Sunday, November 14, 2010

Home!

We are home at last and it felt so good to touch down on NZ soil! We flew from Monterrey to Houston, on to LA then Auckland and arrived home a few days ago. Emma travelled really well all things considered, as it was a very long way to go. We were all so excited to see Aleishia and Luke who had done so well at home under trying circumstances. Air New Zealand staff were absolutely fantastic to us and very helpful and considerate of Emma's condition (which was a welcome change after going through so many US security checks).

Emma is really pleased to be home and is continuing to improve each day. She will have medical check-ups this week and over the coming months, including an ENT Surgeon for the trac tube removal this week. She tires very easily but is sleeping amazingly well – we are not use to seeing her sleep 8 hours at night so a welcome relief! Emma still has some recovery from all her complications, so she is needing to go quite slow at things but each day she becomes more like the Emma that we know and love.

As part of the research study, we were advised to refrain from asking Emma how her RSD pain is during or after the treatment, but to allow her to tell us how she feels in her own time, if she wants too – and this has been very difficult!! We are hoping that Emma’s friends will also be able to refrain from asking her too. However, soon Emma will be able to update you all on her experience and progress from her point of view.

All of the prayers for Emma and the great support that we received from so many people have helped us all so much through this difficult time. We thank you all. Our prayers have been answered and it is so good to have the whole family back together again.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Discharged from Hospital!

Emma has continued to do really well and has been discharged from the hospital and is now recovering at our hotel. We have had Doctors' visits here at the hotel, but more for friendly visits rather than necessity which is great. They (and us) are amazed how quickly Emma is recovering from all her complications; she is chatting heaps, laughing & smiling, walking well, sleeping at least 8 hrs at night and generally feeling really well, although she tires easily. We have had small daily expeditions to Emma's favourite store - which of course is the pet store (the mall is across the road from our hotel) where there are lots of baby Fred's.

So GREAT NEWS - we are planning our travel back to NZ which is so exciting, and fantastic to see Emma well on her road to recovery. We are hugely grateful to Dr. Cantu, he is truly a wonderful Doctor with great expertise in treating RSD patients. Also, we are very thankful for the great team of Dr's here who worked so hard for Emma - and she kept them on their toes for many weeks!!
We are also very thankful for the wonderful friends we have met here, especially Sarah (Mum to Jessica who is also an RSD sufferer), who has given us so much help & support to keep us going through these past difficult weeks.