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There’s a lot of time spent doing nothing in hospitals. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take that any day over hurried action. In a hospital, that usually means something is going very wrong. Obviously, the staff is not doing nothing, but as a support person you spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for doctors … Continue reading
Deane was supposed to be at camp this week, hanging with his friends, chatting with the cute counsellors. He was going to be a junior “nurse’ this session. Instead, he is intubated and sedated in an out-of-town hospital. Five days ago, Deane woke up late at the cottage, groggy and definitely not himself. Checking his … Continue reading
“You are doing really well.” The words hung in the room. I wasn’t sure how to respond. It was a rather unexpected comment as the doctor was getting up to leave. It was the end of a three hour clinic visit – my son’s last clinic visit at the pediatric rehab hospital where he’s been … Continue reading
I’m not a weeper. I rarely cry at movies. Kind, thoughtful actions don’t send my ducts into overdrive. I leave weddings dry-eyed. But, in the midst of a conference about science and cerebral palsy, I found tears leaking out under my glasses. I hadn’t heard a great medical break through, it was a song dedicated … Continue reading
Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. For people of a certain age, these lyrics immediately conjure up the TV show Cheers and an overweight man walking into the bar to be greeted by the staff shouting his name. Reminiscing about eighties TV shows is not my … Continue reading
Seven days. Three hospitals. Four NG tubes.. Nine insertion attempts. Two tubes thrown up. Three different tube styles. Four different tape jobs. Seventeen and a half hours in waiting rooms. One patient, stoic kid. And this morning, day 10, he threw up the tube again. This wasn’t what we had in mind when we said … Continue reading
Sleep is an invaluable commodity. Every parent knows the value of a good night’s sleep and the cost of a miserably disrupted night. For most parents, the majority of sleepless nights are during their children’s early years. Kids generally grow into a routine of sleeping that allows parents to get at least enough sleep to … Continue reading
The challenge is how to avoid being overwhelmed by the medical side of Deane’s new schedule when he wants to spend all summer in the boat? Hang the IV bag in the boat. Once again, we have to remember that if we act normal and many things become normal.
I was calm as they said my son was aspirating food and liquids. I was calm as they recommended a g tube and an immediate NG tube. The experts at the swallow clinic had built an irrefutable case. They had just watched Deane eat solids – fairly runny mashed potatoes – drink liquids and eat … Continue reading
I can’t remember when Deane got his first pair of ankle-foot orthotics. He was small. The first ones fit easily in my hand. As he grew, we kept the old ones. They were too personal to throw away. Last week, Deane got his eighth pair and finally there was a suitable solution for the old … Continue reading
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