July 28, 2009

Hello everyone. It feels like it has been ages since I last posted. Blogging is really pretty addictive... I start getting withdrawals if I haven't written anything for a few days, and start making mental notes of all the things I need to write next time.
We're all fine - Charlie is thoroughly enjoying his holidays, in spite of the typically wet British weather.
We had a BRILLIANT time at the safari park last Friday with Charlie's heart friend, Thomas. The weather forecast was diabolical, and Chas and I drove through a torrential thunder storm on the way, but when we arrived, the skies were clear and the sun was out. The best thing of all was that everyone else must have listened to the forecast, because the place was pretty quiet and the boys didn't have to queue for any of the rides! There's a slideshow of a few pics below this post (although I've spared you the pictures of the animals that Charlie took on the way around the park... most of them are somewhat abstract, to say the least! Charlie and Thomas got on like a house on fire, and Chas hasn't stopped asking when the two of them can get together again!
We went to the village summer fete on Saturday, which was held at the church where Will is buried. It sounds daft, I know, but it was really nice to be out doing something fun, and to feel like I had both my boys close at hand. Charlie won a gorgeous hanging basket in the raffle (not really his cup of tea, mind you!) but we don't have a bracket to hang it on, so rather than go out and buy one, we donated it to our next-door neighbour, who does have a bracket - so we still get to admire it, but they have to remember to water it!
We also found out that there's a memorial rose garden at the church, and as Charlie has recently decided that Will's favourite flowers are yellow roses (who am I to argue?) we've decided to put a rosebush there for Will. We know the team who maintain the churchyard, so we'll give them the money to buy a suitable bush on our behalf. The people who look after the grounds are all lovely, and have known about Will and Charlie since the beginning. They're always so concerned as to how Charlie's doing, and many of them tell me that they always stop and have a 'chat' with Will when they are working at the church. The other thing that always makes me really happy and choked all at the same time, is that they are the only people ANYWHERE who see Charlie coming up the path, and call to each other 'Oh look - here comes Will's brother!' It's so nice to have Will acknowledged like that - for people to remember him and talk about him in the same natural way that we do.
As we were chatting with the vicar, he told us another exceptionally exciting bit of news - well, at least as far as Charlie is concerned! Apparently the last two Dr Who episodes featuring David Tennant, which will be shown over Christmas and New Year, were filmed at Will's church! Charlie thinks this is really exciting (and so do I, if I'm honest!) - but we're pretty gutted that we didn't know it was happening so we couldn't nip up and let Charlie have a quick trip in the Tardis! The vicar was saying that there was a lot of filming done inside and outside of the church, so we'll be keeping our eyes open for Will's headstone in the background! So keep your eyes open when the two Christmas specials are on - according to the vicar, it's the bit with the wedding!
Charlie's been going to the holiday club in the village every morning this week, and enjoying every minute of it! It's great - two hours every morning at a local church hall, and it doesn't cost a penny! He's been doing all sorts of craft - he came home with a treasure chest yesterday, and a lighthouse today. It's all with a pirate theme, so we need to dig out his pirate costume for Thursday. Many of the kids from school go as well, so he's really been having fun.
I'm going out tomorrow evening for a ceramics night with a few friends - there's a pottery place not far from here, where you go and pick a piece of pottery, paint it and they fire it for you. I've been a couple of times with Charlie, but have never had a go at it myself. It should be a nice evening - a bit of therapeutic painting, some coffee and cake, and a lot of chatting!
Pete's up in Halifax at the end of this week, so hopefully we should finally find out what's happening with his job. It'll be good to know one way or the other.
Then next Monday, Charlie has his appointment at the hospital for his check-up. And yes, I'm really starting to feel pretty sick about it now - as per normal. It's been nine months since his last appointment, which feels like a long time for stuff to start going wrong. It's always at this point that I really start doubting myself, and wondering if I really would have noticed if he was suddenly deteriorating. It's always horrible waiting for them to check his sats, to see if he has got worse without my noticing.
I'm also feeling increasingly anxious, knowing that the ball will start rolling towards Charlie's Fontan surgery. I would be very surprised if he wasn't referred back to Birmingham after this appointment - purely because he's almost six now. While part of me can't wait to get the op out of the way - so Charlie will be able to run about more without getting so blue and breathless - the main part of me just wants to keep delaying it.
Back in January, when we were pretty convinced that Birmingham would be calling for us any minute, I hadn't even given any thought to Charlie's birthday or Christmas this year.
But Charlie's appointment isn't until August, and the waiting list for the op is around four months - which takes us up to December.
And all of a sudden, it's terribly, desperately important to me that we get to Christmas before the surgery. Don't ask me why - it's just that now his birthday and Christmas seem to be within reach, I so want to get there before we have to go back into hospital.
I know it's not important in the grand scheme of things, I really do. But it's important to me.
We shall see, I guess.
Dad is still doing pretty well. He had his second cycle of chemo last week (sorry if I've already told you that in a previous post - the perils of not posting for a few days... I can't remember what I've written and what I haven't!) Although he's felt a bit more sick this time round, it still hasn't been anywhere near as bad as we were expecting. Charlie and I went to visit yesterday, and Dad felt well enough to give me a hand building some new shelves for his shed. It was nice to have a bit of the old Dad back, I have to say. It was also good to hear that he felt ok this morning too, and that there weren't any nasty repercussions from being out in the garden building shelves!
Well, this is a very long post - another peril of not posting for a few days!
As always, please feel free to leave a message for Charlie via the 'Comments' below - he always loves to know who's been visiting!
So I'll sign off for now, although I may be back if I suddenly remember something I meant to tell you. Enjoy the slideshow below!