We Are Back!

A lot has happened since the last entry. Well, it's been more than 5 months... During all that time, Pia's condition and our family circumstances have changed completely.

First of all, Pia had a couple of hospital admission, first with pneumonia and then with seizures. Considering severity of her disability, she'd had a good run and never had been hospitalised until this year, so it was bit of a shock for us close to her. Fortunately, both stays were short. However, her swallowing ability that had deteriorated all of a sudden after her 4th birthday (that might have caused pneumonia) forced her to be fed via nasogastric tube. Soon, we had to make a decision whether to go for PEG feed and she had a surgery on 11 March and had PEG inserted. There were ups and downs but if we look at her now, we are sure it was a right move. Since she is getting good nutrition now through the tube, she's more awake and alert. She's even put on few kilos! You can probably see from the photo of her that she looks much chubbier now:) It is a little bit sad (in fact we were devastated in the beginning) she cannot get nutrition orally. After all, she loved her food and eating was one of her favourite things. She now only has odd ice cream or some sweets here and there which she still loves. We felt like we failed her. But looking at her now, she's smiling more, she's definitely stronger, healthier and more interactive. So, it was all for good and we are confident about that!

On the other note, David, Pia's dad has left his previous job as an IT sales/marketing guy and has taken on Certificate III for Aged & Disability Care and he is now a "carer" by profession. There is lots of shift work; most are nights and on weekends as well. It is a complete change from Monday to Friday office work. It also affected how this family functions. Half the week, we are more like single mum family, and kids seem to appreciate daddy more when he comes home, so it might not be a bad thing.

We are still trying to adjust to our new lifestyle, including Pia's new feeding regime and the family life around daddy's shift work. We are sure we'll get a grip on it soon.

We also started working on our charity work that has sort of stopped since the end of the year functions. First of all, we've got a big one coming up in Gold Coast Marathon. Please check it out in our designated page on our website here.

I would like to keep you all more updated on how our silent angel is doing in the coming weeks, so please come back to visit us from time to time!