Successful procedure - Happy 9 month birthday Samuel

This is just a very quick note as we still don't have internet at home, hopefully one more week.

All went well with Samuel's trip to theatre. The anaethetist managed to manipulate the PICC line back into position rather than having to use another vein, which is great because it gives him more time using this perfectly good vein to get his TPN. So he was discharged the same day following the procedure and now we're all home again as a family and everything is back to normal, well, 'normal' for us that is.

We'll be back next week with more photos of our growing boy who is 9 months old today!

In theatre as I write

Sam is now in theatre, where hopefully they can re-position the PICC line (he currently has) back into the right artery. If they can't they will have to put a new PICC in his other arm, which means the vein he is now using (which has the migrated PICC in) would be defunct. It would be great if they can make the current PICC work, as each vein is vital for him.

We had an ok night in Starship even though Sam was clearly getting cranky as has been nil-by-mouth since 2am due to impending surgery.

Praying for skill and care for the surgical team and peace for Sam as he comes around from his surgery.... and looking forward to having Francis home.

X Shirl

Readmitted - PICC line No. 3

This blog is coming to you from Melbourne, where I'm attending a one-week training at World Vision's head office. Given the size of WV in Australia (500 in this office alone!), this is a great opportunity to learn from their experienced and sizeable programmes team and the visiting trainers from the Global Center team as I still try to get my head around the complexity of working for the largest humanitarian agency in the world. I must say I do prefer our NZ office of 100 or so staff, just feels more homely and less of a corporate giant.

You haven't heard from us for a while now because we're still waiting for our internet connection to be transferred to our new property, so apologies if you feel a bit in the dark on the latest news about Samuel. It may be another week or so yet before we're connected so communication will be a little infrequent until then. Samuel's coped well with the change to his new home and it's a much better set-up now that he has his own bedroom, all wooden floorboards throughout so easier to keep clean, and an air circulation system between the roof and living areas to prevent mould and reduce humidity - which has helped his breathing. The boxes have slowly been unpacked and the day before I left we went out shopping for bedroom furniture, the girls are loving our large private back yard so it's quickly become a lovely family home where we hope we can settle for a while now. Jasmine has made the most of our new suburban location and shown her entreprenurial initiative by putting a box out on the footpath full of Candace's dolls, with a sign selling them for $2 each.















I just received a text from Shirley to say that Samuel's PICC line through which he receives his intraveneous nutrition has 'migrated' and needs a new line put in. So Samuel's gone back into hospital today for hopefully just an overnight stay before going into theatre tomorrow on the acute list. Shirley will stay with him and fortunately mum is available to look after the girls since I'm not due home until Friday evening.

I'll update you as soon as I hear any news about how the procedure goes tomorrow. Thanks for your patience with us during this period of radio silence while we get our internet sort out. Do keep checking in as we love to know that so many are keeping tabs on Samuel's progress.

New Home...Old Electrics!!!

Saturday came and went amidst a flurry of 4 X 4's, many amazing friends who lifted, scrubbed, moved, fed, drove, packed and unpacked our stuff. It was a great team effort and we are SO grateful to them all for helping out....and for our lovely cousins who had the girls for the weekend so we could get on and pack without 2 bored little girls driving me nuts.

The house will be perfect for us, now that we have had 4 dodgey plugs changed, an illegal fitting in the bathroom removed and the dead oven revived so the bbq can get a rest. We are plodding through unpacking boxes and gradually changing the house into our home.

Sam is very happy in his new surroundings and the girls are delighted to have a bigger room in which to play.

I am writing this back at our old home, as we still have bits and pieces here to move over and I needed to put the rubbish out tonight. This home has many special memories for us - arriving in a state of crises and unknown, thinking we were carrying a baby that would not survive, sharing many happy, tearful, tired and joyful times with many of our families and friends. This home and the beautiful surroundings, the kindness of the trustees that so graciously let us stay here at short notice for a year and the joy of having Samuel here with us means it will always have a very special place in our hearts.

Will email a real blog with more about Sam once our internet is up and running at our new home.

Sleep well. X

NEWSFLASH!

Results just in - Sam DOESN'T have Cystic Fibrosis! Tears of relief and joy all round here! Thank you Lord!

X S

The day before tomorrow!

Boxes abound, no where to sit and I pick up the key to our new home this morning, ready for the big shift tomorrow... so it's all go and we're all very excited. Girls are getting into a routine at school and Francis is enjoying being back in the land of the employed.

Yesterday Sam had his sweat test and hopefully we will hear today what the results are.... or if we haven't heard by Tuesday we are to call. Sam wasn't too impressed with the first stage of the test where they put 2 wet towlettes on his arm, which are then covered with metallic electrodes and little shocks are delivered for 5 minutes. This is to stimulate the sweat glands - it stimulated Sam's tear ducts very well and he screamed for the duration. Then they removed the electrodes, wiped the area and taped on dry blotting paper. Then I had to wrap him up warm to get him sweaty for 30 minutes. It was a really hot muggy day - I was in a t-shirt and Sam was in a little padded polar fleece hoodie, with socks on! But the cocoon affect suited him and he nodded off to sleep. 30 mins later the blotting paper was removed and weighed, confirming they had enough of the concentrated sweat to analyse.

So will let everyone know when we know.... now I'm off to put pots in boxes.

X S