Harriet update

Harriet's operation went as smoothly as these things can. She's been a little trooper and hardly complained at all - which might explain why we felt completely ignored on the Friday morning (I had to ask a nurse to remove the tube from her foot before we left). We met a lovely couple from Clacton whose son (Lewis) - one month older than Harri - had a much worse problem with his leg, and which they had to battle hard to get recognised by the local health professionals. In fact, they told us that Essex is being investigated because a lot of children like Lewis and Harriet are being referred to Stanmore after late diagnoses. Would explain why the doctor who saw Harri in Colchester said we must insist on a CT scan if we have any more children.

The procedure appeared to be successful - the surgeon/consultant was very pleased with how it went, but we won't know for sure until just after Christmas when we have to go back to have a scan and a check. Sadly it's quite common when both hips are done for one to dislocate - if this happens, she'll have to stay in plaster for the full 10 weeks to correct the non-dislocated hip and then goodness knows what happen.

Unfortunately the pediatric nurse who was supposed to give us help and advice - such as checking the car seat was set up correctly - was on annual leave, which we didn't find out until 10 minutes before finally leaving on the Friday, so we were left to our own devices, and I had a panicky moment when I was struggling to set it up correctly. I also left with the gift of one of the worst colds in living memory - I'm still feeling grotty now, and Toni is starting to succumb too. Harri's still on pain relief because they had to cut an incision in her left inner thigh to release the muscles to perform the procedure - there's a bruise there, but hopefully she'll avoid infection. No one gave us any advice on what to look for - we'll be taking her to the doctor tomorrow to have it checked out. Now all I have to do is phone up Stanmore to chase up the post-Christmas appointment - we were given a letter about the 10-week appointment, and told the other one would be forthcoming, but I have my doubts.

Yes, there is an undercurrent of anger running through this.