March 13, 2009

Hi everybody. Sorry for the lack of updates over the past week - things have been rather manic.
Charlie has been off school all week, and still isn't 100%. He's much, much better than he was, but he's still pretty tired and isn't eating too well (...that old chestnut again!).
We should all have been going to the Little Hearts Matter AGM this weekend, but Chas and I are staying home, and Pete's going on his own.
I'm disappointed Charlie won't get to see all his heart friends (and I won't be able to chat with their mums either!) but I don't really want to take him away for the weekend when he's still under par, and I'm hoping that after a fairly quiet weekend, he might be able to go back to school on Monday.
Of course, as well as Charlie not being well, we have everything going on with my dad, Charlie's Grandpa.
He had his pre-op checks yesterday, and will be admitted to hospital on Monday for CT scans, with surgery to follow the next day, to remove the lymph glands from under his arm.
He was told yesterday that he should be home again somewhere between three and seven days later, if all goes smoothly.
Obviously we are all hoping that the scans will be clear, because if the cancer has spread anywhere else he will need yet more treatment - probably of the chemo/radiotherapy kind. Mum and Dad really do appreciate your thoughts and prayers over this.
It will be their Golden Wedding anniversary a week tomorrow (21st) and we're not sure yet whether Dad will still be in hospital. We (my three siblings and I) did have a bit of a celebration planned, but we've put it on hold until Dad is back on his feet again after the op. However, I'm really hoping that he will be well on the road to recovery from his op by then - even if he's still in hospital - so we can still try to make the day extra special for them... even if not in quite the way we'd planned originally!
On a positive note, they have found a bungalow that they really like, and are currently in negotiations with the vendor. Charlie and I went with them to have a look at the house earlier this week, and it is lovely. It would be so perfect for them, so we are really hoping that the sale can go through smoothly.
Not much more news at the moment - Pete's still working like a madman - he's been in Halifax AND London again this week, although he's working from home all next week so he can do the school run if necessary while I'm taking Mum (who can't drive) to and from the hospital.
The one benefit of Charlie being under the weather is that he's going to sleep as soon as his head hits the pillow and sleeping for 12 hours straight - so I'm going to take advantage of that by getting the washing done, and then reading my book for a bit before having an early night!
I'll keep you posted when there's any news. Don't forget to keep an eye on the Twitter updates in the sidebar - if I've only got a little bit of news that doesn't merit a whole post, I'll update there instead.