Today ...

Picked Alyssa up from her dad's house this morning to find her arm was all swollen, and seeping large amounts of serous fluid. Redressed it and took her to the family centre so she could play, because we've missed the last 2 weeks due to her being ill ... and phoned the hospital from there to see if Alyssa's arm could be assessed. Was told to take her up this afternoon when we were ready.

While at the family centre; the girls looking after Alyssa and the other children, got lunch ready and offered her scampi and chips. She did really well and took a few bites of scampi ... and then I realised that her mouth was bleeding. After a quick check to make sure she hadn't stabbed the inside of her mouth with her fork (she does that occasionally, because she jabs it in and doesn't feel it hitting the back of her mouth!) .. realised it was - unsurprisingly - her teeth chewing the inside of her cheek. She'd chewed her inner cheek surface by accident, while chewing the scampi. Had yet another feeling of deja vu, and got her ready to go home. Phoned and left a message for the dentist at the paediatric hospital and put Alyssa down for a much-needed nap. Being at the family centre and playing (or anywhere and playing) exhausts her very quickly and she needs to sleep for 3 hours most afternoons.

Dentist phoned and we debated the options - bearing in mind that we have LITERALLY just booked a long weekend to Blackpool (because things were going relatively well ... and we left it as last-minute as possible!) so we leave first thing Friday morning and I'm so scared she'll start biting her tongue once we get down there, and are in a hospital where no-one knows Alyssa, or her history! AND that Alyssa is going in to the paediatric hospital next week!!! After a lot of deliberating and the dentist going off to check with the dental consultant, we had to just agree to leave the situation still as a "gauge each day" scenario and take it as it comes. We shall hope (yet again!) that this was "another accident" caused by her chewing on her dinner and she suggested that I just offer Alyssa softer food from now until we come back on Monday. You'd think something like Friday to Monday would be the easiest thing in the world to achieve ... but not in the world of Alyssa! Obviously, if there is any worse damage overnight tonight or first thing in the morning, then I've just to starve her and phone them back - and she'll go in for an emergency GA tomorrow ... but the dentist herself won't be there, and I'd prefer her to be there for it as she's been present for all but the emergency incisor removal and tongue repair.

Got Alyssa up from her nap to discover - to my horror - that she hadn't slept as long as she should have (we were at mums' and not in her own bed) and she'd been at her arm again!! Took her downstairs where my mum and sister were shocked to see the amount of blood running down her arm. The swelling had gone down, because of the amount of fluid she'd drained from it while scratching at it. Cleaned her up and set off for the childrens ward. Spent the afternoon having her arm assessed by one of the nurses. We did wait for a doctor for a while, but the nurse ended up deciding that her arm needed to be dressed and that we couldn't wait any longer for the doctors to be free. She was really worried about Alyssa's - extensively burned - arm being exposed for the length of time we'd already waited, and didn't want it to become infected. So she dressed it as she would a "scalding injury" (which is essentially what it is - except it's been burned by friction, instead of boiling water) and put a lot of bandaging over it to absorb the exudate leaking from it. She also gave me lots of supplies and advice on changing it, as well as "adapting" a pair of eczema tights into a full arm covering, to try and keep Alyssa away from either end of the bandaged section.

Please keep everything crossed for me, that Alyssa will not chew or cause any more damage between now and Monday!!! If we can make it until then, it will be pretty easy to organise another GA if nec, and I will just see if she can be admitted a day or two early for the impending drug trial!

I am absolutely exhausted today. Think it's probably the last few days of constant wounds, worrying about her teeth coming through and today just having both at once! This would be one of the days when I just feel completely drained! :-( Hopefully, I'll be back to my normal "can cope with this" self soon, I'll need it for next week!