Monday 10th March 2008

Since we were due at Alder Hey hospital at 8am on Tuesday 11th March 2008 we decided to travel up the day before and stay overnight at a local hotel to save getting the boys up at some ungodly hour on Tuesday. Ellis goes to pre-school as usual in the morning and we set off for Liverpool immediately after lunch.

After a long but problem free journey we arrived at the hotel and after dinner settled down early for the night. We spent a lot of the day chatting to Ellis about what was happening on Tuesday and why, as usual he wasn't phased by any of it.

Tuesday 11th March 2008

We woke up on time, since both Debbie and I had set alarms to avoid a repeat of Berlin. Since Ellis wasn't allowed to eat until after the stitches were removed, we opted to check-out of the hotel and head straight for the hospital and get breakfast there to avoid having to eat and drink in front of Ellis.

We arrived at Alder Hey at 8am and we were seen by the nursing team on the day ward who went through the regular checks - weight, blood pressure, temperature and then applied numbing cream to each hand in preparation for the anaesthetic canula. Next we were seen by the anaesthetist who assessed Ellis, in full throws of yet another cold(!) and pronounced OK for the procedure.

A short wait and then we met Val, the Senior Nurse practitioner, assistant to Mr Liew, who advised us she would be removing the sutures. It turns out that she knows Dr Waner pretty well, he has visited them in Liverpool and she has also attended the hospital in Berlin with his team. She tells us that we are 7th on the surgery list, it is laser surgery clinic day for children with birthmarks, but that she will try to see Ellis sooner as it should be a quick procedure.

Ellis is in his pyjamas by 9.15am and we then face a wait until 12.15pm when Ellis' name is finally called. Debbie and Ellis head for the operating theatre and despite attempts by the lovely team of nurses to put Ellis at ease, he steadfastly refuses to take the gas mask and we decide that Ellis should be sedated before we try again.

Back to a waiting bed, where we persuade Ellis to drink some sedative, poorly disguised as blackcurrant juice, and after 30 minutes he begins to feel sleepy and subdued. Round 2 sees Daddy and Ellis back in the operating room, and despite some clever tricks blowing bubbles from the nursing team, Ellis politely(!) declines the anaesthetic gas again so they opt for a needle/canula straight into the numbed vein in his hand.

Some 20 minutes later and Ellis is in recovery and the sutures have been removed. He joins us on the recovery ward and sleeps for over an hour. Upon waking he asks for water and some food - NOW! He was starving having not eaten since the previous night, it's now 3pm.

Whilst Ellis is sleeping we can see that his eyelid now closes almost perfectly. Dr Waner has told us to expect this to improve still further as the hemangioma within the eye socket involutes naturally and the swelling reduces. Ellis is left with a small ulceration on his lower lip, which though painful, will heal over coming weeks. We have cream to apply and we've been down that road many many times before so we know it is just as a matter of time. We are discharged from Alder Hey at 4.30pm, another long day.

We have to say that Ellis looks fabulous! He is still very much in awe of what he calls his 'new eye'.

Next steps - we believe that further surgery on Ellis' eye will not be necessary in the short term, time will show whether more is necessary or not. Ellis now faces just 2 more procedures that we hope can be accomplished in one surgery. The hemangioma in his nasal tip needs excision - the cartilage in Ellis' nose is unaturally soft and 'squidgy', and not properly formed, and then his right ear lobe needs reshaping and that ear is likely to require pinning.

We remain in touch with Dr Waner and send him regular updated photos and will take our lead from him.