Sleepy head

Today I had the pleasure of looking after my granddaughter again and she'll be staying with me tonight. With other more important things on my mind today, I never got round to taking any photos - hence the last minute angelic photo of my granddaughter taken after she'd fallen asleep this evening!

After my son's visit to the doctors yesterday and subsequent admission into hospital yesterday morning, he was kept in overnight due to an extremely low level of platelets in the blood (these cause the blood to clot in order to stem bleeding). A normal level being over 150 with a minimum level being around 80 - his was just 4 - which means his blood is very thin and unable to clot.

It came to light when he started bleeding in his mouth. A few days later he came out in tiny blood spots on his legs, feet and chest. He has an infection in his mouth and this, coupled with a very bad chesty cold the previous week which weakened his immune system, has allowed the infection to destroy the platelets.

The hospital have put him on steroids to build up his levels again and given him tablets to stem the bleeding in his mouth. Today, however, his platelets levels dropped to 2, so they've given him two doses of steroids today instead of the intended one. He's had lots of blood taken to check for various possible causes and an ultrasound of his abdomen. I'm glad to say these all came back ok. They were going to keep him in until Monday but, as the tests all came back fine and the bleeding in his mouth has stopped, they discharged him tonight. He has got to take steroids for the next four weeks and has to go back for blood tests to check on the platelets levels. He's been told he can't work, lift anything heavy and to take is very easy. If there's any bleeding, bruising or pains he has to go straight back. I'm keeping everything crossed that he's soon back to full health.

It's very true that, however old your children are, you will always worry about them.