News, from lots of different people.

Hi everyone,

Lots has happened in this last week, so we have an exciting installment of this weeks episode of the Drostens' real life soap series. In this episode, the drama about the funding gets resolved, a special visitor, a series of hospital visits and Noah has moved!

First the funding: We finally got what we need (and are entitled to). Hooray for Christa, our assisted breathing team liaison nurse from the hospital, who finally got through to the right people! We will bake a massive cake for you the next time you visit Christa. :)
No letter from the zorgkantor to say they are sorry, but we did get a letter requesting an in depth audit of how we spent our first 6 months budget! Oh well, I guess you can't expect them to behave in a nice way all of a sudden. So a few more hours of paperwork before we're finished.

We're so lucky that we could rehire most of the nurses we had to cancel. It was just a lot of calling and emailing to fill in all the shifts again, but as you all know, we live for administration! Plus our holiday can also go ahead. GretaBonteKoe here we come! Let's hope the weather comes with us. :)

Over the last few weeks Noah has had even more trouble than usual with his tummy and so after a talk with the Sophia we visited the local hospital, the Juliana. As hospital visits go, this was so much more relaxed. We were able to take a nice walk with Noah in the new pushchair, so he was a lot more relaxed on arrival. After some initial investigation, and conferencing with Sophia, it was decided to take a film of Noah's intestines using barium porridge. Juliana and Sophia work really well together and this helps us enormously.
The Juliana is a lot less busier than the Sophia, which is just as well as we were 20 mins late - we really have to get better at getting out of the house on time! It was also lucky because after we got home, we were immediately called back into the hospital for a second check up, because they wanted to follow the barium deeper into Noah's digestive system.
The initial result we've recieved of this investigation is that Noah's stomach has turned, more or less, upside down. We are not sure what this means, but you can imagine that this makes it very difficult to swallow food, as it has to move upwards into his stomach. Also his stomach does not empty out easily as the exit to the intestines is at the top. So he is never hungry, another point that makes him less interested in eating himself.
All this information has been passed on to the Sophia Hospital in Rotterdam, and they will decide what treatment is needed. Most likely an operation to turn his stomach back and then anchor it somehow. This will be combined with surgery to drop at least one of his testicles. We'll find out more next week when the surgeon at the Sophia has had some time to view the results of the film from the Juliana. To be continued ...

A friend from Turkey joined us last weekend. Ozgur is touring Europe and happily was in the neighbourhood and could drop by for an afternoon. The weather was perfect for a trip to the beach. Lilo was so happy and kept the boys busy throwing the ball.


Frank showed Noah how to eat a cookie with maximum relish and enjoyment.

Noah enjoyed a sit in the sand taking in the view.

All too soon the day was over but we had a great time and were so glad to have the opportunity to meet Ozgur face to face. Enjoy the rest of your trip Ozgur and thanks for the fabulous wine! :)

Oma and Opa also visited this week and enjoyed putting Noah in his bath. However they did need extra protection against the swamp rat!!

Time does not stand still and teeth do not stop growing!! Noah now has 2 more molars at the top. All 4 of his molars are only half way through so still a while to go till it's over. Let's hope Noah gets some rest after this set.

We saved the biggest news for last - Noah has his own room now! Since he is now no longer a baby but a huge 13 month old toddler, we guessed he was ready. Although we weren't to sure if we were!

With all the uncertainty of the budget and therefore lack of nursing, we thought this would allow at least one of us a decent night sleep. Noah needs to be tended to a few times in the night which is pretty noisy plus you need some light. So far it seems to be working very well, all though we haven't arranged all the furniture and sorted out where all his medical supplies need to go yet. We've programmed his alarms with a tighter range so that we can react in good time to any incident. He's got a baby phone in his room so we can hear the alarms more clearly and a camera to visually check on him. Never mind big brother, big mummy is watching you!!
Noah seems to sleep deeper and although it's taken a bit of getting used to, gradually we're learning to sleep a bit more easily.


Enjoy the pictures, and more news soon.



Thijs & Louise