This is just going to be a quick update post on what's been happening this week, as I've been feeling a bit rough for most of the time, so I'll keep this fairly brief.
Monday was quite quiet, just dropping the kids off at school ... trying to motivate myself to get some housework done, when all I really wanted to do was curl up with my laptop and write ... but I did get some cleaning done.
Seren had Brownies that night, and I paid for a 'Christmas Sleepover' she's going to be attending in a few weeks time. It'll be her first sleepover away from family. She's slept at the in-laws a few times, and with us at my parents' house, and at the childrens hospice with us, but as far as I can remember, she's never slept away from us all before. She's very excited!
The Brownie leader told me that one of the members of staff has cared for a little girl with CF before, and so she is able to do percussion physio, and will be able to take charge of Seren's meds, which makes us feel a lot better about letting her sleep away.
Poor old Dylsie-boy came home from school with a really nasty black eye! Just before the end of school, he collided with another boy and he definitely came off worse. The other boy's head caught him on the bone under his eyebrow, and immediately a large red lump came up ...
That's what it looked like that evening.
And the following morning, it looked even worse. The red had turned purple, blue and even black ...
And even now, on Friday evening, it still looks nasty. Browny-greeny-blacky colour and the bruising covers a large area. He looks like he's been in the ring with Mike Tyson! He hasn't found it overly painful though, thankfully, and it is healing now.
Monday was also a landmark day because it was the day my Dad had his last Radiotherapy session! Wooo hooo! He had 15 doses spread over three weeks, and even though he was only on a relatively low dose (30), it still hit him quite hard and he's still feeling the effects. But he's very glad that he's conquered yet another mountain, and that he now gets a break from treatment while his abdomen heals from the Radiotherapy.
In 8-12 weeks, he'll have another scan (not sure if that will be a CT or a PET scan) to see if he's ready for the really big dose of intravenous chemo. The biggest mountain of all.
I am so proud of my Dad, he is fighting so hard to beat this awful cancer, and he is so much stronger than I could ever hope to be. And it's not as if he's just fighting cancer, oh no, he is also suffering through really bad constant flare up of his
Ankylosing Spondylitis, which can't be treated (not even with a short course of steroids) until his cancer treatment is completely finished. And so of course, the AS stuff is running riot through his body and is causing him horrendous amounts of pain, but through it all, he is incredibly brave, and I couldn't be prouder of him.
Go Dad!!! Tuesday was busier, as I had my friend Suzy and her little boy round in the morning, which was lovely, and then after a quick lunch, it was time to dash to school to attend Dylan's SHARE afternoon!
When I got there, he was so pleased to see me, and straight away, he asked to do some painting, so that's what we did. He painted a multi-coloured ghost, lol. Once he was all finished, he wasn't too sure what to do next, so he showed me the shop area of his classroom, and he sold me a dressing up dress. :o)
Then he overheard someone saying they should go to the hall next, so he wanted to do that too. When we got there, there were various tasks set out for the children to work at, and the first was to analyse a photo and see how everyone was feeling in it. That quickly bored him, so we moved onto another task.
This one required him to draw a picture of how he would show someone he cared, or help someone. He totally didn't understand the task, but he drew a couple of random pictures and enjoyed that. And then he asked to go home. 1 1/2 hours before the SHARE afternoon was supposed to end. Hmm.
I suggested we go find another task, one which might be better suited to him, but wandering around classrooms he'd never been in before, going through crowded corridors, and so much noise and hustle and bustle was totally throwing him, and he wasn't sure how to cope with it all.
Luckily, we passed by a near-empty classroom which happened to be where his one-to-one teacher and another boy in his class (who also has autism, but slightly more severely) were 'opting out' of SHARE day. So we joined in and 'opted out' too! Phew!
So the four of us had great fun playing a magnetic fishing game, a bumble bee catching game (like Elefun) and another bumble bee game (like Kerplunk). We played that for about half an hour, and then all the children were called to go play outside while the parents had a drink, so Dylan went off happily to play.
Once the kids came back inside, we were allowed to pick up our kids early (about 35 minutes before the end of school), pick up any other siblings, and go home. And I was very glad, as I was starting to feel rough by then.
I seem to have picked up some sort of virus which is making me very tired, dizzy and nauseous, and is giving me a sore throat, sore ears and a bit of an upset stomach. I've never had a virus quite like it before.
So I pretty much rested on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, I was feeling worse, and so after dropping the kids off at school, I struggled through some housework, but spent quite a bit of time resting. I was supposed to be going to Seren's SHARE afternoon that day, but I just couldn't face it. Not knowing that I'd then have to stay for her cheerleading session, and take the kids swimming too.
I ended up going back to bed, feeling horribly guilty about missing her SHARE day after going to Dylan's the day before, but I thought she'd rather I miss that than have her miss cheerleading. So I picked Dylan up after school and we sat in the foyer while Seren had her cheerleading class. I felt so rough, but luckily Dylan was very well behaved again, oh, and he was very pleased with this sticker he got given ...
He had it stuck on his coat when I picked him up, but he insisted on giving it to me, bless him!
Thankfully, Adrian took pity on me that night and took the kids to their swimming lesson on his own, which gave me chance to rest again.
I felt quite ill during the night that night, and so wasn't feeling great when I had to drop the kids off yesterday morning, and I ended up ringing and cancelling my friend's visit for the afternoon, because I just wasn't feeling up to it, and I didn't want to share any germs with her.
So I pottered about, did some housework, and rested again. Seren had dancing last night, and she was SO excited to be wearing her dance uniform for the first time ...
She was really buzzing!
I had to give Slimming World a miss though, as I didn't feel well enough to go.
Today has been the worst day of this virus so far. My throat is getting seriously sore now, and I've definitely got some swollen glands in my neck, and my ears definitely aren't feeling right. And today I've just been SO tired.
I struggled to drop the kids off at school in the pouring rain, and as soon as I got home, I got out of my wet clothes, into my nightie, into bed, and didn't get out again until 2.55 pm, apart from to go to the bathroom, of course!
I had to force myself to walk to school to get the kids, because I was so tired that I just wanted to lie down on the wet pavement and sleep, and I felt dizzy and sick, but we got back home in one piece and the kids were great. And I was very relieved when Adrian got home from work an hour early and I went back to bed.
The kids have been tired this evening, and Seren's been a little tearful, as she took quite a bad tumble at school and skinned both her knees (two giant holes in her tights, and two giant plasters on her knees!) and hurt her wrist. She can move all her fingers, so we don't think it's broken, but it's definitely sore and she's being very careful not to use her hand much, so I think she's sprained it or something. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on it over the weekend.
Anyway.
As I'm now dosed up on Lemsip and Ibuprofen and feeling slightly more human for a while, we're now going to watch Gerard Butler being interviewed on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross ...
Tomorrow is a bit of an anniversary, so watch out for another post tomorrow ...
Monday was quite quiet, just dropping the kids off at school ... trying to motivate myself to get some housework done, when all I really wanted to do was curl up with my laptop and write ... but I did get some cleaning done.
Seren had Brownies that night, and I paid for a 'Christmas Sleepover' she's going to be attending in a few weeks time. It'll be her first sleepover away from family. She's slept at the in-laws a few times, and with us at my parents' house, and at the childrens hospice with us, but as far as I can remember, she's never slept away from us all before. She's very excited!
The Brownie leader told me that one of the members of staff has cared for a little girl with CF before, and so she is able to do percussion physio, and will be able to take charge of Seren's meds, which makes us feel a lot better about letting her sleep away.
Poor old Dylsie-boy came home from school with a really nasty black eye! Just before the end of school, he collided with another boy and he definitely came off worse. The other boy's head caught him on the bone under his eyebrow, and immediately a large red lump came up ...
That's what it looked like that evening.
And the following morning, it looked even worse. The red had turned purple, blue and even black ...
And even now, on Friday evening, it still looks nasty. Browny-greeny-blacky colour and the bruising covers a large area. He looks like he's been in the ring with Mike Tyson! He hasn't found it overly painful though, thankfully, and it is healing now.
Monday was also a landmark day because it was the day my Dad had his last Radiotherapy session! Wooo hooo! He had 15 doses spread over three weeks, and even though he was only on a relatively low dose (30), it still hit him quite hard and he's still feeling the effects. But he's very glad that he's conquered yet another mountain, and that he now gets a break from treatment while his abdomen heals from the Radiotherapy.
In 8-12 weeks, he'll have another scan (not sure if that will be a CT or a PET scan) to see if he's ready for the really big dose of intravenous chemo. The biggest mountain of all.
I am so proud of my Dad, he is fighting so hard to beat this awful cancer, and he is so much stronger than I could ever hope to be. And it's not as if he's just fighting cancer, oh no, he is also suffering through really bad constant flare up of his Ankylosing Spondylitis, which can't be treated (not even with a short course of steroids) until his cancer treatment is completely finished. And so of course, the AS stuff is running riot through his body and is causing him horrendous amounts of pain, but through it all, he is incredibly brave, and I couldn't be prouder of him.
Go Dad!!!
Tuesday was busier, as I had my friend Suzy and her little boy round in the morning, which was lovely, and then after a quick lunch, it was time to dash to school to attend Dylan's SHARE afternoon!
When I got there, he was so pleased to see me, and straight away, he asked to do some painting, so that's what we did. He painted a multi-coloured ghost, lol. Once he was all finished, he wasn't too sure what to do next, so he showed me the shop area of his classroom, and he sold me a dressing up dress. :o)
Then he overheard someone saying they should go to the hall next, so he wanted to do that too. When we got there, there were various tasks set out for the children to work at, and the first was to analyse a photo and see how everyone was feeling in it. That quickly bored him, so we moved onto another task.
This one required him to draw a picture of how he would show someone he cared, or help someone. He totally didn't understand the task, but he drew a couple of random pictures and enjoyed that. And then he asked to go home. 1 1/2 hours before the SHARE afternoon was supposed to end. Hmm.
I suggested we go find another task, one which might be better suited to him, but wandering around classrooms he'd never been in before, going through crowded corridors, and so much noise and hustle and bustle was totally throwing him, and he wasn't sure how to cope with it all.
Luckily, we passed by a near-empty classroom which happened to be where his one-to-one teacher and another boy in his class (who also has autism, but slightly more severely) were 'opting out' of SHARE day. So we joined in and 'opted out' too! Phew!
So the four of us had great fun playing a magnetic fishing game, a bumble bee catching game (like Elefun) and another bumble bee game (like Kerplunk). We played that for about half an hour, and then all the children were called to go play outside while the parents had a drink, so Dylan went off happily to play.
Once the kids came back inside, we were allowed to pick up our kids early (about 35 minutes before the end of school), pick up any other siblings, and go home. And I was very glad, as I was starting to feel rough by then.
I seem to have picked up some sort of virus which is making me very tired, dizzy and nauseous, and is giving me a sore throat, sore ears and a bit of an upset stomach. I've never had a virus quite like it before.
So I pretty much rested on Tuesday night.
On Wednesday, I was feeling worse, and so after dropping the kids off at school, I struggled through some housework, but spent quite a bit of time resting. I was supposed to be going to Seren's SHARE afternoon that day, but I just couldn't face it. Not knowing that I'd then have to stay for her cheerleading session, and take the kids swimming too.
I ended up going back to bed, feeling horribly guilty about missing her SHARE day after going to Dylan's the day before, but I thought she'd rather I miss that than have her miss cheerleading. So I picked Dylan up after school and we sat in the foyer while Seren had her cheerleading class. I felt so rough, but luckily Dylan was very well behaved again, oh, and he was very pleased with this sticker he got given ...
He had it stuck on his coat when I picked him up, but he insisted on giving it to me, bless him!
Thankfully, Adrian took pity on me that night and took the kids to their swimming lesson on his own, which gave me chance to rest again.
I felt quite ill during the night that night, and so wasn't feeling great when I had to drop the kids off yesterday morning, and I ended up ringing and cancelling my friend's visit for the afternoon, because I just wasn't feeling up to it, and I didn't want to share any germs with her.
So I pottered about, did some housework, and rested again. Seren had dancing last night, and she was SO excited to be wearing her dance uniform for the first time ...
She was really buzzing!
I had to give Slimming World a miss though, as I didn't feel well enough to go.
Today has been the worst day of this virus so far. My throat is getting seriously sore now, and I've definitely got some swollen glands in my neck, and my ears definitely aren't feeling right. And today I've just been SO tired.
I struggled to drop the kids off at school in the pouring rain, and as soon as I got home, I got out of my wet clothes, into my nightie, into bed, and didn't get out again until 2.55 pm, apart from to go to the bathroom, of course!
I had to force myself to walk to school to get the kids, because I was so tired that I just wanted to lie down on the wet pavement and sleep, and I felt dizzy and sick, but we got back home in one piece and the kids were great. And I was very relieved when Adrian got home from work an hour early and I went back to bed.
The kids have been tired this evening, and Seren's been a little tearful, as she took quite a bad tumble at school and skinned both her knees (two giant holes in her tights, and two giant plasters on her knees!) and hurt her wrist. She can move all her fingers, so we don't think it's broken, but it's definitely sore and she's being very careful not to use her hand much, so I think she's sprained it or something. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on it over the weekend.
Anyway.
As I'm now dosed up on Lemsip and Ibuprofen and feeling slightly more human for a while, we're now going to watch Gerard Butler being interviewed on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross ...
Tomorrow is a bit of an anniversary, so watch out for another post tomorrow ...