Merry Christmas

Hello Everyone,

Merry Christmas. I have had a fantastic day. I have spent all day with my family having plenty of fun and Father Christmas brought me loads of presents. I am now watching Despicable Me 2 and looking forward to a second Christmas with my cousins tomorrow.

Have a happy new year.

Love From

Ellen

We are home

Ellen is HOME! The endoscopy failed to show a point of bleeding. This is bad news in terms of finding a definite cause but good news as it suggests that whatever was bleeding has settled. The most likely explanation is that the bleeding was from the veins in her tummy caused by damage to Ellen's liver during her previous treatment. We are keeping everything crossed that she does not bleed again and that she can enjoy christmas without anymore hospital visits. She will have another endoscopy at Kings in 2 months to check everything is OK.

Tomato Soup

I have finally been able to eat something. My operation went ok (even though it was late again because the machine was broken). They took some pictures of the inside of my tummy which looked yuk but the doctor said it was supposed to look like that and it was ok. I have had some tomato soup and now trying to get the doctors to let me have some yoghurt. I hope to go home tomorrow. Thank you for all the messages and cards. Love from Ellen

Still waiting...

After a four hour journey to Kings in London, Ellen waited all day yesterday for her endoscopy. She had been placed on the 'emergency list' so she had to wait for a slot between any other emergency that needed an operation across the hospital or who walked in through A and E! A slot was eventually found at 20:00, all the preparations were made and then they found out they didn't have the right equipment available! Ellen was quite keen to bop the doctors on the head by the end of the day. We eventually went to sleep late last night and are hoping to go to theatre this morning. We wont hold our breath. Ellen has not eaten anything since monday morning!!!!!!!

In Hospital

Dear Y1/2 G,

I am in hospital. I had a bit of bleeding from my tummy. I am now waiting to go and see the Doctors at King's College Hospital, London. Miss Di Nucci and Miss Wakeland are coming to see me today. I hope the school play goes well and to see you all soon.

Love from

Ellen

P.S. You can send me messages by 'commenting', I would love to hear from you.

Bumpy summer

Ellen has had a bit of a 'bumpy summer'. Since April she has had to have blood taken every week to reduce the iron levels in her body caused by all the blood transfusions over the past few years. This has been a bit of a hassle but Ellen has otherwise been really well.

In August, however, whilst at her school holiday club, Ellen vomited a large amount of blood. She was 'blue lighted' to Addenbrookes Hospital and, after a few blood transfusions, on to Kings College Hospital in London. She had an endoscopy which showed an ulcer in her small bowel and veins on her oesophagus. This is because of the damage done to her liver during her previous treatment. This all settled relatively quickly but Ellen has had to have two further endocopies/operations since then to try and remove these veins. The last endoscopy was two weeks ago. This procedure went well but yesterday morning, whilst preparing for the school run, Ellen again vomited a huge amount of blood. She was (again!) 'blue lighted' to Addenbrookes A&E where she was very poorly due to the amount of blood she had lost. Thankfully she is now much better and we are waiting for a bed to become available at Kings so she can have another endoscopy.

Because of all this we have decided to start blogging again so everyone can keep updated with Ellen's progress. Ellen too is keen to keep in touch with her friends so will be intermittently writing letters to you all .........she would love to hear back from you!!