A wobble and a limp

Since her birthday party Della has not really enjoyed being on her feet as much as normal. So much so that I took her to see the doctor at the beginning of last week to get her checked out. It turned out that she has Reactive Arthritis. This is a condition left over from a bad virus (which she had been suffering with for a few weeks). It is in her hips and means that although sitting down is fine she finds it painful and uncomfortable to stand and walk. The doctor prescribed ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and it should go away. It is only a temporary condition.

It had been gradually getting worse over the weekend so I took her back to the doctor and they sent us to the hospital to get checked out. They wanted to check there was no infection in the joint so needed to take some blood. To do this they put a special cream on to numb the skin, wait 45 minutes then prod around til they get some. Della wasn't keen on this, as nobody would be. Although very randomly she started to laugh half way through it - think she got confused!!

Bandages on hands, ready for blood collection

Mammy, what is this funny cream on my feet??

They also needed to collect a urine sample. At first they put a 'bag' on. That didn't worked to asked me to try and do it. Have you ever tried to catch the wee wee of a one year old while on a hospital room all alone. Three wee wee's down my jeans, three hours later and a visit from Daddy and we eventually got enough!

Even Della needed some sugar to get her through the day! 

After all the tests and examinations the doctor was happy to let us go home and said to come back in a week if she still wasn't walking. This was a huge relief. Spending half a day on the children's ward isn't that pleasant if I'm honest. All a bit scary too. Fingers crossed she will be back to herself soon.