» Doctors, Nurses, Dentists and Hospitals

If my kid was a car...
.. he'd fail his MOT.

When little Mini was born at 34 weeks and managed to avoid SCBU or any major health problems I counted my lucky stars and thought I'd dodged a major bullet. A healthy prem kid. Result! Hah! No chance. His health problems just lay dorment for a few months. So far we've dealt with: reflux, excema, squints, suspected retinal cancer (that came to nothing thank goodness), asthma, allergies and a delightful bowel disorder which still has me cleaning shitty pants 2 or 3 times a day. I know other people live with much much worse but it's been really tough for us, and it's been heartbreaking to see Mini get so self conscious about his poop problem.

However what has made dealing with all of this easier is the wonderful help of NHS staff. From the wonderful friendly receptionists at our local GPs who always recognise my voice and ask after him (especially the lovely lady who called the ambulance for me when I went into labour at 30 weeks in the surgery waiting room!!), to the nurse who phones us once a month for an in depth discussion of the state of Mini's turds to the lovely consultant dermatologist who listened to my ramblings about Mini's excema and the triggers. Every single one of them has been an absolute star and helped us all deal with these complications. It's been wonderful to meet health professionals who talk to my child, and explain his treatment to him, and especially the paediatric nurses who have helped him conquer his self consciousness about his turd-troubles. It can't be fun being a 5 year old who knows he shouldn't be messing his pants at his age, but they've helped him realise it's not his fault.

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to the lovely (and really rather sexy) dentist who took Mini's tooth out. At 18 months Mini chipped one of his front teeth. After 3 years it went all manky (that's a medical term dontcha know), had an abcess and needed whipping out. There wasn't a single tear from my little trooper because of the excellent manner of our dentist.

So yeah, apologies for lack of funnies. I just wanted to say I know how fortunate I am to have such a brilliant team of health professionals to support me and my family. I wouldn't be nearly as good a mummy as I am now without their help, and I'll always be grateful to them.
(Sat 13th Mar 2010, 14:30, More)