We've been home a week and it is a month since Tom was admitted. It's an obvious time to pause and reflect but I'm way too tired.
Just as Tom seemed to be settling into some sort of 'normality' at home his temperature soars and we rush back to A&E at 4am on Sunday morning. Everyone is very understanding - there is no patronising of parental 'victims' of meningitis. The virus that it turns out to be is not serious and very common - this is what you get from hanging around hospitals too long.
So we're managing a 'normal' illness now - the kind that all toddlers get. Through all of it the determined little bugger continues to make progress and leaves us in awe. We turned round and found him climbing into his high chair this evening even though he can't manage more than a couple of faltering steps or the 'transitions' from lying to sitting and on to standing.
We have now embarked on the testing and analysis of the extent of Tom's hearing loss with appointments rapidly filling the weeks ahead. Post-meningitic cases are analysed pretty quickly because of the ossification of the cochlea that occurs in something like 80% of cases. We have the fitting of the acoustic hearing aids coming up followed closely by another MRI, an ERA (Evoked Response something or other) and other meetings to follow. Having watched a balloon burst inches from Tom's head without causing a reaction, we don't hold out much hope for the acoustic hearing aids and, assuming suitability, we anticipate that this is the start of the journey to a cochlear implant.
No comments:
Post a Comment