Post-Fontan recovery: Day 11 (Ocean Ward)

It was back to school for Jessica yesterday! We had a visit from the teacher at the hospital school in the morning who then did a reading session with Jessica in the afternoon. She’ll be dual-registered at the hospital school (along with her normal school) while she is in hospital which will count as school attendance during this time. There is a classroom up on G level which children can go to if they able; otherwise the teachers can come to the bedside and do a couple of teaching sessions each day.

Jessica had fun in the morning doing some beading with the play worker and also got to meet Archie, the Pets as Therapy dog who came for a visit. She was thrilled to receive a couple of parcels in the post in the morning with some sweets, colouring/activity books and hand-made cards from everyone in her Girls’ Brigade company.

Recovery-wise, Jessica continues to make gentle progress. She manage to eat a little more yesterday although we weren’t very impressed when the hospital catering company failed to provide any supper for her ward. It took three phone calls from the nurses before they finally sent someone up with snacks and sandwiches at 7.30pm. Hopefully today’s meals will arrive as normal!


At the moment, the focus is on continuing to wean Jessica’s oxygen down and to keep encouraging her to eat and drink a little more.