Special treat for fans!!

We should have done this ages ago!!

Please try not to laugh at my ridiculous motherly attempts to urge smiles out of the poor child.



After last week's scare, Theo has done really well. He is back to his normal smiley self. In fact, he has gone beyond his normal smiley self, as he has suddenly decided to reach some more milestones. He is now reaching out and swatting at objects, including his yellow fish on his mobile, which is always way out of reach. Bless!

He is enjoying the odd suck on his dummy and is receiving all his feeds through the NG tube (note no NJ tube!!)

As part of preparation for Theo coming home, as I said before there is a lot of training for me and Colin to do. We are currently just working on the trachey care. A few weeks ago I helped remove the tube while the nurse replaced it (always 2 people to do it as it is so fiddly). Today I held my breath and did the inserting through the tracheostomy; it went fine and I got it in but my hands were trembling like mad as I did the finishing off! I was obviously far more anxious than I thought and suffered the effects of a massive adrenalin surge. I self prescribed chocolate at this point. Funnily enough, the pharmacist asked last week how we were coping and after a frank chat, he laughingly prescribed vodka for our predicament.

There has been so much wellwishing this last week; we are entirely grateful. I have felt so totally isolated at times as unless you have had the misfortune of suffering the same experience, people won't know how we feel. Believe me, not in your worst dreams! But smiles and efforts at providing comfort and assistance do help. From my point of view, it is easier to be genuine and frank when there is a real indication that people want to listen.

Theo and I have had some magic cuddles this week. He is beginning to enjoy the comfort of our arms and snuggles in for his naps. I have been quite content to sit with him fast asleep, watching the hour tick by, his little trachey blowhole whistling into my bosom.

Sacha came in at the weekend. I think there are definite similarities.





Theo loves to grip the trachey/ventilator tubing. He is becoming too adept and whipping it off and making the machines alarm.

Theo always has smiles for his visitors. Please get in touch if you would like to come and see him. We do need to plan for visitors as our days are so limited and we have training to get through as well as just being with him.

Willow x