Hand holding please...

[Galena]

So we're off to Bristol today for an initial appointment/discussion about SDR for DD (3.4) She has cerebral palsy, but it's only mild and she walks unaided, albeit a bit wobbly and falls a lot. This operation could change her life - removing the muscle tightness, helping her to walk 'normally' and allowing her bones to grow straight.

But it wouldn't be funded on the NHS so we'd have to raise £40,000 and it involves on operation on one vertebra, and on the nerves where they join the spinal cord.

I don't want to ruin what she's got ability-wise, but I want the best for her.

Anyway, we're not leaving till 1ish, and I'd appreciate a little handholding and distraction until then, if it's not too much trouble...? Might put this in chat too... the more the merrier!

Not surprise you're feeling the need for a hand, I think I would have jelly legs as well. Its a big day. At least you should come away with information that you need to make a decision. We all at some point have looked into things to see if they are worth doing and likely outcomes - yours seems a big decision, so you'll need all this info.
Its always worse when you have to wait as well. Any chance of some retail therapy in Bristol before hand?
At a similar time to you leaving I will be taking 5 DC to the cinema, 1 aspergers, 1 dyspraxic, 1 being assessed - and I'm on my own

[holds hand]

I had no idea such an operation exists! How exciting! And nerve racking obviously!

Thanks all - I'll give the retail therapy a miss - a) I hate shopping, as does DD and b) we have to wait for DH to finish work at 12:30 before we leave as he's coming down too.

I don't envy you the cinema trip, auntevil - although I'm sure it'll be fab.

PooPoo , the things I've learned about since having DD have been fascinating to say the least!

a hand hold and a honk for you here, Galena.

oh, good luck with the appointment. I can see how you might need distracting from thinking about it!

Gluten and dairy free you say? What about a meringue? Egg whites and caster sugar...

If you can get some gf/df ice cream and fruit you could make a pavlova...

And thanks for the honk hazey!

would be fab, but have no blender/mixer to whizz up the egg whites (another long story ), and having had a c section 3 weeks ago cannot summon the necessary strength to do using a hand whisk (and ds won't let me put him down!)

appreciate the thought though

dd1 is set on chocolate cake - it's going to be a looooooong day...

Hmmm, can't help then (if you'd had a mixer, you could've made chocolate meringue by adding cocoa powder (if it's gluten/dairy free - never thought about it...)

I have a mixer here, but I guess that's not much help!

you can get gluten/dairy free chocolate/cocoa - I have a cupboard full of it

at the moment, the closest thing I can come up with is fairy toast/toast with chocolate honey and sprinkles

must remember the candles too

annoyingly, I have a brand spanking new kenwood sitting smugly in my kitchen, but John Lewis stuffed up and mis-advised us (and sold us the wrong model), so it needs to go back, and therefore cannot be used

Flapjack cake? What ingredients do you have silverfrog? I'm pretty good at creating GFCF with bugger all left in the cupboard. You could do a construction of lots of little cakes. I'm thinking a pyramid from rocky road, choc (have you got any CF?) covered flapjack, chocolate cereal cakes. You could make it special by heating sugar and making one of those crispy sugar webs (can't think of the proper name) and even lollies to stick out of it.

ooh, blimey - that sounds complicated, auntevil

I have:

not much (had dd1's birthday last week, and used up most of my gf flour making her rainbow cake)

ground almonds (was supposed to be doing a version of Nigella's clementine cake for dh)
clementines, lemons and limes
a couple of bars of Green and Black's dark (minus a few bits I have eaten due to stress levels ), and one of Maya gold
some chocolate lollies

random fruit (apples, pears, bananas, strawberries)

loads of eggs

a block of marzipzn (which dh will be getting, covered in chocolate and with candles stuck in, at this rate )

can't do flapjack, as no oats allowed. have a small amount of gf muesli (maybe half a bowl) and cornflakes.

also have hyper-critical children who will look at anything like cornflake cakes and pronounce 'that's not a cake' (ASD, not rudeness!)

I do have a good range of candles, and glittery icing pens, and food colouring

oh, and lots of crisps (made up most of my extra ocado order with random crap for me to scoff while bf ds overnight )

but they are probably not gf or cf (didn't check, as only ordered for me)

I have used ground almonds in biscuits before. Have you seen the biscuit 'cakes' where they layer the same shape getting smaller and smaller to get to the top? (You can use different size circles as cutters a well). Have you got any alpro soya cream? etc? You could always melt the chocolate and dribble over - I like to add the alrpo soya cream to make a chocolate sateen icing as it makes a better coverage. Decorate with fruit and make a chocolate fondue, so that the fruit can be dipped into it and eaten with the almond biscuits?

If you've got dairy-free butter stuff, there's this recipe... You seem to have the rest of the ingredients. However, it does need beaten egg whites... :(

oh, i like your thinking.

will investigate biscuit cutter situation (most of the kitchen stuff still not unpacked, and piled up in boxes I can't move) - might be able to sway them with the idea of lots of decorating of biscuits.

only got oatly cream (for dh, as he is cf only), but can't use as dd1 can't have it. but they can run free with icing pens and food colouring maybe. I will float the idea, cautiously...

That's ok - the hijack is fab because it's keeping my mind occupied...

Was going to say silverfrog, do you not get GF oats? I couldn't do without my porridge in the winter. They are so versatile in GF baking. my lot love chocolate flapjack - although I have made it with the GF muesli as well as they didn't like it as a cereal, and I hate waste - specially such expensive waste!

oh, thanks for that, Galena - I might give it a go, without separating/beating the egg whites (the clementine cake is basically the same, with pulped fruit instead of melted chocolate, and doesn't require faffing with the eggs...)

right, a plan might be forming . can sit while I melt the choc, and the rest is no more taxing (in fact much less so!) than the rainbow cake last week.

Like the recipe Galena - might give it a whirl myself later. I think after the cinema I might deserve it!!

haven't ever used gf oats (according to Sunderland when I spoke to them years ago, it wasn't just the cross contamination issue, but also that oats were out for dd1)

we used to use a rice porridge mix (Barkat?) but it didn't make very good flapjacks, and then I moved dd1 off wet breakfast once she started drinking again (she now has dry cornflakes for breakfast)

agree the gf muesli is so expensive. dh eats it for some reason , despite not being gf . can't afford it for the dds, as they go through loads of cereal in a week.

Glad I could help - do I get a slice of chocolate cake for helping?

oh, absolutely

would you like yours to be free of sticky fingerprints, genral small child detritus, and a surfeit of glitter icing? can't promise, but will do my best to reserve an unmarked corner....

Galena - you don't know my DSs - if you did, you wouldn't ask Ever seen pictures of locusts completely demolishing a field of crops in seconds - meet my DSs (well DS1 and 2 - depends if he can manage it with DS3)

lol Maybe I will have to make my own at some point!

Ho hum. Getting closer. Eating cheese on toast and feeling the terror creeping up on me! It's only a conversation, for goodness sake!