Another Appointment with the Poo doctor!

I never feel really comfortable talking about poo, and yet it seems to dominate my life!
This week we had another visit with the gastro doctor at the Children's hospital. It was a 6pm appointment just 3 days before Christmas, so we went into town early to have a browse and look at the decorations. The kids were not really all that interested though, but it could have been because of the rain. We did go into the church and light some candles for lost family members, including the two cats this year. The kids loved the nativity scene, despite the characters not having faces.




Anyway, onto the appointment. Back in October, Lucy was put on a high dose of Movical to clear her out. We didn't manage to get it to work. It took five days before there was any sort of result at all and then the school break was over and I didn't want to risk her getting loose while at school so I stopped giving it to her. So, now it's the Christmas holiday and she has two weeks before she goes back to school so we are going to try again, but with an even higher dosage. It's going to be a smelly Christmas. She also has to go back to the hospital for blood tests next week. The Dr wants to rule things out to find what her problem really is. Lucy isn't happy as she has developed a real fear of needles, but I'm sure we'll get through it somehow, perhaps with some bribery.

In other news, Lucy's class is going on a residential trip in the summer. It's not the first time she's had the chance to go, but it's been four years since the last one. I've had to turn this trip down for exactly the same reasons as the last one which makes me feel sad as it shows there has been no improvement in that time. In fact things are much worse now. We not only have the incontinence and sleep problems to worry about, but also the fact that we would be worried sick about her getting hurt. She fractured her ankle stepping off a very small stage during a school concert, the school didn't even know she was hurt.how could we be sure she'd be ok away from home. Lucy is fine with not going, part of her would like to join in, but she knows she wouldn't be able to cope away from home.

Which brings me to my worries about secondary school. I know we have chosen the right school for now, but I'm really not sure how she is going to cope. All along I've said we will have to give her the chance of a normal school life, but if it goes wrong we'll take her out and find another option. Now, I'm concerned so much about the if it goes wrong part. If it did, would it be something she'd ever get over even if we did intervene?

Two Years Ago

It's strange when you look back at the things that have happened and review them with the knowledge you have now.

This time two years ago Lucy was in hospital having had a manipulation of her cervical spine and a halo fitted for the first time.

We had no idea what to expect and that is why I set up this blog, so we could record the journey and hopefully let others know what to expect if they found themselves in a similar situation.

In August of 2013 Lucy woke up one morning with a sore throat. I took her to the GP who gave her some anti-biotics. The next morning she woke up with a twisted neck. I took her to the GP who said she had tonsillitis. I wasn't happy so later that day I took her to A&E where I was told she had torticollis and it would get better in 48 hours.

It didn't. Two days later I took her back to A&E but they were still insistent that it would get better by itself, although they were a little concerned that she was hypermobile. At this point she'd been given a CT scan on her brain to check for meningitis.

Two days later I took her back to A&E and they gave her scan on her neck where they discovered a rotational subluxation of the atlanto occipital joint. I was told it wasn't much to worry about. I was fed up of being told it was nothing to worry about, I couldn't help being worried, my little girl was a twisted mess of pain and no-one was doing anything to help her!
I was sent to see a consultant. While waiting (4 hours) I was thinking about all that had happened and all that had been said. Over and over I'd been asked if she'd had a fall, if the neck had suffered a trauma. Over and over I said no, because she hadn't and then they'd just walked away uncaring. So I tried something. When I saw the consultant he asked, has she had a fall recently, I replied 'she fell off her scooter last week but I didn't think she was hurt'
She was admitted to hospital straight away.

I didn't lie. she had fallen off her scooter the week before, she was always falling off her scooter. She had bruised her knee quite badly but not hit her head or even her shoulder. I'd been right next to her when she fell. I was sure the fall had not caused her neck and I did tell the consultant that, but the simple fact that she had had a trauma recently completely changed things.

We know now that Lucy has Elhers Danlos Syndrome, she was diagnosed this year. This means that joints can pop out of place without trauma, which is what I believe happened to her neck. However, it's now on her records that it popped out because she fell off her scooter.

I had a long e-mail conversation with an American neurologist. I found his details from trawling medical documents about cervical subluxes. He told me that her sore throat could have been significant. There is a condition called Grisels Syndrome which can cause this type of subluxation in children after a throat infection. It's more common in children with hypermobility, or lax tissues.

So, two years ago today we were in hospital with Lucy recovering and as parents we were beginning a long journey that we had no idea where it would lead.