I cannot begin to do justice to the joy the news today brought, but I will try anyway. It started as a wave of relief swelling up from the tips of my fingers and toes, built along my arms and legs into and through my stomach to arrive at my head making me tingle with sheer joy and nearly knocking me off my feet. A sub-concious and momentous body event out of my control and pure, pure pleasure.
Better than sex?... I hear your minds wandering and the answer is up there alongside certainly!!
Charles was given a thorough set of tests today at Worthing Hospital to assess his all round well being and look for areas he might now be showing weakness.
He was given a better than all-clear and for the first time the Consultant used words like 'Good Chance' and 'Normality' and 'long-term' all in one sentence.
After Charles smiles and laughter I have set my next goal for Charles to attend school and that now looks probable rather than possible.
Who knows what the next four years will tell and he is certainly showing every sign of putting his shaky start behind him.
He is 14lb 3oz and on the average growth curve.
He is sleeping 5-6 hours at night.
He is grasping objects in front of him.
He tracks things with his eyes then head.
He can balance himself sitting up (with a little help).
He recognises voices and faces.
He is starting to natter, making all sorts of noises to himself in play
He has found his feet and enjoys hand-foot contact or being tickled
He is controlling his pooh to certain times of day
He is getting muscles and controls his strength with dexterity when holding your hand or letting go
He loves play and enjoys most sound games face-to-face or 'pretend falling' when sitting on your knees. Great fun and one of my earliest childhood memories.
I simply can not believe he is so good and I keep expecting to wake up from this good dream!!
Dare I start to think there may not be bad news?
...well there is bad news and it came in the form of the two stars of Ashington Liz and Suzanne of the First Responders chatting to me and Emily last week.
They came to deliver a lovely blanket as a gift for the baby they helped to save on Feb 9th this year.
It turns out that they broke the rules by attending Charles birth and the rules are so important that those two individuals are suffering because of the life they gave to Charles.
Since then I have turned my prayers from Charles to the organisations that manage our emergency services. Let God help them see that legal protection from man's Earthly prosecutions is killing our fellow human beings and set to kill more. We must all pray that there is some person out there who can see a way to protect those with skills to save lives. Someone who can give some automatic protection to those who try so that fear of not having the right paperwork to hand is not their first consideration when the situation arises.
I am sure that anyone out there having a problem that is not on the list of 'approved skills' of the person next to them would agree to an automatic waiver of the right to prosecute if they pass the test of 'Have been trained and have some certificate to administer some form of general First Aid'. At such times the only permission needed is the person agreeing to be treated and if they are not concious then even that should not be a requirement. In all situations a person with some training trying to save you is far better than none.
Some legal bod might produce a card like the organ donor card that says "I have signed up to be treated in an emergency and have waived my right to prosecute the person giving treatment if their skills or judgement in the area needed were not as good as was required." Something that protects the good citizen from the adverse outcome of their efforts being turned into a means to make money.
Dear Liz and Suzanne
Take this letter as my personal unreserved public thanks for saving my baby's life on 9th Feb 2007.
Without you - Liz - Charles would surely be severely handicapped or dead.
Without you - Suzanne - I would surely have stayed at home convinced he was dead and there was no hope. You gave me hope and inspiration to believe he might get through it all.
It was without doubt the right thing to do in your roles with your skills even at that early stage of your knowledge/training in this area.
Please pass this on to your managers and colleagues to help them see the need to be unshackled from rules that take or endanger the lives you are set up to save.
Regards
Neville
I would go on to say this is not the first time I have seen the rules being used to bad effect and perhaps even 'bullying' in the caring profession. When two junior doctors tried all 16 points to take a blood sample from Emily in one session, and with the wrong size needle, the Consultant was more concerned about punishing them and protecting herself from prosecution than about telling me her procedures to stop it happening again. At Great Ormond St Hospital, another patient (5yrs old) took Emily out of her cot and nursed her on the floor for 30mins before they noticed. The paperwork took hours to complete, but no mention was ever made of how they might prevent it happening again or respond quicker, but, we were told, the nurse on duty was "severely reprimanded" and might be suspended. In any other business we call it witch-hunting when we focus on the person not following the rules or making a mistake and use it to beat them with.
That approach is Victorian, out of the Dark Ages, uncaring and illadvised.
The emphasis has to be on the system, the processes and making the system better at doing it's job supporting human beings, not 'having a go' at the individuals who are trying their best to deliver the service.
To end on a high:
The money for the Paeds kits is raised - hooray!
Liz and Suzanne do their advanced midwifery training next month.
Go Guys you are brilliant.
I am proud to have two extra people Charles can call 'Nan' in Ashington and trust with his life. |