Last Tuesday, Ella was admitted to hospital for a couple of days, after having a doctor's appointment at the Women's and Children's hospital that morning. Her lungs weren't sounding too good with a moist cough, along with electrolyte levels being iffy, so they wanted to get a PICC line inserted prior to surgery scheduled for the following Tuesday.
On Wednesday afternoon, after Sally had finished work, we headed up to the ward where Ella was staying. She'd had the PICC line insertion that morning, but was now awake, and up and about.
We brought along a couple of little presents in a stocking to cheer up Ella, as well as some chocolate. At the shops I found a talking & dancing plush toy of Santa Claus and a reindeer, which I thought were quite amusing, and so did she. One of Emily's friends was also there with her 6 week old daughter.
After playing with them for a little while, she went back over to the stocking to see what else was in there. She got very excited when she fished out a Jessie figurine, one of her favourite Toy Story characters.
While Emily was taking it out of the packaging, one of the nurses came in to take some obs.
Having her temperature taken didn't stop Ella from having a look through a Wiggles activity book.
I think this is Ella's version of the ideal pastime; eating salt and vinegar chips while watching the Wiggles.
It had been uncertain what was going to happen that day, but the medical team decided it would be good for Ella to have some hospital at home care before the surgery. So one of the nurses came in with a tray of medications and syringes for Emily to take home.
The instructions weren't that exciting for a kid, so Ella busied herself with flipping through a DVD catalogue to compile a Christmas wishlist, and trying to wear some tinsel as a hat.
The PICC line is underneath the pink bandaging on her upper arm, while her left hand still had the drip line in, although that would be removed before we left.
While Emily was busy sorting out the meds, Ella and I mucked around for a while putting some of the medical gloves on our hands and feet, which was quite funny.
While everyone was tidying up and getting ready to go, Emily changed Ella's clothes and put her splint back on.
I then swapped over to my other camera, loaded with B&W 35mm film, while Sally took some snaps with my digital SLR. I think this is supposed to be a smile...
With all the bits and pieces collected, the six of us headed out of the ward, laden with bags and all the other stuff.
Understandably Ella was quite elated at being free of her hospital room, and went scampering down the long walkway towards the lifts.
Once on the ground floor, we all went out to the carpark.
Despite everyone's arms being quite full, Ella's wheelchair was piled with her belongings.
We were parked on different levels, so after a short ride in the lift and helping Emily load up the car, Sally and I took off, hoping that Ella would be able to stay bright and happy until the next visit.
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