Letters to my Grandchild

On Monday Mom took the cast off - just three and a bit weeks this time.  You are giving me the heeby-jeebies crawling around and trying to stand again!  Yesterday I baby-sat while Mom had an appointment.  That is actually a bit of a misnomer, because when I 'baby-sit' I never actually sit! I push you in your pram - usually along Anthony Road all the way to High Ridge (about 45 minutes) and back, past your home to Wedgewood Crescent.  Yesterday we walked around Wedgewood and stopped to look at a lovely grey cat sunning itself behind a fence.  I called the cat and it came over.  You looked over the side of your pram and said, "Heyyo woo-woo!"  I told you that it was a Kitty and twirled my fingers next to my cheeks - the sign for kitty.  I picked the cat up to let you stroke it.  You are afraid of animals and pulled away but you touched it and pulled your hand away.  It stretched, rolled on its back and started cleaning and p...

Oh dear, Em, just when we thought you were doing so well, you fractured the right tibia. It was almost mid shaft and the fracture stopped where the Pamidronate lines are.  Its interesting to see the white lines on the x-rays, like the growth rings on a tree. (This is not a picture of your bones but it does show the Pamidronate lines). Dr Stead has put a half cast on - a back slab - which should only be on for about 4 weeks.  The cast is held on with a crepe bandage and Mom bought a whole lot of different colour self-stick bandages to put on top. Patty gave Mom money to buy you a little scooter and you loved being pushed around the garden path.  You can see your yellow bandage on this photograph. After a few days you started leopard crawling around the house, dragging your casted leg behind you!  And then, after just a week, you started trying to stand. Last Thursday - 2 1/2 weeks after the fracture - you went for a check up and an exray and it showed that t...

Hello Litle Em, You had your Pam treatment again this weekend.  It is going much better now that you are allowed out between treatments.  You were in a different ward this time, sharing with a little boy - 18 months old - who was in for chemo as he has cancer of the kidney.  It is really sad to see some of the children in Parklands and we are so grateful that you are not sick, don't have a disease or a life threatening disorder. When Mom brought you round to the house, I tied a bandage on your dolly so that you both had a bandage on your head. 

Hello little Em, It was a BIG day for you today!  You attended Day Care with your Mom this morning for two hours, just around the corner from our house.  When Gumpie and I walked the dogs we came back up Heather Road hoping to see you at 8h30 and as we turned into the road, we saw your Mom's car and Dad right behind her.  So, we were able to see you before you went into the house. Mom said that you loved it!  She said you laughed a lot and loved being with the other babies.  Your favourites were Aiden (who is very quiet) and Hannah.  It went really well and you will now go twice a week - Wednesdays and Fridays - from 08h30 to 10h30. I am SO pleased that you are going to be able to socialise with other children Em.  You were 18 monthsold on Sunday and you have never had a friend or other children to play with.  You are always with adults and, as a result, you have a wonderful vocabulary, are quite precocious (in a good way) and you are advanc...

Hello darling Em, Two weeks ago you went in to Parklands for your Pamidronate treatment - but this time it was different. Dr Roos agreed that you could go in as a day patient. The hospital made a bit of a mess with your first appointment though. When Mom and Dad took you at 8am they were told to come back at lunch time as there were no beds available for you. So they went back at 1pm but then Dr Roos was consulting and couldn't get there until after 5pm. The tube and drip only went in at around 5:30pm so you had a long first day, only getting home after 9pm. Mom says that you screamed when Dr Roos put the needle in and then started signing and saying, "No more! No more!" Poor Dr Roos was quite upset! The next two days went much better and Mark and Tam brought you around here on Saturday so that they could have a little rest. You still had the port in your head and a bandage to keep it in place but it didn't seem to bother you.  On Sunday the treatment went very smoot...

Hello my darling Emily, I am convinced that your brain is like a mainframe computer that absorbs and stores every input.  Yesterday I showed you the sign for please (clockwise rub on the chest area) and today when you came to visit you asked for a banana.  "Say please" I prompted and you immediately rubbed your chest!  You are just SO bright, so clever, so smart, so amazing!!  Tammy took you to the clinic the other day and the sister asked if you could say between 6 and 10 words.  Good grief - you had a 20 word vocabulary when you turned one and now, between words and signing, there is hardly anything you can't say:  umbrella, broom, swim, pool, cheese, juice, thank you are some fo the new words, and - you understand everything we say. You are due for your next pamidronate treatment in a couple of weeks. The months pass so quickly and it seems like last week that you were in hospital. Mark contacted Dr Roos and asked if they could take you home between...

Hello my darling! It is 2010 and you were born in 2008.  Time is flying past Em.  You are such a beautiful child - you hardly ever cry, I can push you around in the pram for 3 hours and you shout "Heyyo" to everybody and point out all the "baba - baba!"   Let me try to recap a bit on January. You learned to crawl all over the place, to pull yourself up onto your knees, to walk like a crab on all fours, to say a dozen more words and do more signs, to suck through a straw, to recognize and copy the Hadeda call and to hide things away - usually under your legs, so that when we lift you out of a chair or pram, there is a  virtual treassure trove of biscuits, cheese, fruit etc under your lap! You love water and Mom puts you in a tub on hot days, or you come and swim here in our pool. You are back at swimming lessons and have started physio with a new therapist. Your Dad was a champion South African Disabled swimmer and represented South Africa at the Paral...

You have a wonderful vocabulary for a 14 month old:   Here are some of the words you can say: Hello Bye-bye Mamma Dadda Nana (banana) Up Yellow Purple Boo (blue)      Ball Bubble Bum Moo Bow-wow Num-num Out Hat Pappa (paper) And here are some of the things you respond to: "How old are you?"  You point one finger in the air. "How much does Mommy love you?"  You throw out both arms. "How much does Daddy love you?"  You throw both arms up in the air. "Do you want more?"  You touch fingers of both hand (more sign) and say 'more'. "Do you want to eat?"  You touch your mouth (eat sign). "Clap hands" You clap your hands. "Give me a love"  You come closer and hug, "Where's my kiss?"  You give na open mouth kiss. "What does the dog say?"  Woof-woof-woof "What does the cow say?"  Mmmmmoooo "What does the Hadeda say?"  "Aaa...

      Em - you are such a cutie pie!  You love to play and interact with people.  You shout with glee everytime you see a child; you shout 'hey-yo!' when you see people at the mall or in stores; when a phone rings you shout 'hey-yo", and you are so astute that when someone talking on the phone starts closing off by saying, 'ok then, thank you...' you shout 'bye-bye' even before they say goodbye. You are a bright, clever, fun-loving cutie! 

You love water!  On Sunday at Patty's we sat outside on her lawn and I filled an old cat litter box with water for you to play with. You had such fun with the hosepipe and the water!!  Love you baby Em!

You copy everything we say - even when we try to emphasize a sound,at the beginning of a word you copy that!  I've been teaching you to say 'More' - showing you the sign for more and saying the word.  You started out by doing the sign but now you just say the word, "mmmmmmmmmmm..muh"  It sounds so funny! We took you to the animal farm at Asagay and you tried to copy the sounds the animals make.  'Gog, gog, gog, gog..." for the ducks  "puh, puh, puh" for the chickens and when you tried to make the pig sounds you just blew a rasberry!! You are afraid of animals.  I don't know why that is but you blink, pull back and clench your hand, and stick your tongue out when an animal comes near.  Even little dogs get the rasberry treatment although you did touch this little puppy when we held it up to you.  You weren't having anything to do with the pony! You actually shouted at the little black pigs when they started snuffling around o...

Hello Em, You came out of hospital today after being in 3 days for your Pamidronate treatment.  Mom and Dad took you in on Friday morning and Dr Roos put the port into a vein in your head straight away this time. Last time you went in for treatment, they did the infusion for 6 hours every three days.  This was going to be done every three months.  But, your Dad is really on the ball!  He got hold of the Protocol from Shriners Hospital in Montreal where a Dr. Glorieux pioneered the use of bisphosphonates to treat children with biophosphonates.  The protocol is to give small children (like you) smaller doses more frequently so Mark gave this to Dr Roos and now you will go in every two months and have the treatment for three hours not six hours every three days.  You screamed the place down when he put the port in - which is exactly what I would do if someone tried to push a tube into a vein in my head.  But, once the port was safely in you settled down...

Wed: 28th October 2009 Hello little Em, Your Mom and Dad took you to Entabeni Hospital where Dr Stead removed the spica cast this morning.  Tammy said it was done very quickly but you screamed when you felt the saw near you anyway - I don't blame you, I would have screamed too! Tammy brought you here and it was lovely to hold you close again without the Scotchcast.  I was a bit concerned because twice whilst you were sitting in the pram, you flinched and cried when moving your leg.  Perhaps your joints were stiff and it was sore to move the knee or hip.  I suggested to Tam that she massage your joints with baby oil just to get them pliable again.  A couple of days ago you started leopard crawling in the cast.  You turned over onto your tummy, pushed down with your elbows and pushed off with your right foot - moving forwards at quite a pace.  Your Mom said that she had even caught you trying to pulll yourself up onto your little armchair in the ...