Blog- Just Bring the Chocolate

Should Special Needs Inclusion in Mainstream Schools be a Right or a Privilege?

Published on 7th Jun 2011 by Renata

I must have walked past that answer phone machine countless times in the 4 or so hours it took me to pluck up the courage to return the school’s phone call. I never had to listen to the actual message as I was stood by the machine as it clicked into action and heard the patient voice at the end of the phone explain that they had received my email, thank you, and that they thought we should probably discuss it. Gulp. […]

Adding another Consultant to the List

Published on 20th May 2011 by Renata

We had another trip up to Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday afternoon. It was a situation that proved the necessity of keeping a good working relationship with the doctors there, no matter what the history. Dominic's knee had starting dislocating randomly just before we left the hospital. Obviously with everything else going on (see here if you want refreshing) my request that someone told the neuromuscular consultant fell on deaf ears. I ignored the problem for a while, it didn't seem especially urgent when we were lost in the chaos of coming home and I was due to see her soon ...

Home Sweet Home

Published on 9th May 2011 by Renata

Home is where the heart is, or so the general consensus seems to be. In many ways I feel like I have come home now, everything has regained some kind of order, the cobwebs no longer have the larger share of the house and there has been a lot of culling of clothes and toys. I have also bitten the proverbial bullet and said goodbye to the last remnants of baby things for Dominic. His cot is gone, smaller clothes that probably still fit, but boast labels saying they are made to fit so-and-so months old have been passed on ...

The Ripple Effect

Published on 30th Mar 2011 by Renata

I haven't complained, once. Ok, take that sentence out of context and you would have Roger, certainly, raising his eyebrows. What I mean is, despite everything that happened, both from the dangerous to the incompetent and even stretching to the negligent while we were in Great Ormond Street, I never sat down and wrote a letter full of anger and grief to anyone within the hospital walls that I thought might just listen. I am not, however, under any illusion that I'm a placid wall flower, gentle, unassuming and utterly trampleable on. The reason for biting my tongue all this time ...

The Child? First and Always?

Published on 11th Mar 2011 by Renata

The Child First and Always The Child. First and Always The Child First, And Always. The Child? First and Always? What makes a great medical institution great? Is it the doctors? Dedicated, caring, jutting of chin with a hint of the maverick about them? Perhaps it’s the nurses? Understanding, effortlessly selfless, wafting from patient to patient dispensing compassion and tireless devotion? Or is it the sick, but still oh-so-cute patients? Brave in the face of adversity, an inspiration to us all and uncomplainingly grateful to all the heroic medical team whose commitment to each and every child brings a tear to even the ...