making progress

I can't believe it's been over three weeks since my last post ... my goodness, so much has happened since then, just wait till you hear about my summer. The one which turned out to be the most unpredictable, unusual and completely disrupted we've had so far.

It all began so well; a first relaxed week in Dorset followed by another in Cornwall with my parents where I celebrated my birthday. Hubby booked lunch for all, during which my father began to feel unwell and promptly fainted into his fancy food meaning the paramedics were sent to join us and we didn't manage the merest glimpse of the pudding menu. Thankfully all turned out to be well but MLF made sure we didn't forget with her many 'impressions of Grandpa fainting' - poor man!

We'd been toying for a while with the idea of using hubby's gargantuan supply of air miles to take a holiday around Vancouver Island, but had nothing booked for a variety of reasons. These ranging from the man himself's frequent travels abroad for two weeks at a time, but more likely the general disorganisation that shares our household. But then when we finally sprang into action, having fine tuned every last detail of our unforgettable vacation, there were suddenly no international flights to be had for love nor money. It would appear the majority of residents of this planet are actually less tardy than we are and doubtless made their bookings several months before!

But whilst we were discussing where to take a last minute holiday, hubby was called down under for a fortnight to iron out a few company problems. The invitation was there to join but knowing he'd have to work the whole time, any initial excitement faded as we realised we would doubtless be a distraction so we changed our dates and booked a week in France on his return. My very wise and sensible cousin jokingly suggested that someone, somewhere, didn't want me to go away and perhaps it was all for the best. Little did we know how right she would be. Only days later my Mother suffered a heart attack (mild, thank you God) and was subsequently told she would need a by-pass op, asap. Thank goodness we didn't hot foot it to Oz then.

NHS waiting lists being as they are, the first availability was in London during, you've guessed it, the week of the French holiday we'd booked only a matter of days earlier. I'd been nagging my parents for ages to come up and see us, only this wasn't quite what I had in mind!

Watching your Mother being wheeled away for a major operation is very very tough and the thoughts that go through your mind range across a massive spectrum of emotions. It was particularly difficult since at the time she went in, she seemed the picture of health, although of course we all knew she wasn't. We also knew that only hours later would bring a different scenario altogether; that for a time she would be incapable of doing things for herself, able to speak or even think clearly and certainly unable to move about. Then we all reached a very low point when she suffered renal failure together with a collapsed lung. The heart op had been a resounding success but now we were facing a set of problems we hadn't anticipated and it even crossed my mind we might lose her.

But now the operation is eleven days behind us, all is going well and we can finally see progress at an astonishing speed. I've also had the luxury of being able to make daily visits, even staying a week at the hospital, keeping my father company. She should hopefully be transferring to a more local hospital next week before returning home not too long after that. To think, she went to her doctor for a quick ECG at the beginning of August and hasn't yet made it home!

And the holiday in France? Thankfully we have been able to shift our bookings to October Half Term and in any case, I bet it was raining there that week ... it certainly was here!

So that's about it folks. Phew, so glad to have got all that off my chest - goodness, blogging today seems just like therapy. Only cheaper!

Have a lovely weekend x