Back to the West Country

Ellen had her first visit back to Bristol last week for a 5-month post transplant check-up. All went well and the bone marrow transplant team at Bristol Children's Hospital were pleased with her progress. They have reduced the number of medicines she has to take to just a couple now, and the main issues are continuing to try and get her to eat enough and to stay away from winter illnesses. We took the opportunity to make a long weekend of it, catching up with family and friends, which included a trip to Longleat (as shown in the photo) and a very well earned swim! A much needed, but still exhausting, break for us all.

It is OUT

Ellen's Hickman Line came out today. This involved a general anaesthetic and a ten minute operation to pull/cut it out. She is now doing fine and is very pleased. Her nose tube is also out - this was a far less planned event as George pulled it out by mistake during a sibling tussle! We hope to be swimming by the end of next week.....

Doing OK

Ellen is still doing well. She started home tuition this week which is a very welcome addition to her weekly routine. Provided Ellen's blood results are OK tomorrow we are hoping that her Hickman line will be removed in the next few weeks. She is so excited at the thought of being able to go swimming. Here's hoping all goes to plan ....