Seeing as I am trying to play catch-up, I thought I had better make another post.
About 2 weeks after we got here, Alice decided to be unwell! She woke up with tummy pains and then threw up, and threw up, and threw up, and threw up - you get the picture!! She didn't have a fever, but was in quite a lot of pain and wasn't well at all :( I really didn't know what to do! Alessandro suggested we took her to the hospital, but I didn't think it really needed that! I just wasn't sure that it was that serious. But, by the end of the day, I told him that he needed to make the decision as I do worry about being over-protective of my kids and panicking too much!!! He said that he thought it would be best, so off we went. We just thought that they would give her an anti-sickness tablet and we would go home - wrong!!! The other kids were fantastic and were happy to stay at home with Alessandro's Mum
At the hospital, they were very thorough. They took blood and urine samples, in between Alice throwing up (still!!!). They asked us how many times she had been sick, but we had lost count by then! By this time, she also had a very high fever and was not well at all. The staff were fantastic. Our nurse was wonderful and explained to Alice (in excellent English) everything that she was going to do when she took her blood as I had told her that Allie was phobic of blood and needles! She kept us updated regularly on how long the blood test results would be and making sure that we were all ok. Alessandro was a star too - I really don't know how I would have coped if he hadn't been there. I was getting really worried by this point and he was a great calming influence! Being in a hospital is bad enough, but being in one where you don't speak the language is evn harder, but all of the staff spoke English, and even those who weren't very confident made a fantastic effort for us.
After about 2 hours, the doctor came in. He had obviously learnt his English from an American as he had a very strong accent! Alice's blood test results had shown high white blood cell count, so she was trying to fight some kind of infection, but they weren't sure what as the tests they ahd done were negative. When he started touching ehr stmach and asking which side the pain started, I was getting worried as I knew he was checking for appendicitis, but fortunately, he said he didn't think that was it. But, they wanted to keep her in overnight to make sure it wasn't anything serious!
I had to ring Emily and Lucie to tell them and was really worried that Lucie would be upset about me staying in with Alice, but she was a star! I was so impressed with how grown up she was! So, once we were shown to our room on the children's ward, and we were settled in, Alessandro went home. He did offer to stay because he spoke Swedish, but we were fine with the staff making an effort. The nurse did come in to try to set up a drip, but they couldn't get a needle in Alice, so they gave up (not sure who she gets that issue from! lol!!)
Alice threw up again a couple more times in the night, but seemed a bit brighter in the morning, so they let her eat a sandwich and yoghurt for breakfast before sending us home. She only ate few mouthfuls, but at least she kept it down!
I have to say how impressed I was with the Swedish hospital. They kept us informed every step of the way, coming in to check we were a ok, and once they decided we were going home, there was no hanging around, they were very very efficient. I don't like having to stay in hospital, but as far as hospital stays go, it was good.
Alice took a long time to recover and to get her appetite back. I don't think she ate a full meal for about 10 days, but she is fortunately better now, and back to her old self!
She will kill me for doing this, but here is a LO I did of her in hospital eating her breakfast!
Here are a few more - nothing to do with Alice's stay in hospital though!!
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