Things are settling

William is doing very well up in Birmingham. For some reason, his new bowel is moving a fair bit faster now than it was in the first few weeks after his transplant. This could be due to whatever bug or virus caused his pneumonia or any number of reasons I guess. We have been increasing the medication to slow it down and it looks like it has worked, fingers crossed!

Despite his bowel having been a little bit naughty, it has been absorbing enough glucose to send William's blood sugars up a bit too high. After two weeks of waiting for them to settle, we finally started on a tiny dose of slow release insulin this morning. It seems to have worked. His sugars were similar to yesterday all day but the last one an hour or so ago was 5 - spot on! We just need to wait a day or two while the insulin settles down with his own system as he is still producing insulin and just needs a little helping hand. It is rather tricky to inject insulin into a wriggling and protesing child. I wimped out today, opting to hold him on my knee while the diabetes nurse injected him. I will try again tomorrow and am planning to work his injection time to early morning so I can give it before he wakes up.

Once we are sure the insulin dose is OK, that his stoma output has settled and his tacrilimus (anti-rejection drug) levels are stable we will be able to go home. This could be the end of the week or start of next. William is as well as he has ever been and desperate to get home. He is playful and chatty to the staff and they are finally seeing the William we all know and love. He is being a bit too playful and has only just fallen asleep (it is 11 pm)! It was so lovely to see at first that I was a bit slack in clamping down on bed time. I have nowhere to go in the evening either so am here, preventing him from sleeping so I am sure he will settle back at home and in his own roo,.

I am at least as desperate as he is to be back in my own home and in control of life again and the girls are getting to the stage when they really do need to be back with their Mum and their friends. I am so looking forward to being able to be Mum to all my children. It is so hard having to try and sort out their growing pains and sooth away colds and upsets over the phone! I am hoping that we will be settling down as a family again by Saturday week. I have lovely visions of Wills in bed and enjoying a take away and a teeny chick flick with Hope and Ellie, in our PJs and enjoying some much needed girly bonding!