Category Archives: Family

It takes a village

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village

Do you know that quote?  There’s a chance you might associate it with American presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton and her 1996 book of the same title, but in fact it comes from an Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria) proverb and has a sentiment that is echoed by numerous other African sayings.  It recognises the great value of having community involvement in a child’s upbringing, not just for the child and immediate family, but for the extended family and local community too.  As I have mentioned so many times before, we are incredibly fortunate to have an amazing community surrounding us, who are unbelievably supportive, and none more so than our fantastic village school.

Since day one, when G first headed in through their gates, we knew that this was a place that would offer our children not just a great education, but also a safe and secure place to grow and develop, all within walking distance of our home.  The children have had the opportunity to build strong friendships with others living nearby that will hopefully continue into their teenage years and beyond.  In the 2 years that M has been there, we’ve seen time and time again just how invaluable the school community is, not just to M, but to G and to Mike and me too. The impact of M’s ever-changing health has been particularly profound in the last couple of years and there is no doubt in my mind that the unfailing support of their school has been a steadying force for us all.

Without the readiness of the Head and other key members of staff to accommodate M and all his needs, we would have struggled to keep his education a priority this year and I doubt I would have been able to continue working.  Their willingness to have M in school as normal and to learn the intricacies of his NG-tube and feeding regime has allowed me to stay in my job, confident in the fact that this is a group of people dedicated to including M in every planned activity and who have taken on that intense in loco parentis responsibility without a second thought. This year in particular has tested their mettle with the demands of not just feeding tubes and complex allergy requirements, but of occupational therapy, dyspraxia and dyslexia added to the mix too.  His teacher, Mrs M, has been amazing and she approaches every new challenge with great positivity and an unparalleled sense of humour. www.amazon.comEven the minor hiccups encountered along the way – non-stop beeping, blocked tubes, leaking pumps and soaking wet clothes to name but a few – haven’t derailed her and that attitude has helped M cope remarkably well with all the changes this year has thrown at him.  I cannot thank her enough for being the rock that M has needed during school hours.

Equally, Miss K, G’s lovely Year 6 teacher has been a real blessing to us as a family and to G in particular.  She has encouraged G every step of the way and helped build her confidence throughout the year.  M’s hospital stay in December was difficult for G as he and I disappeared off to London for 2 weeks and couldn’t be around to help celebrate her 11th birthday or enjoy the end of term build-up to Christmas.  What made a big difference was Miss K, who was fully aware of all that was going on, made herself available to G whenever necessary, understood that emotions were high and made allowances when needed, and stayed in regular e-mail contact with me during our stay and also during the Christmas holidays, so she was as prepared for where things stood with M as the rest of us.  She is moving on from the school at the end of this term and I, for one, will miss her, especially as I was hoping she would be M’s teacher for his Year 6 year.

It’s not just the teaching staff who have done their utmost to give us the support we depend on, but the parents and children too and this past week I was left speechless by the thoughtfulness and compassion of M’s class.  Following his presentation during EGID awareness week, this group of enthusiastic 9 year-olds discussed different ways they could support him and focused their attention on the fact that he has to wear a backpack all morning, which contains his pump and his “food”. This is what happened next:

“We decided, as a class, that we would all wear a backpack for a morning so that we are able to understand a little of what M has to go through each day. Therefore, on Friday 10th July, it would be great if all of 4M could wear their backpack to school and keep it on for the whole morning!  If you can make it weigh about 2 and a half kilograms that will be amazing as that is the weight that M carries around each day.”

20150710_111650On Friday I had the privilege of going into school to see this amazing group plus teacher and teaching assistants with their backpacks on and to express my thanks, not just to the children, but to Mrs M and the school for encouraging and allowing them to show their support in this tangible way. His classmates have adapted well to M’s tube and accept it as an essential part of him.  They’ve asked questions and been interested in the whys and wherefores about it and then just forgotten all about it and carried on with day-to-day life, which is exactly what M has needed.

There have also been shows of support from parents, including one from a Mum I’d never met before and doubt I’d recognise again.  We were travelling back home late from our last GOSH appointment after a long, hot day in London and arrived back at our local train station.  As we reached the stairs of the railway bridge, I became aware of a fellow passenger catching up with us and smiled with her as she chuckled at the inane chatterings of my night-owl.  I paused to let her go past, but she slowed her pace to match mine and started an unexpected conversation:

“I just wanted to tell you that my children are at the same school as your son and came home and told us all about his presentation. They both raved about how amazing it was and how much they had learned from watching it and asking him questions.  I just wanted to tell you how impressed they both were, especially as they now understand a little more of what he’s having to cope with and we all think he’s incredibly brave.”

The conversation carried on until we reached our cars and said a quiet good-night. This for me is the advantage of having not just a child who stands out from the crowd because of his tube,Colorful solidarity design tree but also a community who is brave enough to have the confidence to speak out words of encouragement to a near-stranger because of a shared experience and the desire to add their voice to offer support.

From helping take G to school early in the morning to having my tubie home for tea; and from working hard with M to improve his handwriting to encouraging G to reach her potential and aim for the stars, our school, its outstanding teachers and the families who go there have helped us out along the way. This academic year has been a tough one, but we’ve survived all the bumps in the road with the loving support of the truly exceptional community that we live in.

Year 6 camp – the final verdict

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Last week was a quiet week in our household as G was away at camp and M struggled without his big sister around.  With only one child under my feet, it’s undeniable that the everyday tasks were a little…ok,  a lot easier to achieve in a reasonable time scale and there was a noticeable lack of temper-driven disagreements and raised voices, but there was no mistaking the achingly big G-shaped hole in our family that nothing else could fill.

By bedtime on Monday, we had finally tracked down and ticked off the last remaining items on the list, the bag of food and snacks had been delivered to the safe-keeping of Miss K and I was certain that clothes were named…bags were named…in fact, water bottles, plastic mugs, wash-kits, you name it, everything was named and the all-important, precious piece of her blanket was safely tucked away amongst her things. DSC_0015 G was feeling happier as she now knew she was in the same activity group as one of her best friends and was equally delighted about the teacher who’d be looking after them for the week.  We convinced them into a relatively early night as Tuesday was an early start for us all in order to get to school for 8am, and even M managed to pull himself from his pit and eat some breakfast before we headed on our way.  Those last few moments before G boarded the coach and left for her week at camp were emotionally charged as M stood beside her, with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist and just hugged her quietly, barely admitting to himself, let alone to the rest of us, what was glaringly obvious to see – that he was really going to miss her whilst she was away.  He was by my side as we waved them off and then disappeared into the school playground with his friends, ready for the day ahead.

News took a little time to trickle back to those of us waiting at home to hear what our adventurers were up to, but when the reports finally arrived, everything sounded positive. The kids were having a marvellous time and challenging themselves with lots of new experiences. From clambering over and under logs to wading through deep mud, the activity week was everything they expected it to be.  campTo my delight, G tried her hand at everything, even the dreaded caving and whilst she didn’t venture as far as some of the others, I am thrilled that she conquered her fears and made her way through 2 of the 3 caves they explored, an amazing achievement for someone who had been adamant she wasn’t stepping foot into a cave, no matter what. She enjoyed almost everything they did and was quick to regale us with tales from the week. Her favourite activity was the Woodland Scramble, which involved donning a wetsuit and rolling head-first into a Welsh river as well as dunking her head under a waterfall. Their evenings were filled with headland walks, evenings on the beach, BBQs and a disco before the obligatory mug of hot chocolate and a good night’s sleep.

The week was a resounding success from an activity point-of-view and G chattered for hours once she was home about all she’d done.  Sadly though, it didn’t quite meet my expectations on the food front.  Despite providing a bag full of safe foods to get G through the week, it was returned to me on Friday with very little missing from it.  I gently quizzed her about what she had eaten and was disappointed to learn that whilst the dairy-free aspect of her diet has been well-managed, there were some significant failings from a gluten-free point of view.  G had been assured that the Kelloggs cereal was definitely GF (it’s not), had been given crisps that were covered with “May contains” and her hot chocolate was soya milk laden with cocoa powder and very little sugar to sweeten it: a taste so bitter that she struggled to drink it and after her friends had tentatively taken a sip, they understood why she was so reluctant.  There was a definite lack of inspiration in preparing her meals as GF pasta with tomato and basil sauce appeared to be the go-to alternative for any meal that wasn’t G-friendly and her only dessert was from the snack box I had sent along with her.  11027998_10152859810801123_7685022031085613332_oFortunately for all concerned, G doesn’t suffer extreme reactions to either gluten or dairy, but she was left feeling less than 100% by the time she got home and not just because of the lack of sleep.

In contrast, the only thing of note that happened in our household last week was a complete overhaul of G’s bedroom and whilst there’s still a little more work to do, it’s a room to last her through her teenage years.  And so the week ended as it had begun:  with M and I waiting on the grass bank outside the school for the coach to appear and deliver G back into our arms.

 

Fathers Day 2015

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It’s been a quiet and reflective Fathers Day weekend for me and a fun-filled and active one for Mike.  He and the children have been away on the annual “Dads and Kids” camping weekend with friends. A weekend to make more memories as well as looking back at precious ones of the past. Happy Fathers Day to the 3 special men in our lives:  Mike, Grandpa R and my Dad.

I also want to share this beautifully illustrated short film that takes an emotional look at new parenthood, which can be especially difficult when it starts with an unexpected stay in NICU and is a beautiful reminder that Dads are affected too. When your new baby has to be in NICU, there’s lots of focus on Mum and baby and it can be all too easy to forget about Dad and the emotions he must be facing. With Fathers’ Day this weekend, this is a poignant reminder that things don’t always turn out as planned.

Father’s Days
A cartoonist’s journey into first-time fatherhood
S.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

 

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there

 

 

Another food and an unexpected insight

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This moment has been an awfully long time coming, over 4 months and 7 food fails in a row in fact, but finally we have a fourth safe food to add to M’s repertoire: apple.  The last few months have been emotionally tiring as we’ve worked our way down the list of food challenges agreed with our dietitian and M has systematically, and holy-grailsometimes dramatically, failed each and every one.  It has felt as if that elusive fourth food was our personal Holy Grail and there were times when Mike and I both began to wonder when we would ever achieve it.

One of the complicating factors we’ve had to deal with during the food challenges has been the whole host of reactions that we’ve seen along the way.  We were never told, as far as either of us can remember, that it was possible to see so many different allergic responses to the varying foods M was trialling and we were certainly not advised that he could experience some that he’d never had before.  His severe oral reaction to sweet potato was, in many ways, the easiest one to identify, even though horrendous to see happen, as we knew immediately that it had to be an instant fail; but the others have not necessarily been so straight-forward.

complicatedOur main goal is to maintain the improved health and toileting that M has achieved since he first went elemental back in December and even though that has meant ruling out some foods that would have been great to have back in his diet, I remain firm that his well-being, both physical and psychological, is our primary concern.  At our last appointment, we discussed with both M’s consultant and dietitian our approach to the food challenges and agreed that anything that causes a loss of bowel control, of any description, has to be considered an instant fail for the time-being. These foods are not ruled out permanently – well, sweet potato is as far as I’m concerned! – and we will, without a doubt, revisit them at some future point once we have more safe ones back.

Sadly he has reacted to some of his old favourites, but he has coped admirably well with accepting the outcomes.  He still remains reluctant at times to acknowledge exactly how he is feeling and telling us about the aches and pains we know he must be experiencing, but 9 years of parenting M means that I have become highly attuned to his moods and can sense when he’s feeling under the weather.  His willingness to lose a food again at times has indicated to us that he also identifies when it’s making him feel poorly, especially when he has been prepared to fight for those that he believes he can cope with.

Never was that so true as at the start of our apple challenge.  During the first couple of days, his body reacted with hives and itchy skin, just as we saw when we first reintroduced rice and he also struggled a little with his bowel control.  However, unlike with other foods where he has reluctantly agreed that it was likely a negative response to the challenge, this time round M insisted that the fault was his for not listening to his body and responding quickly enough and that he felt he was still in complete control.

10 days on and he has proved to be right, which is a valuable lesson for us all:

We have spent years fighting for our voice to be heard when it has come to M’s health and each step of the way have been shown to be right in our concerns and our thoughts for his ongoing treatment.  It seems that now we need to start listening to what M has to say too and take into consideration his opinions and insights about his body.  Of course, at 9 he is nowhere near old enough or responsible enough to make his own choices or sway our decisions unduly, but, just as I have spent a long time arguing my place as the expert on the subject of M because I’m his Mum, now as Mum I need to encourage him to be his own best advocate and take an active and involved role in his care.  After all, that’s a key part of my parental role.apples7

And whilst I ruminate on this latest insight into M’s development, I’m eagerly gathering ideas and recipes to incorporate apple, in all its glory, into his diet.  So far, we’ve ventured little further than apple juice, apple slices and apple pancakes, but with the help of good friends, including one whose son is just a few steps further down the food challenge road than M, and great resources such as The Recipe Resource, then apple crumble, apple crisps and apple cakes are all on our horizon.

 

Feast or famine

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There are times when recipes, just like buses and blog-posts, can be hard to find and then, just when you think you’re in for the long haul, a whole host of them appear from nowhere and flood your every waking moment.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve been desperate to find some more alternatives to plain chicken and rice to tempt M’s taste buds and it is thanks to some canny suggestions from M’s dietitian, a lovely reader and even my hairdresser that this past fortnight has seen me trialling some new inventions of my own.

or-kitchen-gf1Today’s recipe is one that might not appeal to everyone, but it has certainly been a huge hit with M:  Chicken Liver pâté.  Both G and M love pâté and when they were little, I found a quick and easy recipe and regularly used to make my own.  I’m not quite sure why it didn’t cross my mind to revisit this recipe in recent months, but thanks to a throwaway comment from our lovely dietitian about the possibility of cooking lamb’s liver and kidneys when M trials lamb, Chicken liver pâté suddenly sprang to mind. I spent a productive hour or so flitting between my computer and my recipe books, searching out traditional recipes as well as some that are dairy-free and quickly came to the conclusion that, with a clever few tweaks and variations of my own, this was definitely something I could cook up for M.

20150602_182343The base ingredients are easy to source: chicken livers, oil, rice flour, rice milk and herbs and seasonings; and I think that the recipe is easy to follow.  In my latest batch, I also added the last remaining drops of the “Rice whip” rice cream I had managed to buy months ago, which gave the pâté a creamier texture, but isn’t necessary to make a spread that everyone can enjoy. The pâté has given M another fab alternative to the monotony of his daily meals and he’s currently loving his pâté “sandwiches” (rice cakes with pâté) for lunch, instead of the dry alternative.

20150610_175428Pâté perfected, it was now time to put my second plan into action and create a M-friendly version of Beef Wellington.  Sadly at the moment for us there can be no pastry, mustard, mushrooms, crepe or indeed beef, but there is chicken, chicken liver pâté, cucumber and rice and that, I decided, was more than enough.  I carefully cut into a chicken breast and created a pocket, which I filled with thin slices of cucumber and lashings of the pâté.  I coated the filled breast with a rice crumb and then oven-baked.  M tucked into it heartily last night and devoured the lot, which was just amazing to see.  So that’s another dish to add to my repertoire, though perhaps the end result was more “Chicken Kiev“, than “Beef Wellington”, a “Chicken Wellington” you might say!

 

At the heart of the matter

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Sometimes in life you encounter a small bump in the road that makes things just a little more complicated than you were expecting; that’s something that’s true even for families already dealing with an array of medical issues.  Our most recent hurdle was completely unexpected and fortunately had a far better outcome than could have been the case.

We have long been aware that M suffers from a low heart rate and blood pressure, something that has reared its head each time he’s had to have an anaesthetic, whatever the reason. Various medics have commented on it, left him a little longer in recovery and then we’ve just got on with life as we know it, without a second thought.  Last December however, things changed and we had to face this issue head-on. During M’s GOSH stay, it quickly became clear that both his heart rate and blood pressure were a little lower than the nurses were happy with and the ward doctors, after much discussion, decided to adjust the parameters as they felt this was perhaps just his normal – I wasn’t so sure. By the time he had started experiencing dizzy spells, had ended up lying in bed with his head lowered and having his blood sugars tested to rule out hypoglycemia as the root cause, I was concerned that it was something more and determined that further investigations were necessary.

red-heart-tree

Fast forward a few months, M continued to experience dizzy spells, though fortunately he never fainted outright despite a couple of close-calls and we had a referral to a paediatric cardiologist from our GP.  M and I headed off bright and early for an 8am appointment and met the charming Dr S, who listened carefully and made copious, comprehensive notes about M’s extensive medical history before starting his examination.  He began with an ECG to examine the rhythm and electrical activity of M’s heart and then did an echocardiogram to look at its structure.  M was fascinated by the whole procedure and questioned Dr S every step of the way, not least as he was performing the echo.  What impressed me most was the calm approach this doctor adopted to my inquisitive boy.  He didn’t ignore his questions, nor did he ask him to be quiet, but instead explained each and every thing he was looking at, telling M what he could see, what each part of the heart was supposed to be doing and uttered the words that M has since repeated ad infinitum, that he has a “Waitrose-quality heart”.

However, the ECG did show a problem with the electrical impulses in M’s heart, namely that they do not start in the right place.  Dr S reassured me that this was not anything to be overly concerned about as many people live perfectly active and normal lives completely unaware they have this condition, but the complicating factor was that M had been experiencing periods of dizziness, which needed 20150415_082121examining further to determine whether any medical intervention was needed at this point.  So, we headed into 5 days of testing and poor M had to survive the permanent fixture of a portable ECG monitor for 24-hours a day as well as his feeding tube and pump.

There is no doubt about it, they were a tense 5 days, but M made his way through it with his usual indomitable spirit.  He had to push the green button every time he felt dizzy whilst the monitor was attached, so that the cardio team could examine the ECG results to see what was going on with his heart when these episodes happened. He also suffered an allergic reaction to the sensors that were stuck, day and night, to his body, and which left his torso itchy, red and raw for weeks afterward.  We experienced more beeping alarms in those 5 days than we had in a long time and I became adept at changing sensors and resetting monitors whenever and wherever necessary.  M and I were also able to find some humour in the situation and he agreed to leave further health problems for someone else to experience for the foreseeable future!

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long to review the results with Dr S and the answers were encouraging.  M has mild sinus node dysfunction and what is known as a junctional rhythm.  At the moment, he is having regular episodes of dizziness due to these problems, but as he has never fainted, they are not considered serious enough to require any treatment. There is a strong likelihood that his NG-tube is a contributing factor to these symptoms as it is known that tubes can trigger a response in the body causing his heart to slow down and so it may well be that when his tube is removed, he will become asymptomatic once again.  Dr S will see him in a couple of years to monitor what happens as he heads into puberty as this is considered a key time for potential changes to occur and in the meantime, we will keep a watchful eye to make sure our boy stays as healthy as possible.

Flatbreads and Fajitas

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It’s been quite a while since I last had a new recipe to share, but this one has become a definite favourite at home and M asked me to share photos of his “most delicious meal ever!” on my blog.  Chichen_Itza_El_CastilloWe are still stuck at 3 safe ingredients plus oils for cooking at the moment and it’s becoming more and more difficult to make rice, chicken and cucumber even remotely interesting to eat at every meal-time.  The inspiration for this new recipe came from G and her current post-SATs topic about the Mayans.  They had been looking at food in current day Mexico and she came home raving about wanting to try fajitas:

“Once M can have some more foods, then you could make him spicy chicken and find some safe wraps and then we could both try chicken fajitas.“

Her enthusiasm was catching and, as G is so often reluctant to try new flavours and ingredients, I started to wonder whether I could jump on this Mayan bandwagon and transform our staples into a version of this popular dish.  My first challenge was to find a recipe that could provide the wraps needed and stumbled across this great one for rice flour flatbread.  Deciding to not run before I could walk, I started by trying my hand at making flatbread and seeing what response it got from my discerning duo.  The recipe was easy to follow and simple enough to accommodate M’s new food needs as it just requires rice flour, water, oil and salt.  Flatbread made, I nervously served them and watched the entire plateful disappear before my eyes – an instant hit.

The original ingredients- I failed to get a photo of the finished fajita!

The original ingredients- I failed to get a photo of the finished fajita!

With the flatbread puzzle solved, it was now time to construct some M-friendly chicken fajitas for dinner.  I finely sliced some strips of cucumber, pan-fried some chicken with lots of black pepper and thyme (he’s not yet allowed to trial chilli flakes or anything spicier than green herbs) and used some of the home-made chicken liver pate I’d perfected at the weekend to add a little something extra.  He wasn’t quite sure how to put them together, so we decided on a thin spread of pate on top of the flatbread, a sprinkling of cucumber and some small pieces of chicken, before rolling the lot into a shape vaguely reminiscent of a fajita.  G added some sliced carrot and mayonnaise to hers and they both quickly scoffed the lot.  This is the first “sandwich” M has been able to enjoy in a long time and I doubt it will be the last!

NEAW 2015 – The Round-up

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Last week was a busy week.  We just about managed to pause for breath along the way and achieved far more than we thought was possible.  Having taken a couple of days off from my blog – well I thought you’d probably had more than enough of me last week – I wanted to revisit NEAW 2015 to give a round-up of all our activities:

11030831_828235363934315_6504625663623229869_oE for Educate – I appeared on local radio, there was an article in our local newspaper about NEAW and even a follow-up article this week to talk about what we did. I blogged daily and posted regular updates about our life with EGID, achieving 600 views of my blog during the week as well as numerous shares on both FB and Twitter.

D for Donate – With the help and generosity of friends, family and fellow music lovers, we raised a fantastic £260 for FABED.  Thank you so much, I know that money is going to a great cause and will make a difference to EGID families who need their support just as much as we do.

U for Unite – WE DID IT!  Mike and I survived a week “eating like M” and discovered just how difficult a challenge it is.  I was filled, yet again, with absolute awe and admiration for M’s ability to eat meal after meal after meal consisting of nothing more than chicken, rice and cucumber.  I’m also incredibly proud to be able to share with you that G also did her bit on the Friday and ate “mostly like M“, with just a little bit extra of goats cheese and fruit to keep her smiling during lunchtime at school.  It’s the first year she’s asked to join in our challenge and I’m so impressed that she managed to stick it out without a wobble.

1529734_826685834089268_6472897324569407860_oC for Change – I hope we managed to change people’s attitude to and understanding of EGID during the week.  It was great to see the hashtag #morethanfoodallergies trending across FB and Twitter because that’s the key point I wanted to communicate last week: that whilst M struggles with food, his allergies are only a very small part of a much bigger picture.

A for Awareness – We raised awareness in everything we did.  Pink ribbons adorned our clothes, pump backpacks and hair, FABED awareness bands could be spotted around our wrists and M shared his video with the world.  It has had nearly 400 hits on YouTube, which made M’s week and something that started as a small project to encourage him to communicate his feelings about his illness morphed into a fantastic tool that allowed him to actively take part in raising awareness this week.

11265424_10152776813631123_3399504883350731420_nT for Thanks – I said my thanks and expected nothing more, but received some lovely compliments back from those of you reading and sharing my blog.  I’m just a Mum trying to do the best I can for my children and not always getting it right, but it was very nice to be told that I am “…the supermummiest mummy of the lot…” especially by someone who’s not even a family member and therefore under no obligation to believe that to actually be the case!

E for Engage – It may have been the hardest blog post to write for me, but M and G proved that they could engage with their school-mates in the most impressive of ways.  M presented his video at school throughout the week and had a fantastic response.  At the end of the week, I received this lovely and completely unexpected e-mail from G’s teacher to tell me about her class’s response to what M had to say:

“M came to visit us with his presentation earlier on in the week and I was amazed, not only by the presentation, but also by his maturity and bravery.  He was just amazing and a real inspiration to us all.  G was also fantastic – helping answer some of the children’s questions and supporting M in the process.  They are both absolutely amazing – a big well done to them and your whole family.“

And that just about sums up NEAW 2015 for us, so it must be time to put our feet up for another year…well, a Mum can dream, can’t she?!feetup

NEAW 2015 – The final day

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letter_eThis has been the hardest day’s blog to write.  Inspiration has been lacking and I just couldn’t think of what to write about on the subject of “Engage“.  In an attempt to stir my creative juices, I looked again at the many daily updates, photos, videos and statistics I’ve been seeing, reading and “liking” all week, posted by many fellow EGID families on their FB pages, all in an attempt to raise awareness of the illness.  It was as I was browsing that I started to notice that many of them began, almost apologetically, with words to the effect that they were sorry to be bombarding their FB friends with these regular informational posts on the subject, but that it would be for this one week only.

superheroThat’s when it struck me.  This week, 7 days from May 17th to 23rd, I and tens of other EGID families here in the UK and across the world have been fighting hard to raise awareness of this illness that impacts our lives; and we’ve been apologising for it.  We’ve been grateful that we have been able to engage with our audience this week and we’ve almost promised to give it a rest until NEAW 2016 rolls around.  BUT the reality of EGID for us is that we don’t get that break.  We don’t get the chance to focus on it for one week only and then go back to the daily grind of school runs, workloads and running the home.  This is it.  It’s not even just a year-long commitment, but a life-long one and there’s no escape.  I can’t shut down my computer and ignore the posts. I can’t groan inwardly, grit my teeth and ride the week out, thankful that the 24th will soon be here and then breathe a huge sigh of relief that that’s it done for another year.  I don’t have that privilege.

The reason the EGID community has been trying so hard to engage with you this week is the people in our lives who struggle with this rare condition on a daily basis: our superheroes.  Their strength and courage in facing adversity is awesome and their brave smiles bring inspiration at the most difficult of times.

My reasons for engagement are summed up beautifully here by my 2 amazing children:

myfeelins familyfeelings

and with that, there really is nothing more to say.

Our thanks go to…

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The week is winding down and I am definitely looking forward to the start of half-term and the chance to have a sleep-in over the weekend.  One’s thing for certain, being active in raising awareness whilst eating a restricted diet really takes it out of you!thank-you-languages

With T for Thanks being our topic for today, what else could I do, but issue a few heart-felt thank-yous to those who’ve made a difference to us in the 12 months since the last NEAW. It’s tricky to know where to start, but, in no particular order, I’d like to thank:

Our families – well it was a given really, wasn’t it?  But whichever side of the ocean they may live, our families have been there in whatever way they can 澳大利亚孩子-1202242and supported us in the tricky decision to move M to a NG-tube and the elemental diet.   We don’t know exactly what the next 12 months hold in store for us, but we can be certain that our families will be there every step of the way.

Our friends – another obvious lot, but again we couldn’t have survived the past year without them all.  Their help has been invaluable: from text messages to lengthy phone conversations; early morning G-sitting to late night conversations with a cup of tea; and much-needed hugs to unexpected hospital mail, every single gesture has meant more than they can ever imagine and helped keep us strong.

GOSH – our consultant, her great gastro team and, in particular, the fantastic nurses who work with such dedication on Rainforest ward. Their care for M back in December was just amazing and without them looking after us both and giving wise words and training, we’d have struggled even more with the reality of the NG-tube and the feeding pump.  We also owe massive thanks to M’s fabulous dietitian, Colorful solidarity design treewho is always at the end of the phone or the email and has given me lots of helpful recommendations as well as reassuring me that I’m doing things right when it comes to the whole food re-introduction thing.

M’s School – I am very aware of just how lucky we have been with the staff at M and G’s school. They have been so understanding of how life was changing for both children during this school year and have made every effort to look after them and help them feel happy and safe when at school.  5 of the teaching staff bravely took on the role to learn how to manage his feeding pump, which meant that I could return to my job, confident that they were competent in what they needed to do.  This week they were also quick to agree to M’s request to share his presentation to the rest of the school and every teacher made time to make sure their class could see it and ask any questions they had.  This school has done a wonderful job of nurturing both my children and I will be sad when G moves on to “big school” in September.

G – the best big sister that M could ever have had.  She’s loved her little brother through some of his darkest moods and, even if there’s a bit too much squabbling at times for my liking, she’s managed to continue to work on building a strong relationship with him that I hope will only get stronger in time.  She’s survived the challenge of SATs, maybe not without the odd tantrum along the way, and continues to strive to do her best at school and at home.  P1000121And my heart nearly burst with pride the other week when she announced at Stagecoach that M is her hero, because of how bravely he lives and copes with EGID.

Mike – I couldn’t finish without recognising the person who stands alongside me on this, the most challenging of journeys we’ve been on together, and is my strength when I’m feeling weak.  We’ve reached a harmony that enables us to take turns in being the strong one during appointments and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be facing these decisions with.  He also understands my need to have some time to escape from the day-to-day grind of EGID and puts up with me disappearing off twice a week to choir rehearsals.

And thanks to all of you, who’ve kept reading my blog, put up with some…many…repeated requests on my part and have done an amazing job at sharing my posts on.  Your silent show of support is what helps keep me going, even when times are tough.