June 22, 2010

Charlie stayed home from school today - we had a VERY busy day yesterday (!) and I thought it best that he had a day to get used to managing with his cast on.
Needless to say, he had lots of fun pottering around - I think he enjoyed having a sick day off school when he wasn't actually feeling unwell!
Oh - and an added bonus of Charlie being off school today was that he missed 'Dress up as your favourite sports star or healthy hero day'. What a shame - I was looking forward to cobbling together a costume for him. Not. :-)
His arm is feeling pretty ok, it seems. He said his fingers were sore this morning, but the cast isn't tight, they aren't swollen or discoloured and he can move them with no problem, so I think it's more a case of the end of the cast stopping him from moving his knuckles properly, rather than it being too tight. I'm keeping an eye on it though - the 'Plaster of Paris Care' leaflet the hospital gave us is in pride of place on the fridge.
Makes a nice change from the 'Caring for your child after general anaesthetic/cardiac catheter/open-heart surgery/pacemaker insertion' leaflets that are normally more our style!
He's not too keen on wearing his sling, but we've been told he should wear it all the time, apart from when he's sitting down resting his arm on something, or in bed. I had a brainwave though, and swapped the safety pin for a couple of Dalek badges, so he's a bit happier with it now.
We've realised that he'll most likely still be in plaster when we go to EuroDisney, so hopefully it won't have too much of an impact. I had a look on the website, and there do seem to be quite a few warnings about going on rides with 'orthopaedic devices', but I'm not sure if a plaster cast counts as a device... I think we'll just have to get him a baggy top with very long sleeves to cover it up!
I'll also have to let the holiday insurance people know - it's hard enough to get cover for a child like Charlie - pacemakers and missing ventricles tend to start alarms ringing on underwriters' computers. But having negotiated a good deal (from Tesco - just in case any other heart mums are in need of travel insurance!) I'm now dreading ringing them - just in case a broken arm in addition to everything else stops them from covering him - or makes them whack another couple of hundred pounds on the premium.
That's about it for now, I think - all being well, Charlie will be back at school tomorrow, although he's not allowed to play outside or do PE for the time being. I'm not sure if this will change once he has his proper cast on, but I'm guessing he won't be doing any more PE this term.
The other bit of good news, is that Charlie had his INR test this morning - it has been three weeks since his last test, and his INR is still sitting beautifully stable at 2.3. We don't have to test him for FOUR weeks now, which is great. I can't remember if I mentioned before, but we ordered Charlie a MedicAlert wristband, which he wears all the time now. It's a sporty red velcro wristband so he likes it, and it's reassuring to know that any medical personnel have got immediate access to all the information they'd need in case of an emergency.
I'm still basking in the knowledge that his heart rate is wonderfully normal - it was so lovely going to bed last night without checking his heart rate two or three times first. All of a sudden, it feels like we've been given our future back. I know that sounds very overdramatic, but that is exactly how we feel.
Pete's off to Birmingham at the crack of dawn tomorrow for a meeting. All very important work stuff, of course... but don't you think it's mightily convenient that his bosses have arranged the meeting in an office adjacent to a sports bar, in which they just happen to have booked a room around the time of the kick-off of the England match...?