Trying to keep my head, when all around me are losing theirs.....

Daisy had another hospital stay this week, another surgery, another anaesthetic.  She had to have her Hickman line (the central line tunnelled into a main vein which rests near her heart) removed and a new one place in a new vein as the old one had been repaired once and was at risk of breaking and also was colonised with bugs which we were just about keeping under control but which could have caused sepsis at any time.

I'm losing count but by my reckoning that's 9 central lines she has had in her life (with the scars of insertions and removals crisscrossing her chest and neck to prove it) and close on 60 anaesthetics for various surgeries and procedure.....more than the majority of the human population will experience in their lifetime.

The right to be heard

Article 12 (Respect for the views of the child): When adults are making decisions that affect children, children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account. (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)



Daisy is constantly telling us about what is going on in her life, asking us to read books, singing, asking questions...she never stops.  Her mind is on the go all the time with all the things she experiences during the day at school, at home and out and about.  Yet Daisy doesn't speak - over the past few months she has been vocalising more and more and she clearly uses more and more words but for Daisy her main form of communication is through signing.  Her hands never stop, even in her sleep.  And when she is tired or unwell and cannot find the strength to vocalise her hands tell us what she needs.

This was a very early lesson we learned with Daisy - communication is not about speaking,  just because she cannot speak, does not mean she cannot communicate with us.  And it also does not mean that she should be denied the opportunity to voice her own opinion.