Oh, and one last thing....

I failed to mention the overwhelming sense of fear suffered by Ellie in the lead up to the appointment, the last couple of days have seen her behaving totally out of character, tears and tantrums. She's never been before, and even so far through all this illness, been that sort of child. The anxiety levels we were all experiencing were through the roof.

It's no wonder she's become hospital phobic, our first trip to A&E lasted 13 hours, most of those spent waiting around and repeating her story to various doctors and nurses, and a good couple spent puncturing veins in a desperate attempt to retrieve blood samples that were not forthcoming from her sunken, dehydrated veins. She was discharged to return for more tests the following week. When she was admitted she ended up being sedated and pinned down by myself and 2 nurses as she fought to stop the nasogastric tube being inserted into her stomach as she retched and screamed and begged us to stop. And the nausea, pain and humiliation of the experience did not end there. She left a week later in only a little less pain and a lot more traumatised.

So it's no surprise that she begged and pleaded not to go today, she said she knew what would happen, we'd have a long boring wait and then she be prodded and poked and asked the same questions. And she was right, that was exactly what happened. But I saw the relief on her face on the train home that another trip to see medical professionals was over, and without it escalating out of her control and into a more unpleasant experience than she is already suffering having to live her life as it is right now.