Well it’s been a while between posts. Life has been hectic as usual. Its been 4 weeks since Veronika became very unwell and had 5 days in hospital, and now 4 weeks later Veronika has returned to health. She is back to her cheeky self, drinking well, and eating. She isn’t eating a lot, but she never really does anyway, this is a ongoing battle! I still continue to be amazed daily at Veronika’s determination…she rocks my world. Respiratory infections always take their toll on her little body, she lost a kilo over the week she was really unwell, she really didn’t have a kilo to loose, so its been an uphill battle to get her back to health, but we are getting there slowly. A week after coming home we were back at our GP to get a script for antibiotics as she wasn’t getting any better and her chest was becoming more “rattly”. So 10 days of antibiotics later she was starting to improve and another week later we are there.

It has been a kind of surreal journey since Veronika’s hospital admission. When I am asked why she was in hospital the answer is “just pneumonia”. I usually get a shocked reaction from people, “what do you mean just pneumonia”. I guess thinking back to when I was growing up, I always remember pneumonia as being a really serious medical condition, yes I know it was then and yes it is today. But I guess there are so many other people out there going thru much worse medical “conditions”. Yes I was really worried as she deteriorated so fast as she does, but the Doctors in Emergency are great. I still have a little chuckle when I think about when we were taken into resus from the back of the ambulance, and the Doctor that was on, got a quick medical history from me as he was assessing Veronika. She was obviously dehydrated, and when he asked “how do we usually rehydrate Veronika, with a NG tube or a drip?” and my answer was “last time you did an IO”(when they drill straight into the shin bone to put the drip into the marrow in the bone, and yes there is no time for an anaesthetic, not something I ever want my daughter to go through again), he quickly looked for veins to get a drip in ASAP as they obviously didn’t want to have to do an IO again.

But once Veronika was stable, she was re hydrated, it was just a matter of waiting for the respiratory infection to clear enough so she could drink and eat again. I guess the amount of time I have spent in hospital with Veronika since her birth, I have seen and talked to a lot of parents that have really significant battles to help their children fight. Yes Veronika does have severe multiple disabilities, but at the end of the day, they aren’t terminal. Yes her life expectancy is reduced because of her disabilities, but she still has to opportunity to live a long, happy life(at least this is what I pray for).

Veronika has taught me so much over the last 3+ years. I still remember the day like it was yesterday, that my Obstetrician noticed the bleed in her brain. He had no idea at that point what caused it(still we don’t know), or what it would mean for her down the track, or even if she would survive her birth. BUT she did, and I Thank God she did.

I was talking with a close friend this week about remember how you always used to say “I cant remember what I used to do with all my time before I had children”. Something that I think every parent says at some point. Well I have changed that to “I cant remember what I used to do with all my time before I had a child with extra needs” I wouldn’t change Veronika for the world. She continues to teach me things about myself all the time…..and for that I am grateful.