The Tovington Post

We have not used a syringe to give Tova a drink for over a week, it could even be a couple of weeks!

She drinks from a cup now. Not by her self yet, but she is trying!

It is quite a fabulous change, it is much less stressful in public giving Tova a drink from a cup rather than a massive syringe. It feels good!

I haven't been able to throw the syringes out, perhaps later today? It is going to be fantastic to get rid of them and look forward to all the good things yet to come!

Clever Tova!

Nissim is doing so well with toilet training. It has been hard, but quick. He is very good at pipi in the toilet (or on the trees). He will initiate it him self, we don't have to keep asking him (I do ask him every so often just in case). Even when he was having quiet time watching TV, he came running down to my bathroom and went to the toilet, he is such a smart little man. Now we just have to work on him doing caca in the toilet. He is at creche today, I know he will need to do a poo today! I wonder what will happen! haha.. I told him that he can tell the teachers to let him call me and Aba if he does a caca in the toilet!

It was an incredibly quick two years ago today that I took Tova's PEG tube out!

Tova still eats puree and soft lumpy foods and I have to feed her. She is mostly drinking from a cup (not a syringe) and is very interested in self feeding.

She has started to want to put food such as banana and rice crackers on her mouth, but she doesn't chew. She puts it in her mouth, and lets it fall out! That is still a very good step in the right direction for her!

Also, Today was Nissims first day of going to the toilet all by him self, with out being asked. We are very proud! He now only wears undies in the day and refuses to wear a day time nappy! Clever boy!

Goodness me!

A few days ago Tova had the grommets done. No cancellation this time as it had been about 3 weeks since Tova's last admission to hospital for being sick. I think if it had been any less they wouldn't have done it.

This was our first experience in Casey hospital and our first time going public for Grommets! Wow, what a difference.

Public seem to have so much more time and compassion. They were amazing, all of them. I loath the part where I hold Tova while they put her to sleep, every time I have done it I have said to myself "never again, Yuval is doing it next time, I can't handle it", yet for some reason I do it again (actually Yuval did it always for the first few years). Well gosh, I had an anesthetist nurse holding me while I was holding Tova, there were about 4 or 5 medical people standing around me sitting on a chair and they were all supporting me with kind words and helpful information such as "she will jolt a little as she is falling asleep, but that is normal, don't worry, Tova is fine, she is happily asleep" and things like that.

Then they called me right away even before Tova was awake in the recovery area and didn't mind when I put Tova back on her bed the wrong way around, they just followed my lead because they knew that I know what is best for Tova! It was really something else! Tova recovered better than she has from any other anesthetic in the past. She was hardly sad and signed for a drink pretty soon after getting back up to the ward.

We were home just after lunch time! Tova was a bit sleepy and did have a long afternoon sleep and again went to be at bed time till the morning. She is completely recovered now.

She started creche today. I didn't think it would bother me, but I feel a bit anxious today. I know it will pass quickly and I will just drop her off and run soon!

Nissim is toilet trained almost completely now. It took about 4 days! Unbelievable. He is so clever. He kept refusing for almost this entire year. But I stayed home for 4 days and did nothing but toilet train! He loves undies now! Still night nappies because he loves his bottle at bed time! No worries!

We made it to Mullum and back with NO ADMISSIONS to any hospital

Before we left I gave the Mullumbimby hospital a call (I think it has 15 beds). I wanted to check if they had everything that Tova might need if she got Croup while we were up there. Aunty Liora lives directly across the road from it, so I wasn't worried about how long it would take to get the the hospital, just if they could care for some small like Tova. They said they had everything we may need. We didn't need them! Excellent!

It was a good trip, too short, but really nice to see everyone. Nissim and Lev got on so well. They are great cousins. Nissim is also absolutely obsessed with the eldest of the cousins Edden. Edden didn't mind all the attention because he is a magnificent young man!

We were in Mullum for Edden's Bar Mitvah! The ceremony was in the Gold Coast Shull and then on Sunday he had a big party in Mullum. Both events were fantastic! He is the first of the cousins to have his barmy, the first of many. He did so well it was hard to hold back proud and emotional tears in shull. It also scared me a little that we are going to watch Nissim do the same thing in about 10 years!

The plane was even easier this time because Yuval was with us. The kids sat with him while I mostly played scrabble on the ipad. Yuval also got a fair amount of bejewled in too! Our babies are great flyers!

In Mullum we discovered that we don't need a high chair to feed Tova in, she ate every meal in a regular chair like a big girl. It was great. At home the high chair is easy, but now that we know we can sit her in a 'normal' chair, we will be able to feed her when we are out and about and have no pram nor high chair!

Tova ate well while we were away, she didn't eat anything particularly great, mostly supermarket purchased food because it was so convenient. However, for some reason she gained weight, and is now 10.9kg!

We are back home now and routine is starting to comfort us all.

We are visiting Tassi.

The flight over was pretty easy, the kids were annoyed when the flight attendant told us to turn the ipad off for landing, but we sang and managed.

The Taste of Tassi is incredible. Everyone is happy and friendly, the weather is warm to hot and the food is delicious. The taste is on the docs surrounded by all the Sydney to Hobart Yachts, the buzz in the air is magical. At this time of year, Tassi is like a tropical paradise.

I have dragged the kids around through Salamanca, friends houses and everywhere in between. We had plans to visit my friend Fiona down in the Huon Valley on Monday but Monday morning at about 1.30, Tova woke me up with her noisy breathing.

Sarah (my sister) came over at about 2.30am (her daughter was staying at her grandmothers for the night, making Sarah 'available') and Dad and I drove down the the Royal Hobart Hospital. I told the Triage lady the usual panic "x24 weeker, chronic lung, labored breathing, multiple admissions for respiratory issues including into ICU and she crashes quickly". The lady told me to take a seat. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. But Tova wasn't at her worst so we sat. I had a look around the waiting area and noticed a man in a chair with a blanket and a drip in his arm. I was astonished, as to me it seem really unreasonable to leave  a person in the waiting area with a drip in. After about half an hour, it could have been an hour, the man with the drip and his friend ripped the drip out, threw the drip pole with the attached drip up to the triage window while shouting "the treatment here is disgraceful?" and walked out, I totally agree with him!

Tova crashed quickly and finally they noticed! 5 people surrounded us and sped us off to the resus area where they gave Tova adrenalin and monitored her. Idiots, I told them she crashed quickly, they didn't even listen to her with a stethoscope when we arrived. I can't believe the way Tova was treated. We went down to the ER kids bit, which had plenty of empty beds, so I am still confused why they made us wait. They shouldn't have!

Anyway, I didn't be rude, I did however mention that it was wrong that we were made to wait until the moment after Tova crashed. Everyone in the Hobart Hospital was friendly to me and Tova. It is much nicer than Monash. Monash is so tired and grotty.

When we got to the ward we were given a single room because their policy is that if a patient has been in another hospital with in a month they must be put in isolation. Nice! The room was big and bright with a view of Hobart including a bit of the water front.. Parents get treated much better there too. They even provide breakfast for the parent that stayed the night, oh and meals for one parent.

Tova was quite well by now but we had to stay over night because of Tova's history. The nurses really didn't have much to do with Tova yet they kept coming in every hour or so to ask if there was anything we needed, (food, toys, books, drinks etc) Monash don't do that. Hobart has a much better quality of service. Everyone was friendly.

I was pretty tired after only 2 hours sleep and fell asleep on Monday night at about 9.30pm. It wasn't the worst sleep in the world, but not the best either. I woke a few times in the night and Tova stirred a few times. We both woke at about 7.30am..

Rick (my brother) and his family arrived on Monday night and are staying at Dad's too. So when Tova and I got back to Dads on Tuesday morning everyone was there waiting. Everyone except Nissim, who had stayed at my sisters on Monday night. He was a good boy and didn't mind waking up to Sarah in my bed and spending the day with Dad and Sarah. He had dinner with Lilly and Sarah and Sarah's mums and then slept in Sarah;s bed with Lilly and Sarah. He came back to Dads before lunch time and was so excited to see all the people at Dads house. The kids all had such a wonderful day playing in the sun/shade.

I have lots of photos and will put some up when I get back to Melbourne or find some time before.

You can bugger off now croup! We are so very sick of you