SecondLIFE

MAGAZINE

Issue Two Price: UK-£2:75

IRL: €3:20

WELCOME

It’s National Heart Month and here at second life magazine we are celebrating and raising money for the British Heart Foundation by turning the magazine red and giving £1 for every copy sold to BHF!

This issue is also heart orientated in order to raise awaremeness and answer your questions! As always you can contact us, send in your photos, views and stories in the following ways!

You can contact us via Twitter: @MaeveMcKenna or Via our very own Blog that I keep updated with news stories and the progress of the magazine, check it out at: www.wordpress.com/secondlifemagazine.

Also thank you to our contributers, Nurse Lisa-Marie McKenna, Transplant Kids founder Cationa Hamilton and Google images for all the photos used!

Hope you have a happy heart month <3

Maeve

Page Four & Five- Our Regular News hub Feature, make sure you catch up on all the latest.

Page Six & Seven- Heart month special Lucys heart story. Page,Eight,Nine & Ten-Transplant Over view: The Heart Page Eleven- The Brit-ish Heart Foundation Diet Page Twelve- This Months Transplant Kids Page Thirteen & Fourteen- Q&A with the Team. Page Fifteen- Your pictures

THE NEWS HUBSecond Life Magazine Page Four 28th March 2011 Issue Two

Donor decision time for UK drivers

British drivers may be offered the chance to become and organ donor when applying for their driving licence, this proposed scheme is hoped to boost the number or people on the organ donor register.

The system is to be piloted from July and will ask drivers if they would like to join the National Health Service Organ Donor Register or defer the decision to a later date. Authorities are hoping that this new system will give peo-ple another opportunity to sign up and maybe target those who have intentions of signing up but never do.

Some 8,000 people in the UK are waiting for a transplant and it is hoped that by making this option more readily available to drivers that the number of people waiting can be dramatically cut in the next few years.

Currently applicants can miss out the question on donation when applying for a new licence, but new rules will require them to either opt to join the register, state they have already joined, or decide to defer the question to a later date.

At present a quarter of the British public are organ donors, but studies show that a far greater number are willing to donate organs, so this new scheme is hoping to give that proportion of people the opportunity.

New British Heart Foundation Book for Heart patient kids

M82, Operation Fix it by the British Heart foundation Aimed at 7-11 year-olds, this book tells the story of a Tom, an eight year old boy's visit to hospital for a heart operation. It follows Tom's experience of being in hospital and considers some of the emotional issues. The resource is designed to prepare chil-dren for a hospital visit and can provide a platform for family discussion about potential fears.

The book is a very useful tol and explains the operation and stay in the hospitail through Tom’s eyes, which would be ben-efecial to kids the book can be ordered online from www.bhf.co.uk.

stylish new Medical tags

These new tages are available online at: www.medicaltags.

co.uk the offer a wide range or stylish tags, bracelts and medication boxes. So dont be ashamed of having to wear a medical necklace or brace-let because now they are a fashion accesory! They can be a little pricey, and the dog tag pictured right is a heft £149, but if your not a fan of your hospital supplied one this is worth and investment so atleast you will wear it every day!

THE NEWS HUBSecond Life Magazine Page Five 28th March 2011 Issue Two

Hospitals could be told to stop child heart surgery

Child heart surgery will stop at some hospitals to ensure patient safety under official plans put forward. The NHS review looked at all 11 units in England amid concern expertise was being spread too thinly.

It has proposed four options - all of which involve stopping operations at either four or five hospitals.

The proposals will now be put out for public consultation. A final decision will be made in the autumn.

But it could be 2013 before all the units finally stop doing surgery.

Although, one of the 11 - Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital - has already stopped. The decision came after several deaths there last year.

In total, there are just 31 child heart surgeons across England. Between them, they carry out 3,600 operations each year on children in England and Wales, born with a range of heart defects.

Most children survive to adulthood, but there is widespread agreement among profes-sional bodies that to provide a uniformly high quality of safe service, operations must be concentrated in fewer, larger centres.

This would enable surgeons to improve skills and share expertise.

Concerns have been raised about child heart surgery ever since the Bristol scandal in the 1990s when children having heart surgery died needlessly.

Professor Roger Boyle, the government's heart and stroke tsar, said he had "no doubt" that change was necessary.

"Unfortunately the answer is not recruiting more surgeons to the current centres. That would be a recipe for disaster as sur-geons would not treat enough children to maintain their skills."

The changes have also received the backing of doctors. A joint statement from the Royal College of Surgeons and the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery said: "England has the right number of heart surgeons treating rare heart conditions in children, but we know that they are thinly spread over too many units.

"A better service would be provided if this expertise were condensed in fewer units with the critical number of staff to support each other, disseminate new techniques and train the next generation of specialists."

However this news comes as massive shock for the parents of children who have already went through the process and know what a life sav-ing miricale it can be, and what could happen without such a procedure. lorreta hammond whose daughter Krystall is alive and healthy thanks to a heart surgery as a child believes;

I know krystall has had all her surgeries now, but for all of the children who need more or the children just starting their chd journies, PLEASE DON’T TAKE OUR HEART UNITS AWAY! Without Southamptons unit and other units like ours, our children wouldn’t be the very few who did survive.” Karen Prior has however been on the other side

of the story: “we sadly lost our son Lewis in 2004 to a serious heart defect which resulted in him being in need of an urgent transplant which sadly he never received. As parents we do not have the worry anymore about certain cardiac units for our

son ( I wish with all my heart we did) but we do however know how it feels from a parents point of view with a heart child needing life saving surgery. It is for this reason that we keep updated on this sort of headline and support it in our sons memory”

The 11 units under review are: Alder Hey in Liverpool, Birmingham Children’s Hos-pital, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Evelina Chil-dren’s Hospital in London, Freeman Hospital in New-

castle, Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, Leeds General Infirmary, Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, Royal Brompton Hospital in London and Southampton General Hospital.

All four options on the table involve hospitals in Birmingham, Liverpool’s Alder Hey and Bristol continuing to do surgery along with two in London. Of the three sites in London, it seems certain Great Ormond Street will keep operating because of the other specialist services it has there..

Second Life Magazine Page Six 28th March 2011 Issue Two

National Heart Month Special

February is National Heart Month and in order to celebrate we are bringing you Lucy’s Heart success story!

Hello, my name is Lucy Elizabeth Pear-son and I was born on 8th December, 1999 in Yeovil, Somerset, UK. I did have severe congenital heart disease and malrotation (corrected in 2002) but was lucky enough to receive the gift of

life - a new heart - during the Summer of 2006. We used to live in Sherborne, Dorset, but moved back to Hampshire where my mummy comes from.

I needed a heart transplant because I was not able to have the final stage of my three stage repair surgery. The Fontan was not an option for me because my heart failure was getting very bad; the right ventricle had become di-lated and was not pumping very well. Also the fact that my left ventricle, which should act as the pumping part of the heart was so small and underdeveloped, meant that I would probably have not come through the surgery and if I had it wouldn't have been of any benefit to me.

My congenital heart problems were as follows (if mummy and daddy can remember them all!):

AVSD, TAPVD, transposition of the great arteries, hypoplastic left ventricle, pulmonary stenosis, right atrial isomerism, left inferior vena cava, heart block and asple-nia. Mummy was told that I had malrotation when I was nearly 4 weeks old, and this was confirmed when another barium meal was organised in November 2002.

I have undergone two open heart surgeries, lots of cardiac catheters and had a permanent pacemaker put in place as a result of total heart block after my second surgery when I was 6 months old. I had a second pacemaker put in on 13th January 2005 and I was only in hospital for 3 days which amazed mummy and daddy as I usually take a long time to recover. We have both of my pacemakers in a jar at home now.

The operations that I have had are Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the 3 Stage repair surgeries that Hypoplastic Left Heart patients have but there have been modifications because of

Second Life Magazine Page Seven 28th March 2011 Issue Two

my other heart problems. I cannot have the third operation as my heart failure is too advanced now. Mummy and daddy were told that the operation would carry a 50-50 risk. My cardiolo-gist finally decided that it wasn't to be in September of 2005. He then went about referring me to Great Ormond Street Hos-pital. We met with the Transplant Team in December of 2005. As a result of this I was placed on the Active Transplant List on 16th December 2005. I waited until the Summer of 2006 for a new heart - or a new engine as I like to refer to it.

My medications pre transplantation were Enalapril, Carvedilol, Digoxin, Penicillin, Spironolactone, Aspirin and a vitamin called Forceval Junior - I am on first name terms with the staff at my doctor's pharmacy! I am now on new medication to stop me from rejecting my new heart and will always need to take them.

Walking and eating were always major prob-lems for me. I could only walk very short distances before I became blue and breath-less. I used to rely on bottom shuffling and crawling but managed to start taking my

first steps in August 2002. I am under the orthotics department at Salisbury District Hospital and have had insoles put into my shoes. This is because I walk very stiff legged and hopefully these insoles will help me to walk better.

I had my malrotation sorted out on November 13th 2002. The procedure carried out was a Ladd's Procedure. Apparently my insides were in quite a mess and poor Mr Griffiths and his team had fun sorting them out! Whilst they were doing this they removed my appendix. Mr Griffiths did this as he couldn't guarantee where it would lie after he had sorted my intestines and bowel out. Mummy and daddy are eternally grateful to the team of people who sorted out this problem. Before my opera-

tion I couldn't even eat a chocolate button without being sick. I used to get through lots of sets of clothes each day due to the sickness. It took time for people to listen, but we got there in the end!

My diet up until my stomach surgery consisted mainly of a prescription only milk which has lots of calories in it. I haven't really been able to manage solid food, but now that I have had my malrotation sorted I am trying to eat. My diet is topped up with Paediasure Plus feed. I did still suffer with sickness - especially when I was tired, but the surgery greatly improved this problem. I always make mummy and daddy really happy when I manage to eat as they have really struggled since I was born - but that is another story! My favourite food is Chinese!

As I am asplenic, I am more prone to catching chest infec-tions, colds etc. etc. I was in and out of hospital over the first three years of my life (usually during the winter). After a course of IV antibiotics I was always fine. Every winter I have a 'flu jab just to hopefully keep me clear of catching 'flu. All of my family have one too, the doctors said that it would be a good idea. After transplant I will continue to need a 'flu jab as will anyone who has regular contact with me.

Post TransplantationI am now able to walk a lot better than I have ever been

able to in my whole life. I am having physio to help im-prove my walk, but we think that I will always walk stiffed legged. The doctors think that I may have suffered some form of brain damage as a baby due to the very low oxygen saturations I had. They think this is also why I have prob-lems with my eyesight. Neither of these problems worry me and are a small price to pay, I am still here and otherwise doing really well. I can eat properly too for the first time in my life - transplantation is a fantastic thing and has im-proved my life beyond belief

Second Life Magazine Page Eight 28th March 2011 Issue Two

Tranplant Oveview:The HeartTranplantWith Nurse Lisa-Marie McKenna

The heart transplant is one of the most needed transplants in the UK however the amount of these transplant operations pre-formed every year is extremely low compared to the demand, due to the number of donor organs available. In 2009 134 heart transplants where preformed, of which 35 were on young peo-ple under the age of 16. .

Why you might need a new heart.

When the heart can no longer work efficient-ly and a person’s life is potentially at risk, a heart transplant may be needed.

Most heart transplants are carried out when you have severe heart failure.Heart

failure is when the heart becomes less efficient at pumping blood around the body. Some causes of heart failure include cardiomyopathy (which is a disease affecting your heart mus-cle) or if you've had a previous heart attack.

In a small number of cases, heart failure is also caused by Heart valve problems or congenital heart disease (when you are born with an abnormality of the heart).However, not everyone who has heart failure is suitable for a heart transplant, and unfortunately the number of heart transplants is still limited by the lack of available or suitable donors

However, not everyone who has severe heart failure is suit-able for a transplant.Most people referred for a transplant assessment will have been treated by a cardiologist, who will have tried appropriate conventional treatments first.

Transplant assessmentIn order to see if you are a proper candidate for the waiting

list, your doctors will carry out an assessment, these tests will find help them to determine, where you will be placed on the waiting list.

You will need to stay in hospital for three to five days for the assessment. Tests may include:

• blood tests • urine tests • tests to find out how efficiently your lungs work • electrocardiogram (ECG), which records the electrical

activity of your heart • echocardiogram, which checks how well your heart is

pumping • cardiac catheterisation and an exercise test (these

determine how severely your heart is affected and whether any other treatments might be helpful)

During the assessment, you will have the chance to meet members of the transplant team and to ask any questions. The transplant co-ordinator (your main point of contact) will talk to you and your family about what happens and the risks involved in a heart transplant.

When the assessment is complete, it will be decided whether a heart transplant is suitable for you and is the best option.

It may be decided that:• You should go on the active waiting list (which means

you could be called for a transplant at any time). • A transplant is suitable for you, but your condition is

not severe enough. You will be put on a provisional waiting list, and if your condition worsens, you will then be put on the active waiting list.

• You need more investigations or treatment before a decision can be reached.

• A transplant is not suitable for you. In this case, the assessment team will explain why and offer you other options, such as drug therapy or alternative cardiac surgery.

Second Life Magazine Page Nine 28th March 2011 Issue Two

• You need a second opinion from a different transplant centre.

Why you might be unsuitable for a heart transplantYou may be considered unsuitable if:• Your heart failure is not severe enough. There are only

enough donor hearts to treat people who are the most sick.

• You have poor kidney function. One of the drugs given after a transplant is poison-ous to the kidneys, so your kidneys need to be in good condition at the start.

• You have not complied with previ-ous advice or been reliable. For example, you have not given up smoking despite being advised to do so, you have a poor history of taking prescribed medication or you have missed hospital appointments.

The waiting listOnce you are on the active waiting list, the

transplant centre may give you a pager so that you can be contacted at short notice.

The right heart may be available within a few days or it could take years. The length of time you will have to wait will depend on your blood group, donor availability and how many other patients are on the list (and how urgent their cases are).

Around one in three patients on the trans-plant list is too ill to go home and needs to stay in hospital while they wait for a donor heart. Priority is usually given to these patients.

While you wait, you will be cared for by the doctor who referred you to the transplant centre. Your doctor will keep the transplant team updated with changes to your condition. Sometimes, another assessment is necessary to make sure you are still suitable for transplant.

The Procedure A heart transplant normally takes between three and five hours.

The procedure is carried out under general anaesthetic, which means you will be put to sleep.

When you are asleep, you will be lying on your back on the operating table with your arms at your sides. A catheter (thin flexible tube) will be inserted to drain your bladder during and after the operation and you will be connected to a heart bypass machine. This acts as an artificial heart, cir-culating and oxygenating your blood while the heart trans-plant is being performed.

An incision (small cut) is made over your breastbone and the bone is separated so the surgeon has access to your heart. Your heart is removed, leaving behind a portion of the right and left atria (the top right chambers). The new heart is then connected to the aorta (main artery from the heart), pulmonary artery and the remaining

part of the atria. When the heart begins to function and the medical team is happy, you will be taken off the bypass machine.

When the procedure is over, there will be drains (tubes) coming out of your chest. Your breastbone will have been

closed with stainless steel wires and the tissues and skin will have been closed with dissolvable stitches.

You will wake up in the intensive care unit, attached by a tube in your throat to a ventilator and with a number of drips in your arms and neck.

The risksAs with any transplant the risks are high but the possible

outcome means there is a lot of advantages. Risks of a heart transplant include:

• failure of the transplanted heart to pump properly (primary graft dysfunction)

• rejection of the donor heart

• infection • narrowing of

the arteries of the new heart

Taking immunosup-pressant medication can also make certain types of cancer more likely.

Rejection is a nor-mal reaction of the body. When a new organ is transplanted, your body’s im-mune system sees it

as a threat and produces antibodies against it, which can stop it from working properly. Immunosuppressant drugs (which weaken your immune system) are given dur-ing and after your transplant and must be taken for life.

, After care

After surgery, you will be moved to the intensive care unit. You will be under seda-tion and will be connected to a ventilator to help your breathing.

The specialist team will constantly check and monitor your condition. You will be given fluid and medication intravenously (directly into a vein) and X-rays will be taken. When your condition is stable, you will usu-ally be moved to a high-dependency ward.

You will normally be discharged from hospital two to three weeks after surgery, and will be asked to stay near the transplant centre for one month.

For the second month, you will need to visit weekly for four weeks. After that, for the rest of your life, you will have a blood test every six weeks and will be seen at the transplant centre every three months.

For the first six weeks after surgery, you need to avoid pushing and pulling or lifting anything heavy. You will be encouraged to take part in a rehabilitation programme involving exercises to build up your strength.

You will need to take immunosuppressant drugs, which weaken your immune system so your body does not try to reject the new organ. However, these drugs also reduce your ability to fight infections and can affect the function-ing of your kidneys.

You will have your first dose of immunosuppressants during your operation, and then immediately after surgery. For the next few months, you will need to take high doses of immunosuppressant drugs. You will need to take these for the rest of your life (although the high dosage may be gradually reduced).

If you do not take immunosuppressants, your transplant will fail.

Second Life Magazine Page Ten 28th March 2011 Issue Two

The British Heart Foundation, is always there for you in order to offer support and advice, not only through there website, there are extensive resources available to you, www.bhf.co.uk

We want to make sure that you have all the information, support and guidance you need on everything heart related. We’re here to help you, whether you’re calling about your-self or someone you care about.

Our cardiac nurses and heart health advisors are on hand to help you answer any questions or concerns you have about heart health and heart conditions.

Call us on 0300 330 3311. Lines are open 9am-5pm Monday-Friday

Second Life Magazine Page Eleven 28th March 2011 Issue Two

The British Heart Foundation DietThe British Heart Foundation diet is a three day diet that claims to allow dieters to lose 10 pounds in three days if they follow the diet’s specific meal plan. It was not created by nor is it endorsed by the British Heart Foundation. .

OriginsThe origins of the British Heart Foundation diet are un-clear. It was not created by the British Heart Foundation as its name implies, and the British Heart Foundation does not endorse or recommend this diet in any way. The diet seems to circulate mainly from person to person and on the internet.It is not clear in which country the diet originated, as some versions call for Ritz Crackers (an American product), some call for Snax crackers (an Australian product), and some call for biscuits (a British term). It is probable that the diet developed in Brit-ain because of the refer-ence to the British Heart Foundation and because most versions call for “beetroot,” which is a Brit-ish term for what Ameri-cans call beets.

Day OneBreakfast: For breakfast the dieter must drink black coffee or tea, and eat 1/2 of a grapefruit, one slice of dry toast, and 2 teaspoons of peanut butter.Lunch: For lunch the dieter must again drink black coffee or tea. The dieter must eat 4 ounces of tuna and one slice of dry toast.Dinner: For dinner the dieter must eat 2 slices of any cold meat, 1 cup of string beans, 4 ounces of beets, 1 small ap-ple, and 4 ounces of vanilla ice cream. No specific require-ment is made for a drink with this meal, so only water is allowed.

Day TwoBreakfast: For breakfast on day two the dieter may again drink black tea or coffee. Today the dieter must eat 1 egg (boiled or poached), 1 slice of dry toast, and 1/2 of a banana.Lunch: For lunch the dieter must eat 4 ounces of cottage cheese and 5 crackers. The brand of cracker varies, some versions require Ritz, Tuc, Snax, or Saltine brand crackers.Dinner: For dinner the dieter must eat 3 ounces of broccoli, 2 ounces of carrots, 1/2 of a banana, and 2 hot dogs. Some versions call for frankfurters instead of hot dogs. Dinner is again finished with 4 ounces of vanilla ice cream.

Day ThreeBreakfast: For breakfast the dieter may drink black tea or coffee and eat 5 crackers, 1 slice of cheddar cheese, and 1 small apple.Lunch: Lunch onthe third day is 1 hard boiled egg and 1

slice of dry toast. There is no specified drink so the dieter must drink water.Dinner: Dinner on the last day of the diet is 4 ounces of tuna, 4 ounces of beets, 4 ounces of cauliflower, 1/2 of a melon, and 4 ounces of vanilla ice cream.Some versions of the diet specify that the tuna must be the type packed in water, not oil, although some do not. This makes sense as tuna packed in oil can contain many more calories and many more grams of fat than the type that is packed in water. No specifications are made for whole grain toast, but whole grain bread is usually considered to be more healthy and to contain more vitamins and minerals than white bread.

BenefitsThe British Heart Foundation diet claims that it will allow dieters to lose 10 pounds in only 3 days. Many experts

suggest that if weight loss does occur this quickly, the weight lost will mainly be water weight that will be gained back when the dieter begins to eat normally again. A pos-sible benefit however, is that losing weight quickly may help give dieters the positive outlook required to help them continue to lose weight using a more balanced approach. This psychological benefit may be undone if the weight is regained quickly after the diet

is completed.There are many benefits to losing weight if it is done at a safe, moderate pace through a combination of healthy eating and exercise. There are many conditions for which obesity is considered a significant risk factor, including type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The risk of these and other diseases may be reduced through weight loss. This is especially true for very obese people who are generally thought to be at the greatest risk. The Sacred Heart diet is not considered appropriate for long term weight loss, and losing 10 pounds in 3 days is not consid-ered a moderate pace.

PrecautionsDieters should consult a physician or other medical pro-fessional before beginning this or any other diet. Daily requirements of vitamins and minerals can differ signifi-cantly between people, depending on age, weight, gender, and the presence of certain diseases and conditions. Get-ting all required nutrients can be difficult when on a diet that severely limits the types or amounts of food allowed. This diet may contain as few as 700 calories a day if fol-lowed exactly. This is not considered to be a safe number of calories for weight loss unless the diet is done under a phys-icians’s close supervision. Pregnant or breastfeeding women should be especially cautious.

Second Life Magazine Page Tweleve 28th March 2011 Issue Two

George and the magic heart...My name is George Dexter Simpson

and I am 6 and a bit years old. In the summer of 2002 I started feel-ing a bit poorly and as time went on I be-came

very tired and didn’t want to do anything. Mummy and Daddy were very worried about me so they took me to the doctors. The doctor sent me for a blood test. The test showed that I was anae-mic and needed some iron in my blood. I kept taking the iron med-icine for nearly two months but it was making me sick all the time and I wasn’t feeling any better. Anyway, it turned out that when one of the doctors at the hospital looked at me, I wasn’t anaemic at all. I had a very poorly heart, my heart had a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. This condition made my heart swol-len and didn’t pump the blood around my body very well.

I was put in an ambulance with the blue lights flashing and was taken to a hospital in London called the Royal Brompton. I spent 2 weeks there in intensive care. They told us that my heart was very poorly and if it did not get any better, I would need a heart transplant. My condition got a little bit worse and they sent me to Great Ormond Street Hospital where they were going to do my transplant. When we got to GOSH they took me to cardiac intensive care, but I felt a bit better and they put me on a high dependency ward the next day.

Anyway, after this when I was having a little operation, I had a cardiac arrest and they were trying to get my heart going again for six minutes. I had to go back to cardiac intensive care to go on a life support machine called ECMO.

In October 2002, Mummy and Daddy got a phone call in the mid-dle of the night to say they thought that a new heart had been found for me. So they came over to the hospital where the doctors and nurses took me to theatre to have my operation. Nearly twelve hours after, I came out of theatre still on the life support machine. The new heart didn’t work properly. I spent another week on ECMO and at the end of that week they did a test on my to see if my new heart had started working properly, well it had and they were so pleased with me that they took me off the machine and sewed me back up.

The next day I went up to the normal ward, where I had a long and slow recovery ahead of me. I came out of hospital just before Christmas 2002, and have been getting better ever since.

In fact I am so well that I ran a 50-metre sprint in the National Transplant games last Summer. I go to nursery every day and in my spare time I do football training and am having French lessons, so hopefully I’ll be able to play for Arsenal when I get older.

Second Life Magazine Page Thirteen 28th March 2011 Issue Two

Q&A Time with the Second Life Team

Catriona Hamilton, Found-er of Transplant Kids and moher of Transplantee Aaron

Travel Insurance?

Me and my family are planning a little holiday away with our son who has had a liver and kidney transplant. I’ve just called the insurer Venturesure through whom we've always had a

good reasonably priced travel insurance in the past to find out they've been taken over and wont even give me a quote! They suggested Free Spirit one I have used a few years back to be quoted £185 for one week for Dave!!!

The 2 insurers I've recommended to others in the past no longer hold any status in my book! Does anyone have an in-surer they could recommend?

We're not off till September when we've got a week booked at Port Ventura but I need to get the ball rolling esp if I need to sign declarations for Stephens conditions!

Thanks in advance for any assistance...Cheers!Lou

Hi lou, I feel your pain I had the same experience last year with my son, however you are right to seek insurance when travel-ling and getting it sorted early is always a plus. The best thing to do is shop around; I know it is a pain having to go through your sons health notes with a fine tooth comb, because if you miss anything it could cost you a fortune if anything happens. The best one we could find was Endesleigh, their health insur-ance quote is "we know how it is... we simply don't want to unfairly treat those with medi-cal conditions", you can usually have a quote within 15 mins and the excess’s are not sky high, usually around £40. The best of luck and have a lovely holiday Cat.

Our Daughter Emma is starting school in a February in take at nursery, is there any-thing we need to make sure and do, infor-

mation we need to provide? We want to keep things as normal as possible for her as she is already a little behind, but we felt she needed some interaction with kids before she starts primary school in September.Ashleen and Mark

Starting School..

You are doing the right thing it can be so hard for transplant kids to fit in and begin interacting with kids as Emma has probably grown up so far with doctors and nurses. The main thing you will have to consider is making a care plan not a formal medical one but a parent /teacher guide , you can include things like drinking /sun crea/ med,timings etc.

This is not intended to replace a professional care plan- but i found i kind of know more than most of the medical -non hospi-tal staff- care to find out about

my sons needs. However you can always double check your plan over with your family doctor. It may also be a good idea to talk your plan over with Emma so she knows you is going to be caring for her while she is there.

Best of luckCat.

Second Life Magazine Page Fourteen 28th March 2011 Issue Two

Hello our little man has just got chicken pox, as with everyone things are different but thought I would tell our tale.

Scott who had a heart transplant last year is now off of his anti rejection meds but only two days before rash came out, (thanks to an auxiliary transplant that is going great) so his story may be very different to others. On a higher dose of tac, I understand the anti virals can be given up to 21 days,

He came out with pox rash on day one that evening started anti virals in the form of IV three time a day for seven days, these visually seemed to stop the rash in its tracks, his temps spiked at around 39.3 mostly in the evenings though good old calpol as required sorted that, day 7 we were at home he is still under the weather but mostly due to caching a hospital cold, (every time we go in local!) so still treating cough/cold now on day 9 – because of history local were very cautious of other problems- but seemed to be very quick to write up various meds, that he could not take, (so good idea to keep an eye on them) he seems fine during day, is there anything I need to look out for?

Andy

Chicken poxs post transplant.

Hello Andy, as with any trans-plant kid, infections like this can be very dangerous and can prove very dangerous. I would keep seeking medical advice from your family doc-tor, I would be cautious that your local hospital prescribed the wrong medication and I would mention that, thank-fully you seem to be on top of things. Make Sure Scott is taking is anti-viral tablets, and keeping his fluids up, keep an eye on the rash, especially if it spreads to the scalp, hands and feet. I would also keep him away from school and

other people for at least 2 weeks after the rash has gone as his immune system will be dangerously low.

Lisa-Marie McKenna

For all your medical questions its Nurse Lisa-Marie McK-enna

Your National Heart Month

Photo’s

Second Life Magazine Page Fifteen 28th March 2011 Issue Two