It was Wednesday tea time, the same as any other, when I was feeding Lydia and noticed a lump on her neck about the size of a golf ball. She had had a temperature on and off for a couple of days and had been a little out of sorts with her feeding and sleeping and generally being unsettled. The lump was only on one side of her neck, had appeared suddenly and was hard. That evening I took her to the UTC in Crawley where she was assessed, with an initial diagnosis of a blocked lymph node we were sent to East Surrey Hospital. 
I have only driven to ESH once on my own before and never from Crawley, it was late (about 10pm), dark and raining (not my favourite driving conditions) but the Lord undertook it for us to arrive safely and without getting lost. We spent a large portion of the night in cubicles in A and E, she began a course of antibiotics via iv, and we were finally admitted to the ward at 3.30am.
The following day we were blessed by a friend who came to play with the children whilst Steve drove Matthew to ESH to bring us supplies and collect the car. This was the last time I was going to see Matthew as Anna then became ill too with vomiting. By Friday morning we knew that Lydia was going to be transferred and possibly have an operation but we didn’t know when or where to. She was nil by mouth on Friday from 9.30am-8pm. It can only be a miracle that she was so settled all day. Another friend came to visit bringing with her more supplies as we now knew that we were going to be several days. She also surprised me with a bag full of goodies, mostly edibles, which I told her I really didn’t need. She also left Lydia a dummy to help calm her as I could no longer breast feed. It turned out that both these things were a God send.
We were transferred to St. George’s in Tooting at about 5pm on Friday and sat in A and E for several hours, in the process I had missed any evening meal and so the bag of edibles came in handy after all. By 8pm we had seen an ENT doctor who confirmed that they would operate but not until tomorrow when we would be put on a waiting list. Lydia could be fed through the evening but had to be nil by mouth again after 4am. At 9.30am the anaesthetist came to see me and told me Lydia would be in theatre for 10am. He explained to me how anaesthetic works with babies and how they can find the gas mask distressing and how it can be quite upsetting. Lydia on the other hand chose to lick at the gas as they gave it to her and fell peacefully into sleep, she wasn’t distressed at all. And after one hour and 15 minutes in theatre she was finished. After about 15 minutes she opened her eyes for a while and then she slept and fed simultaneously for about three hours.
The biggest answer to prayer for me was that Lydia got to keep her smile. The position of the abscess and its size (by the time it was operated on it was about the size of a tennis ball) on such a little girl meant that there was a very real possibility that they would catch the nerve that allows your mouth to turn upwards when you smile. It runs under your jaw line and would have left that side of her mouth drooping. I don’t think it is something I will take for granted again and will always be a reminder of God’s blessing towards us.
On Sunday the ENT doctors removed the packing from the wound, 24 hours earlier than they planned to. The biggest blessing of the day was a visit from a friend. She phoned me about 7pm and asked if she could come, it was going to take about 40 minutes for her to drive so could I pray that the traffic was okay. I also prayed that she wouldn’t get lost (because she has a habit of doing that.) And she arrived at 7.50 having driven on clear roads and found the hospital, car park, wing and ward without any problems. We went to the coffee shop and I was so thankful to see a familiar face. On the way home she got lost several times and stuck in traffic.
Monday was spent waiting, waiting, waiting for one doctor to come and see Lydia. She arrived at 3pm to tell us that all was well and we could go home. Thank you to Steve for coming to collect us.
It wasn’t an easy time being apart as a family. Matthew worked hard to try and find friends and family who could help out. Unfortunately my parents are on the holiday of a lifetime in New Zealand, my sister’s son has broken his fibula so she was looking after him, my friend who initially came to play with the children had caught the sickness bug that Anna had, my other friend who came to visit me on the Friday had a house full of coughs and colds to look after. We were grateful to Matthew’s sister who had the boys to stay for two nights, before catching Flu herself, and to another friend who had Anna to play for the day.
Despite everything Lydia and I knew that God was with us and taking care of us, but most of all we thank God that we are home again.
Heidi Steel
March 2015
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