Saturday 14th Feb
Andy and I may have spent most of Valentine's Day apart but we still managed to swap cards at shift changeover (both cards bought at the hospital shop so lucky we didn't pick the same one). I even managed to pen a quick love poem of sorts - "Roses are red, Violets are blue, If I do tonight and tomorrow, can you do the following two?" - who said romance is dead......
Unfortunately Saturday morning saw no change to Celia's condition so I took Max and Mabel up to the hospital in the afternoon. We ventured down to the hospital's cafe and sat at an outside table as it was a beautiful day plus I thought fresh air would do Celia good. After 5 minutes, however, she was struggling and wanted to go back to bed. Usually when she is sick the only things that can bring a smile to her face are Max and Mabel but not today so Andy left with the kids and I settled in for a long evening. The hospital is pretty deserted at weekends as they try to discharge as many patients as possible on a Friday. All the playrooms are shut, the Ronald McDonald room has reduced hours and there are no play therapists so the atmosphere on the children's ward is very flat which is most frustrating if your child happens to be inconveniently sick outside Monday to Friday working hours!?
I saw a few parents today who were obviously at the start of their cancer journey; the shell-shocked expression and red hospital bag were the main giveaway signs.
The Redkite charity give all parents one of these red beach bags when your child is diagnosed with cancer so when you pass another parent with 'the bag', you swap empathetic smiles because even if you don't know each other, you both know a lot of the the same people!
Her temperature was still 38.8 at midnight so it is unlikely we will get out tomorrow as it needs to be stable for 24 hours.
Andy and I may have spent most of Valentine's Day apart but we still managed to swap cards at shift changeover (both cards bought at the hospital shop so lucky we didn't pick the same one). I even managed to pen a quick love poem of sorts - "Roses are red, Violets are blue, If I do tonight and tomorrow, can you do the following two?" - who said romance is dead......
Unfortunately Saturday morning saw no change to Celia's condition so I took Max and Mabel up to the hospital in the afternoon. We ventured down to the hospital's cafe and sat at an outside table as it was a beautiful day plus I thought fresh air would do Celia good. After 5 minutes, however, she was struggling and wanted to go back to bed. Usually when she is sick the only things that can bring a smile to her face are Max and Mabel but not today so Andy left with the kids and I settled in for a long evening. The hospital is pretty deserted at weekends as they try to discharge as many patients as possible on a Friday. All the playrooms are shut, the Ronald McDonald room has reduced hours and there are no play therapists so the atmosphere on the children's ward is very flat which is most frustrating if your child happens to be inconveniently sick outside Monday to Friday working hours!?
I saw a few parents today who were obviously at the start of their cancer journey; the shell-shocked expression and red hospital bag were the main giveaway signs.
The Redkite charity give all parents one of these red beach bags when your child is diagnosed with cancer so when you pass another parent with 'the bag', you swap empathetic smiles because even if you don't know each other, you both know a lot of the the same people!
Her temperature was still 38.8 at midnight so it is unlikely we will get out tomorrow as it needs to be stable for 24 hours.
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