Zoe: Things that go beep in the night

The home phone started ringing as we were putting the kids to bed last night. I assumed it would be the grandparents seeing what kind of weekend we'd had as they seem to be the only people who ever use the land line these days so it was a bit of a shock when a voice said he was the paediatric registrar at the Whittington, our local hospital. He explained that Sonny's blood test results taken earlier that afternoon were showing that his potassium levels were dangerously low and that he needed to come in straight away. We had been warned that we would get to know our local hospital very well but I had only assumed we'd be going there for blood transfusions and when Sonny was feeling unwell. He didn't seem unwell to me so we rang Great Ormond Street for advise who explained that any reading under 3.5 was dangerous to the heart. Since his was 2.2 we rang a taxi straight away and hastily packed a bag. Great Ormond Street also said that the test could also be faulty so it was this tack we took with Sonny placing a bet with him he'd be back in his bed in no time leaving Gav consoling a sobbing Ruby remembering last time Sonny had left in a cab for the Whittington he didn't return home for 2 months...

The Whittington has a very impressive new facade and facade it is as the wards themselves are like being on the set of Life on Mars. However the nurse on charge was pleasant enough and repeat tests were taken quickly while Sonny was made to drink a potion even Alice in Wonderland would have turned her nose up at. Unfortunately, the news wasn't good and at 2am we were the lone bed in HDU with the noise of Sonny's scared sobs and babies crying blocked only by a nylon curtain. The noise of Sonny's heart monitor gave us both a very broken sleep and the whole thing seemed a bit of a nonsense when in the morning I peeled the stickers off his chest and popped him in a dodgy minicab booked by the Whittington so that he could be on time for his chemo appointment back at GOSH at 10am.