all of us and I still find myself watching Henry breathing for signs that he is relapsing. All routine in the house has been thrown out the window. We seem to be sleeping and eating at weird times and counting the days until we can finally go on the holiday we were supposed to leave for three days ago. The fridge has been bare for days as we've been taking things 'one day at a time' and the kids have been packing on and off for days so it will be a relief to finally leave tomorrow for some sun and sand and the company of my gorgeous sisters and their families.

I hope your Christmas and New Year was a little more predictable than mine (in a good way) and I'm looking forward to hearing all about the exciting plans you have afoot for the coming year. I think plans and I are going to keep their distance for a while...

8 comments:

  1. Oh Caz, when I was wishing you a Happy Christmas I remembered reading about last year's ordeal and hoping it would be very different this year...Sorry you had to go through a similar experience but thank god Henry is ok and is back to his smiling self.

    I was worried the floods may have affected you but didn't imagine you may have to face a hospital trip again.

    I hope the new year find you all happy and healthy....

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  2. Poor Henry! What a terrible way to spend the Christmas/New YEars break. I hope you get away incident free and enoy your holiday, it sounds like the sea air will do Henry some good.
    Take Cake Caz.

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  3. Oh goodness ... poor Henry, and poor you for having to spend your Christmas all worried and stressed.

    I really hope you enjoy a lovely break and that all the sun & sand will treat you well! :)

    Take care.

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  4. Oh, Caz, so sorry to hear it's been a repeat of a Bad Christmas!
    Perhaps silly, but could there be something in the house at this time of year that sets off these terrible attacks?
    Best wishes that it never happens again!
    Glad you managed to salvage the New Year at least. I hope you get to go on your holiday soon, and really enjoy it as you should! :-)

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  5. Caz! You poor thing, that really sucks. I hope things are much more relaxed now. You certainly deserve a proper holiday! xo

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  6. Oh no, you poor things! Here's hoping for better luck (and health!) in 2011 x

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  7. Oh, how frightening... I hope he's a lot better now and that he grows out of asthma soon.

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  8. Thank you so much everyone for your kind words. We are just back from our beach holiday (with mixed weather and no internet connection) and Henry seems to be much better. It certainly was a scary time but my thoughts have already turned to all those poor people in Queensland as I'm sure yours have too. Life can indeed be very unpredictable can't it?

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