The Boy With New Ears!

Well, J's appointment did go ahead on Monday and what a trooper he was! He was excited more than anything - well, he was starving too - but the team on the childrens ward at the hospital were fantastic, they deserve a mention. To get from the ward to the anaesthetic room, he had to drive a battery operated jeep down the corridor, following a painted white line until he came to a nurse standing in front of a set of 'traffic lights', whereby he got out, beaming all over his face and into the anaesthetic room.

M and I agreed that I would go as she said she would be too upset watching him go under so, me being the man, said, no problem - I'd be more than happy to take him. They distracted him while inserting a canula into the back of his wrist - he's not daft though - he looked over, unfazed by it all, and in went this drug and that drug and finally, the giant syringe of white fluid that sends you off to Wizard of Oz land.

"Ok Joseph, you might start to feel a little bit sleepy ...... ", said the anaesthetist and I looked down at him.

He momentarily looked up at me, wide eyed, he took a B-I-G slow motion blink as the drug coursed around his little body, his long eyelashes batting once, twice, three times before a huge yawn and then .......... gone . His head fell slightly to the side and he was out. They straightened his head and the professionalism of the whole team kicked in, tipping his head back, oxygen mask over his face, me being led gently out.

At exactly the same time I could feel my tears fighting their way up, could feel that I needed to cry, let out a sob but for some reason fighting it - saw M and that was enough for us both to start blubbing.

Not 10 minutes later, we were motioned back out to the empty ward and there is J, in a half druggy sleep, trying to wake up but falling back on the bed. It reminded me of J's favourite wildlife programmes - they dart an animal, work on it and then watch as it comes round, falling and stumbling around, not looking too happy about things generally.

That lasted for about 15 minutes, he wanted a cuddle and then said he was hungry - poor little guy had been starved all morning. M had put together a fantastic picnic lunch in a new lunchbox and his eyes widened when he saw it. He then proceeded to eat non stop for about 40 minutes - I'm not kidding - until he had eaten every last scrap of food, yoghurt, crisps and drink there was. Then he wanted to play and then, after about an hour, he was given the ok to go home by the surgeon.

When we got home, J asked "what the funny noise was?" It appears that he was hearing A's monitor beeping quietly for the first time. There were lots of other examples of this too - the dustmen collecting the rubbish bags outside was noticed, a scooter engine in the distance - all noticed by the Boy with the New Ears!

After hearing about the continuing failings of the NHS on the news and reading about it in your paper day in, day out, it was nice to know that there are positive points about the service. Today really was an example of the NHS working well.

Thank you for making such a difference to J's hearing and, I would imagine, his quality of life.