It seems like yesterday that Jo put the post up about things tracking OK and the radiation oncologist being pleased with Alex’s progress. Since then a fair amount has happened (as usual) and it’s update time.
For starters, we had a truly magical evening out with a wonderful group of friends at the Dr Who Symphonic starting with fun and laughter filled dinner at BBQ City in Chinatown. Followed by amazing music, great company throughout the evening and overall a lovely evening.
The next week, we sent Alex off to his first day of school. It’s a really cool system, given we’re at Redwood Park and the school is at Parkholm; a minibus comes by and picks up the kids from this area and shuttles them to town. His teacher meets them at the other end when the doors open, so there is a comfort and a routine in it that the kids like.
So far, so good…
He seems to be really liking school, he likes his teacher and (now the first couple of weeks has passed) rather than coming home and sleeping he’s coming home buzzing. It’s wonderful to see hime so full of life and excitement again; in fact I’m sitting here writing this welling up a little with happiness.
The weekend following Alex’s start at school, I had the delight of having both the kids to myself for a couple of days as we sent Jo off on her birthday present which was a Yoga retreat. I’m not an expert in yoga (by any stretch…) but I’d say it accomplished the goal of helping her relax and be happy since she came back looking exactly that; calm and happy.
Now (as has been the way) comes the down side to everything that’s been going on. Alex’s ears began to cause him some issues. Perhaps a side effect of the Radiation Therapy, perhaps as a result of the stinking cold he got and shared… perhaps a combination of those two or perhaps just more shit bad luck. But after a bit of waiting, a bit of aggregation and a bit of persistence on the part of Jo we managed to get an appointment in ENT at the hospital and ended up just this last Friday having grommets put in his ears.
We did have something of a chuckle at the “it means we’ll have to give him a general anaesthetic” from the ENT specialist, but when we went “what, another one?” he realised that Jo wasn’t new to this, nor is she a panic merchant.
The great news is that (while he’s not been particularly well today, still lethargic from the GA and a bit nauseous) his hearing appears to be significantly better already. In fact it appears that now as compared to pre-grommets; his hearing is better without his hearing aids than it was before surgery with his hearing aids in. We’re just hopeful that the relief of pressure on his ears will make a big difference to how he feels generally and reduce the vomiting.
As always, I’ll finish off by saying thank you to each and every one of you who has taken the time to contact us in any way to put forward offers of support or simply to touch base and see how we’re doing. Without the love and support of so many of our friends and family, this rocky road would be so much harder.
Also, just a reminder that the Little Heroes Foundation have been a massive source of help to us also. If you’ve got a few dollars you can spare, the money goes to families like ours who need the support and perhaps don’t know where to look to find it.
Thanks again everyone,
Phil
