Update....
Sorry it has been some time since I have written our BLOG on Phoebe, but I didn't want to write until I was comfortable writing about the latter part of the year.....
Phoebe's leg wound healed in about 9 weeks, and a weeks holiday in Fiji were she floated in the sea water everyday, seemed to do it the world of good. It is now a thick wide scar but the bright pink is fading weekly.
I often give Phoebe a full basting of cream post her bath or shower, it helps with the dry skin she sometimes has and gives me an opportunity to feel all her satelites. In June is felt a lump in one of the satelites on Phoebe's lower back. A registrar I pointed it out to just said we should keep an eye on it. A week later when I mentioned it to Sally (plastic surgeoen) she wanted it out ASAP - a slightly different opinion. Our Fijian holiday was days away so we agreed to removed it as soon as we returned, a week later.
The surgery went well. Sally took the lump and the entire satelite away (which was fairly large) , which meant Phoebe got a scar from one side of her back to the other. By 3pm she was crawling round the ward, was full of beans and we were kean to go home. Job done, back to family life. (Oh yeah right!). By 9pm Phoebe was in alot of discomfort, she had a very fitful nigths sleep and by the morning she was clearly still in pain. I kept the pain medication up but still she just lay on the sofa and would barely move. We thought she had perhaps over done things a bit yesterday as it was indeed a big scar she now had. She did not want to go to the loo as it meant bending at the waist putting strain on the stitches. By 4pm I tried to look at the wound and realised Phoebe was both hot and around the dressing was red. I knew this was not good. Within an hour the red had spread on it's way up her back and down her legs. By 6pm I knew she had to go back to hospital. Yet she couldn't bend to get into her car seat so how on earth was I to get her there? Ultimately we had to call an ambulance, and by 7.30pm we were on our way.
I am so thankful we live 7 minutes from our local hospital, that they have a chiildren's A&E department there, that they had Dr's who knew how to talk to a scared and poorly girl and put a drip in all without any further stress. I am thankful we have a brilliant public health system here.
To try and cut a long story short (not doing very well so far). Phoebe had a massive post-operative infection in the wound. She was put on a drip and given powerful antibiotics. The wound 'de-hissed' ie the stitches came un-done. She had to be operated upon again (making this operation number 18) to try and re-stitch the wound and drains put in, this was only partly successful and half the wound opened up for a second time. So we had to allow this big wound to heal from the inside out. Phoebe also got a tummy bug in the hospital to complicate the dressing changes further. We were in hospital for 9 days in total. It was about another 6 weeks of daily dressing changes before the wound healed up by itself. Phoebe now has the most awesome scar across her back which skirt and trouser waistbands seem to want to sit on, so it gives her some pain if a garment is too tight. She now prefers to wear her loose PJ's when hanging out at home.
Through all this we had the agonising wait to see what the biopsy results of the 'lump' were. After a delay getting the results they came back negative. Thank God is all I can say.
Caitlin Peoples - all the love in the world you dear wee girl.
Phoebe's leg wound healed in about 9 weeks, and a weeks holiday in Fiji were she floated in the sea water everyday, seemed to do it the world of good. It is now a thick wide scar but the bright pink is fading weekly.
I often give Phoebe a full basting of cream post her bath or shower, it helps with the dry skin she sometimes has and gives me an opportunity to feel all her satelites. In June is felt a lump in one of the satelites on Phoebe's lower back. A registrar I pointed it out to just said we should keep an eye on it. A week later when I mentioned it to Sally (plastic surgeoen) she wanted it out ASAP - a slightly different opinion. Our Fijian holiday was days away so we agreed to removed it as soon as we returned, a week later.
The surgery went well. Sally took the lump and the entire satelite away (which was fairly large) , which meant Phoebe got a scar from one side of her back to the other. By 3pm she was crawling round the ward, was full of beans and we were kean to go home. Job done, back to family life. (Oh yeah right!). By 9pm Phoebe was in alot of discomfort, she had a very fitful nigths sleep and by the morning she was clearly still in pain. I kept the pain medication up but still she just lay on the sofa and would barely move. We thought she had perhaps over done things a bit yesterday as it was indeed a big scar she now had. She did not want to go to the loo as it meant bending at the waist putting strain on the stitches. By 4pm I tried to look at the wound and realised Phoebe was both hot and around the dressing was red. I knew this was not good. Within an hour the red had spread on it's way up her back and down her legs. By 6pm I knew she had to go back to hospital. Yet she couldn't bend to get into her car seat so how on earth was I to get her there? Ultimately we had to call an ambulance, and by 7.30pm we were on our way.
I am so thankful we live 7 minutes from our local hospital, that they have a chiildren's A&E department there, that they had Dr's who knew how to talk to a scared and poorly girl and put a drip in all without any further stress. I am thankful we have a brilliant public health system here.
To try and cut a long story short (not doing very well so far). Phoebe had a massive post-operative infection in the wound. She was put on a drip and given powerful antibiotics. The wound 'de-hissed' ie the stitches came un-done. She had to be operated upon again (making this operation number 18) to try and re-stitch the wound and drains put in, this was only partly successful and half the wound opened up for a second time. So we had to allow this big wound to heal from the inside out. Phoebe also got a tummy bug in the hospital to complicate the dressing changes further. We were in hospital for 9 days in total. It was about another 6 weeks of daily dressing changes before the wound healed up by itself. Phoebe now has the most awesome scar across her back which skirt and trouser waistbands seem to want to sit on, so it gives her some pain if a garment is too tight. She now prefers to wear her loose PJ's when hanging out at home.
Through all this we had the agonising wait to see what the biopsy results of the 'lump' were. After a delay getting the results they came back negative. Thank God is all I can say.
Caitlin Peoples - all the love in the world you dear wee girl.
posted by Laura @ 12:04 PM
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