Caleb's Eye on the mend
Monday, July 28, 2008
We have finally been discharged from the hospital, and as you can see Caleb's eye is on the mend.
He still has to take oral antibiotics four time a day, which taste absolutely revolting.
We had a lovely visit to Granpa and Granma's on sunday. It was very nice to see them both, Heather showed us that her mobility has improved a little
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 8:01 am,
,
Captain Caleb's Thursday Update
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Caleb about 1 hour before his latest and hopefully last operation
Home at last and doing what Caleb likes most in the world.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 11:57 am,
,
Caleb's Wednesday update
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Sorry I didn't blog this morning only I've been at the hospital most of the day.
Maxine text'd me this morning to say they were fasting Caleb again today in preparation for the operation he was mean't to have yesterday. After waiting until 3:00pm for an opthalmic surgeon to come and see him, I persuaded him something needed to be done. Caleb's right eye had once again started to swell ever so slightly, but there was an increasing redness around his eyelid and a protrudance that could be seen from the left side of his face. Also what you could see of his right eye, it was not looking at you when his left eye was.
Anyway he was reluctant to do anything and put Caleb through a procedure when he thought there was nothing there they could take away. After signing my consent for the surgeon to do some exploratory work, I sat down and wondered if I had done the right thing.
While I went to collect Caleb from theatre, the surgeon came and saw Maxine. She asked if there was any puss in his eyelid.....the answer was Oh Yes...lots ....and they took it all away. And if his eye looks Ok in the morning he will be able to come home - Boy am I so glad I stood my ground.
Personally I'd have thought they'd have kept him in for another 24 hours after this operation considering the past week, but lets see what tomorrow brings...
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 7:35 pm,
,
Tuesday Evening Update
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Any idea what's going on....No.....Me neither.
Poor Caleb spent all morning and afternoon upto 3:00pm without food or drink so he could go to theatre to have the abcess removed from his right eye. When the time came we were told and emergency had taken priority and his op. wouldn't happen until tomorrow as they don't like to operate on small children late in the evening in case anything goes wrong....they like specialists to be on hand (and guess what....they go home). Anyway, after I'd got home, Max texts to say the consultant opthamologist came around and said it might be better to wait another 48 hours and hopefully the antibiotics would do their job and work on and remove the abcess. In the meantime, Caleb's eye looks very angry and even started to bleed a little whilst I was there. They said it was the eye's way of getting rid of the puss in the abcess. So here we are waiting again... More tomorrow.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 9:13 pm,
,
Tuesday morning update
Just as we thought we were out of the woods, the Dr came around this morning and said he thought Caleb has a absess behind his right eyelid. He's not Nil by mouth once again and will go down to theatre this afternoon to have it removed.
The saga continues...
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 8:17 am,
,
Caleb's Monday evening update
Monday, July 21, 2008
Today Caleb seems to be far more his normal self and we reckon is on the mend. Most of the swelling has down subsided and only a dark red crust remains on his right eyelid. He can now open his right eye a little - just enough to enable him to see, and you can see him trying.
He's still on antibiotics every 6 hours, his temperature fluctuates quite a bit and requires cream applied to his eye also.
Overall I'm quite happy with his progress since being transferred to City Hospital Stoke. Lets put it another way - if anyone says lets go to Stafford Hospital, i'll tell them go take a running jump - they are worse than useless. They go through all the procedures and routines but don't seem to have anyone there who can make a proper diagonsis or even a decision. - Rant over!!
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 7:58 pm,
,
Caleb's update
Both Max and Caleb had a goodnight sleep and weren't woken until 7:30 which must be a rare occurrance in a hospital.
Not much more to say this morning, except Caleb has now been moved to Ward 106.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 10:30 am,
,
Caleb's Sunday evening update
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Just got back from the Hospital. Caleb's eye is still closed, but the swelling around it has much reduced. All the redness around the right eye has disappeared as has the redness that started to appear around his left eye.
Even better is the fact that he has started to regain that thing that makes him Caleb -talking gobbledygook, calling himself BabM and running round playing with toys again.
The word now is that he's to stay on the ward for another 48 hours so they can monitor his progress, after which time it looks like he'll be let home.
Thanks to everyone who visited him, I'm sure seeing all those faces he recognises has made his ordeal that much more bearable.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 8:47 pm,
,
Caleb's after operation update
Caleb is now out of theatre and back on the ward.
His right eye is just fine and there's no damage. There is no bad news - BIG SIGH of relief.
He'll be on the ward for a few more days yet in order to recover and I guess so they can keep an eye on him, pardon the pun.
More later once I've had the chance to go and see him.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 11:04 am,
,
Caleb's Sunday morning update
His swelling has gone down a little overnight. When Max text'd, she said he was having an hour long session of anti-biotics before he went down to theatre about 10:00am. Now 10:19 and still no word...so I'm gritting my teeth and waiting for any word from Max.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 9:17 am,
,
Caleb's Saturday evening update
Saturday, July 19, 2008
I spent several hours with Caleb today. First at Stafford Hospital where he was admitted last Thursday and later at City Hospital on the A34 close to Stoke.
At City Hospital they've given him more anti-biotics as well as trying to wash his eye out so they can see what's happening. Unfortunately, his eye still won't open so they've decided to give him a general anesthetic so they can do two things: Open his eye after soaking it first and also drain and wash his sinuses.
Incase anyone's wondering Maxine is staying with him the whole time so he's never left alone. Caleb is due to go down to theatre sometime after 10:00pm tonight. As soon as he does, Max will text me and then later when he's out.
Edit: Due to the anaethetist not being happy with not that many consultants being around if anything went wrong and with Caleb eating a small amount of apple about 5:00pm, his operation has been postponed until 9:00am tomorrow morning.
As soon as I know anything I'll blog again, but if anyone wants to find out any info on his progress, he's on Ward 112 and the ward Tel No's are: 01782 552754 and 01782 552753.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 6:15 pm,
,
Caleb's Early Saturday morning update
Max text'd me this morning at 7:00am to say the infection is creeping into Calebs left eye. With no ENT specialists in Stafford Hospital over the weekend, they are transfering Caleb to a Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent, where the specialists are on hand all the time.
Will let you know more later on today.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 9:23 am,
,
Caleb's Friday evening update
Friday, July 18, 2008
Caleb is still in Hospital and is now likely to stay there until at least next Tuesday. Apparently the bump he had above his eye is not the cause of all the inflamation, but rather a contributory factor in dislodging something in his sinuses which were blocked. According to his doctor a CT scan has revealed that only the soft tissue has been infected and the infection has not gone further inwards, otherwise Calebs sinuses would have needed to have been drained. Thank goodness this is not the case.
Will let you all know more tomorrow evening.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 9:39 pm,
,
Caleb in Hospital
Yesterday afternoon, Calebs temperature was still high at over 38 degrees and he'd been sick so Maxine took him to see the doctor. At 15:50 Max sent me a text to say come home ASAP as Caleb had to go to Hospital. Needless to say I dropped everything and rushed home. Max took him in while I waited for Marnie's Dad to collect her.
Overnight Caleb had Paracetamol and Ibuprofen and a drip in his arm which was administering antibiotics. This morning his eye as still very red, as you can see in the photo, so they've changed to a stronger antibiotic.
Maxine took the photo on her phone and sent it to me via photomessaging. I've left the image large as the quality is not too good.
There was talk about him coming home today and continue with taking the antibiotics orally, but the latest from Maxine is that he might have to stay in over the weekend until he shows signs of recovery.
Poor Caleb, I really feel for him - poor little thing. You can tell he's not himself because even when he's ill he's still very vocal - grumbling all the time...but he's as quite as a mouse and sleeping lots.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 8:48 am,
,
Caleb's Black and Swollen Eye!!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Yesterday lunchtime Caleb banged his right eye on the edge of the dining table. There was a small cut but no bleeding or swelling, so I put cold compress on it to prevent swelling.
He was put to bed as normal as he had no other symptoms, other than a snotty nose which he has had for a couple of days now.
He woke me up crying at 5.30am, when I went in my first thought was he had got a cold in his eye and he could not open it. But on closer inspection I noticed it to be very swollen.
I took him in to see Alan and it was decided he needed to go to the hospital to get it checked out.
We arrived at the hospital for 6am and was seen by the doctor at 6.30am, and after a five minute consultation the Doctor it was just a soft tissue swelling of the upper eye subside within 48 - 72 hours.
He has a temp of 40 at the moment so he is feeling rather sorry for himself.
Will keep you posted as to how the healing process is working.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 6:47 am,
,
Wasps Nest in the Loft
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
On Monday night we were having problems with the TV reception in the main bedroom, and basically couldn't watch anything excpet a very fuzzy BBC1. It has always been a bit iffy, but having been in the loft earlier that day I thought I might have dislodged something. So up I went again at 10:30pm to have a look, just so we could watch TV in bed.
There appeared to be nothing wrong with the connections, but as I came to exit the loft I heard a crackling sound coming from the wall nearest the loft hatch. As I got nearer I was convinced there was a mouse in one of the boxes having a munch on our photos. As I moved the box it seemed the sound was coming from somewhere else - the extractor fan pipe to be exact. With limited space and not very good lighting I gave the pipe a flick with my fingers, only to hear a great buzzing noise from the pipe. Immediately I thought we had an infestion of something and went to have a look on the outside of the house where the pipe comes out. It was took dark to see anything clearly so decided I would have a proper look in the morning.
The next morning it was evident that there was indeed an infestation and it looked like wasps, so immediately googled "wasp infestation stafford" and found the telephone number for Stafford Borough Council's Environmental Health - Pest Control department. Later that evening a very nice man came out to spray and dust the area affected, relieved me of £46.10 and said they would all be dead within 48 hours and if not to phone them again.
I've just been into the loft today (24 hours later) to examine the pipe. There doesn't appear to be any signs of life but will check again tomorrow. Whilst I was up there I took a couple of photo's, one without and one with flash.
The Evidence:
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 5:33 pm,
,
New Look
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I've meant to do this for ages, and make all my blogs look and feel the same - so here goes. Hope you like it.
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 7:42 pm,
,
Spanish Holidays
Thursday, July 10, 2008
It's about time I blogged again.....but before I do here's a few Pics and Videos from our Spanish Holiday this year.
http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m217/alanjfrancis/Spain%202008/
Enjoy!! - (We did)
posted by Alan and Maxine @ 5:17 pm,
,
