The Hitchhiker’s Guide

Thank goodness for Douglas Adams!  What a writer and the Hitchhiker’s Guide is a staple for Ben, who loves drifting off to sleep with it on at night on his headphones or even listening to the Hexagonal Phase, recently on R4.  The humour and light-hearted fun of the script is very calming for Ben.

Ben had another bone marrow aspirate this week in Piam Brown and this is where the brilliant script writing skills of Douglas Adams comes in.  On arrival into the Anaesthetic Room, after such a long wait (we were last on the list), Ben was understandably nervous.  However, within a few moments, he’d asked to play something through his headphones to take his mind off things.  The anaesthetist agreed it was fine to do that and peered over at what Ben had picked on his Dad’s phone … Fit the 1st … ‘Ah,’ he said … ‘I know what that is … The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Don’t Panic…’ and Ben drifted off and as he listened to the adventures of Arthur Dent in the land of Nod, his procedure was completed with no drama and was over in a flash.

We’d barely picked up any lunch, before we were called back into Recovery to find Ben a little sleepy, but wanting to eat and drink a little, too.

Once back in the Parents’ Room, Ben began eating a little at a time.  Unfortunately, after the anaesthetic, it was difficult to keep anything down, so with a little anti-sickness given, we were then on our way back to Portsmouth for a rest.

The team at the QA have been incredibly accommodating and welcoming.  We were here when we were given an initial diagnosis and so returning to see some familiar faces (and new, too) has been very reassuring.

Ben is settling in, probably too much with his laptop, Lego and magazines!  Still, it’s all good.

On Wednesday, I started to learn how to aspirate and give medicines and set up the feeds Ben needs to keep his weight up and the amino acids going in to his stomach.  It is a fairly straightforward process, but you have to remember to do things in a particular order!  I hope I did okay first time round, more to learn today!  Thankfully, Ben coped very well and didn’t flinch with mummy faffing around, when it’s normally a very competent and professional nurse doing the job!  Hopefully I will be more along the lines of competent this afternoon!

When Daddy popped in later in the evening to pick up Rose, he told Ben about the day he’d had and that he’d actually met Dirk Maggs, producer extraordinaire from the Hitchhiker’s Guide … well, that was very exciting news for the Hitchhiker’s Guide fans in the room!