September 2, 2007

Hello everyone, apologies for the delay in another posting, but things have been rather worrying of late. My dad, Charlie's Grandpa, fell over a week ago and banged his head in the process. The paramedics were called out at the time, and told my mum that he had a concussion. However, as the week went on, he became more and more poorly - very sleepy and sick. On Wednesday, he was taken to hospital by ambulance and has been diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage, which has caused a blockage. As yet the doctors are unsure whether he had the haemorrhage and fell as a result, or whether the bleed was caused by the fall. The pressure inside his head is too high, which in turn is making him very sleepy, and confused at times, so the doctors have put a drain in his back to drain off the fluid which is causing the pressure. When the drain works well he is much more lively and alert, but when it is clamped, he quickly reverts to his sleepy state. As yet we don't know what the plan is - the doctors are waiting until after the weekend, and will see if he is still dependent on the drain to keep the pressure in his head down. If he remains unable to regulate the pressure in his head by himself, they will need to insert a permanent shunt.
It goes without saying that we are all terribly worried about dad. He is a really fit, active, healthy man - which seems to be standing him in good stead. At the moment we are just playing the waiting game, seeing what happens next, and dealing with the situations as they arrive.
Charlie absolutely dotes on his Grandpa and is really worried about him. He has been allowed to visit a couple of times (although children under five aren't normally allowed) which really gave my dad a boost. Charlie's theory as to how the accident happened in the first place is that Nanny left a banana skin on the floor and Grandpa slipped on it, which gave all the nurses a bit of a laugh!
Other than everything else that's happening at the moment, Charlie is doing really well, and is looking forward to going back to playschool in a week or so.
We'd really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for my dad - and my mum too, who is understandably really worried. Thanks.