Just a quick note to say that Fiona was dicharged from LRI around lunchtime today. She is now back at home and most of the tummy pains and sickness has gone. Unfortuately she may have picked up another bug while she was in and has had a very sore throat and has been coughing for the last few days. Hopefully it is nothing serious and she'll be better very soon.

(13th March 2006) 

On 9th March Fiona started being sick and as she was unable to keep her medications down, was taken to Loughborough University's Medical Centre. After being seen by one of their doctors and receiving some initial treatment the decision was taken to send her to Leicester Royal Infirmary for further treatment and monitoring. The doctors there quickly stabilised her condition and gave her pain killers and IV fluids to make her comfortable and start to rehydrate her. Over the next few days Fiona underwent a number of examinations by the doctors and specialists at LRI in order to fully understand why she became so ill and what can be done to stop this happening again.

At this update is being written Fiona is sat up in bed, catching up with life outside the hospital with one of her visitors and is looking much better. Hopefully Fiona will continue to improve over the coming days and so will be discharged very soon. For further updates keep an eye on her Dare to Dream website.

(12th March 2006) 

Fiona has now had a second opinion from the spinal surgeon in Bristol. He was extremely helpful and advised on what he felt the next course of action should be regarding Fiona's back. Apparently the pain in Fiona's lower spine may have a number of causes which need to be excluded before further surgery is considered. MRI scans need to be done to rule-out any pressure on the nerves at the base of Fiona's brain, to check that the screw at T6/7 is not touching the spinal cord and to see if the disc at L5 is able to cope with the increased pressure upon it due to the rodding. Spinal injections are being put in at the end of March to treat the pain but also to act as a diagnostic tool checking if the pain is from joint imflamation. The results of these tests will inform future decisions to be made about Fiona's back.

(February 2006) 

Fiona has now completed her first set of hospital appointments. The spinal surgeon at Queen's Medical Centre has said that continuing the rodding into Fiona's pelvis may help stabilise her spine and reduce the pain but it is a very difficult and dangerous surgery and will probably mean that she will never walk again. He has referred her for a further four injections into her spine though, two into L5 and two into her sacro-illiac joints, to hopefully reduce the pain she is in. To help her to fully understand the state of her spine and what further surgery she may require in the future, Fiona has now made an appointment with one of the UK's top spinal surgeons. He works at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital and was featured on BBC One's Your life in their hands series last year. Fiona has also had her appointment with the endocrinologists at Leicester Royal Infirmary. They are going to admit her for a day to do a full blood and hormone workup, although they are pleased with her current state.

(January 2006) 

Medically Fiona has improved greatly since June. In October she was finally able to come off morphine, although she remains on strong painkillers. Sadly the base of Fiona's spine remains very painful and the spinal injections do not appear to have helped. However on a more positive note Fiona no longer looks like as white as a ghost and seems much more robust.

Fiona has been doing weekly physio and hydrotherapy. She doing her standing therapy regularly and is getting on very well the callipers made by the orthotists at Queen's Medical Centre. She has had her first swimming lesson and loved it but has been unable to do much in the water since because of the pain in her lower spine. On the 12th December Fiona is being admitted into Sheffield Spinal Injuries Unit for further assessment and rehabilitation. Fiona is keen to return to work in January.

(December 2005)