Friday: Oxford (Day 4), Operation Day

Family have been absolutely amazing. Sarah's Mum has been here for a couple of days quietly helping out and it's been an absolute god send. We really can't thank her enough. And when it all got a little bit much this morning and I started crying on the sofa, she just made herself scarce. Just the accumulated pressure of the last week really got on top of me. Good to get it out though.

So the plan for today was for Sarah to go to Stoke in the morning with Joan to see Alex. I would head straight over to John Radcliffe and spend as much time with Daniel before his operation in the afternoon. We weren't sure of the exact time as emergencies crop up all the time and could push Daniel down the queue. Daniel's condition was serious but at least he was stable.

John Radcliffe

As I was driving to Oxford I was listening to Desert Islands Discs on Radio 4. The subject was the royal photographer Arthur Edwards. His song selection for his self-induced hermitude included "Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs, the song playing whilst his grand daughter, Ruby, was being born, "It's all about you" by McFly and "Flowers in the Window" by Travis for equally sentimental reasons which I forget. But it was when his last song came on which was sung by two boys choirs, one each from Northern and Southern Ireland. It had been sung in front of the Queen a few years back and Arthur had never, in the last thirty years of photographing the royal family, seen the Queen so visibly moved. The song was Danny Boy. Sung by school children. Well that was just it. Fortunately I wasn't too far from Oxford by this point on the A40 and could wrestle the frog from my throat when I got out of the car. Honestly. Anyway it was a lovely day in Oxford, definitely shorts weather.

Space pod

So the plan for the afternoon was to wrap Daniel up in his space pod (similar to that which he was transported to John Radcliffe to on Monday night / Tuesday morning) and take him down to a paediatric operating theatre.

These things are amazing in and of themselves. Everything you need to move a sick child, portable ventilator, heated / humidified incubator, drug pumps at the top and monitoring equipment (heart rate, blood gases etc) I guess there must also be a massive battery somewhere, thinking about it. Or a massive extension lead ;)

Once operated on Daniel would come back to the Hot room for recovery. We'd been allocated a parents room at John Radcliffe so we'd be able to spend time with Daniel that evening and then be with him early in the morning as well tomorrow.

Once Sarah and Joan made it to Oxford from Stoke Mandeville, we agreed that during the operation we wanted to be outside. When the call came that Daniel was needed it was about lunchtime, just after. So we left the nurses to pack Daniel in the space pod and we headed to a park in front of the hospital buildings. It really was a beautiful day and we tried to forget what was going on. Joan headed in to Headington to grab some bits and Sarah and I dozed on a picnic rug.

We got the call at 6 ish that the operation had been successfully completed. The good news was that they didn't have to use a patch to cover the hernia. There was enough diaphragm available to stitch together.

When we got to see Daniel, not much had changed. He was obviously still on his ventilator, although this was still very lightly supporting his breathing. Despite everything he's still breathing well. We headed to the hospital canteen, ate chips and sandwiches (all that was left). Joan headed back to High Wycombe and Sarah and I retired to the the parents room. We were knackered.