After Harriet suffered a life threatening Seizure in April, this year, it became harder to write about her life and the problems she had to face on a daily basis. It seemed easier not to write about Harriet, but after a few months I realized that by not continuing to write the blogs, that Harriet would be forgotten.
Harriet has been to visit several consultants at the Derby Royal Hospital and the Queen`s Medical Center Hospital in Nottingham, over the last few months all of which have been very important.
A couple of weeks ago we returned to the Queens Medical Center Hospital in Nottingham, with Harriet, to see the respiratory professor - Harish Vyas.
Professor Vyas was pleased to see Harriet and asked how she had been doing, since he last seen her.
We told Professor Vyas, that Harriet had a Life Threatening seizure in April, which seemed to have been triggered by a viral infection and explained that she had been well up until that point.
Professor Vyas completely understood that we were concerned about Harriet`s well being and tried to reassure us that although viral infections can cause seizures, that Harriet's immune system was doing well.
We explained that we were concerned about the winter months, new types of viruses that may cause Harriet harm and how best to deal with these.
Professor Vyas then told us that there were currently alot of bugs and Viruses about right now, which is something that does not normally happen at this time of year. He went onto to say that the children`s intensive care unit and high dependency wards at the QMC Hospital, were full of poorly children.
Again we both took onboard that alot of children were very poorly and that Harriet was coping better this year, but at the same time did not want to tempt fate and simply acknowledged his comments.
Professor Vyas then went through all Harriet`s medication and told us that he was happy all the medicines were at the correct levels, but wanted to know how much she weighed and asked us if we would weigh Harriet in his office.
We were surprised to find out that Harriet had put on some good weight, she had increased from 13.5kg , to 15.4kg, which was great news.
We told professor Vyas that Harriet`s seizure medication had changed, which he made a note of.
Professor Vyas came over to Harriet and listened to her chest, he told us that her breathing seemed to be very stable and that she looked well within herself.
Lesley told professor Vyas that Harriet would sometimes struggle a little, when taking a breath and was not sure why this was.
Professor Vyas asked us when the last time Harriet had been seen by the ENT consultant at the QMC.
We told him that it had been at least 12 months if not longer, but then explained that one of the doctors on PICU, had noticed that Harriet had a build up of scar tissue, when she had been admitted for chickenpox. The doctor told us that Harriet may need an operation on her tracheostomy, in order to remove this scar tissue, but would need to be seen by and ENT consultant.
Professor Vyas told us that he would speak with one of the ENT consultants and ask them to get in touch with us.
We asked about the flu injection and whether there were any other types of injections Harriet needed for the winter months.
Professor Vyas told us that the only injection Harriet needed was the flu injection, which would not be ready until October.
As we left the hospital, it felt good that she had coped better this year and put on some good weight, but we will as always remain vigilant and not take anything for granted.
Jason
