Today has been so busy for Joel.. I arrived late at the hospital thanks to bad traffic on the A34, and the car park STILL won't give a 24hr ticket for £10 despite it being reported on Monday. So, £8 for 8hrs is the maximum I can get the machine to dispense.. (If you put £10 in, the display says "Minimum payment £0.10) and won't issue a ticket... I'm not avoiding paying - it's just broken, so I'm paying the closest amount I can).
So far, I've not been clamped - but we'll see.. there's time yet.
When I got there this morning, Joel was awake, just lying there. He looked shattered. Hardly surprising - it's not the quietest of wards. Babies screaming, kids with apparent hearing deficiencies on their PSP's until the early hours, and the crackling of the vinyl floor underfoot because the adhesive wasn't laid correctly... (It's like walking on bubble wrap down that ward)....
Before long, he was playing Angry Birds on his new iPhone....
We'd bought his older sister Eve an iPod Touch for Christmas. I'd have bought Joel one as well, but he has a tendency to throw his toys on the floor when he's having a tantrum due to getting stuck - be it lego, or a WII game.... the deciding factor in him NOT getting an iPod for Christmas was when he sat on the sofa with a half built lego model and just threw it on the floor smashing it into pieces simply because he'd knocked a piece off..
He's a perfectionist.. what can I say?
"THAT'S why you didn't get an iPod for Christmas"
So now after we discover the Medulloblastoma is responsible for many of his actions recently (including the 'messing about' on stairs where he'd bounce like a pinball before crawling up on hands and knees), I think he deserves one - even if it's only because of how brave he's been so far.. but I figure it's also an admission of guilt - for blaming him for messing around when it was all probably beyond his control anyway.
He was given it yesterday - gave us a huge smile (and not a bad one at all considering he has a bit of weakness on the left side of his face due to surgery so close to his facial nerve.. which MAY be permanent, but that's acceptable in the grand scheme of things). He's taken to it like a duck to water.
The nurse came round and took some bloods from the central line in his neck. It looks so painful - it's stitched in to prevent him accidentally pulling it out, but it looks so fragile to me - as if you only have to catch it on your top for it to rip out of your skin.. yuk.
She said she'd take the line out soon.. it sounded painful, not sure I really want to see it.. Joel lies there in discomfort as she draws blood from the tap, but he doesn't moan or complain.
I go to make a cup of tea and when I get back, Joel's nurse for today says that he's got to go for an eye test immediately.. no panic - just an available slot which they don't want to miss.. "About 20-30 minutes, that's all"
I quickly finish my tea and help Joel into the wheelchair to take him downstairs to his appointment. As I'm bumping into walls and struggling to get the chair out of the lift in one piece, I'm wondering if this might be a more permanent feature in our life for the forthcoming months... I try and joke with Joel "Can I get a photo of you in your wheelchair?" I ask - before cringing and realising I'd meant to say "racing car" rather than wheelchair"...
When we reach the eye clinic, we wait in a busy waiting room for about 20 seconds before we're called through... A lady gives Joel a series of tests, including the cover test to check his squint, before doing a chart test where Joel's sight is proven to be better than mine, and I'm wearing my glasses!
At least there's nothing wrong with his eyesight then!
The Opthamologist is a young fellow, very smartly dressed.. he reminds me of Charlie Higson's "Ralph" character from The Fast Show with Paul Whitehouse as Ted. He wears a pale brown suit.. I'm not sure if it's tweed, but it certainly looks smarter than my M&S denim Jeans and shirt which hasn't been ironed in about 18 months.
He carries out several tests more detailed and varied than the optometrist who saw Joel a few minutes ago... They even take photos of the back Joel's eyes with an SLR camera (Nikon, sadly - no wonder they couldn't get a sharp picture) and we waited back in the waiting room...
Repeat a few times for different procedures... but on return each time, Joel would try to shut his eyes and have some sleep, only to be disturbed again for a new test, or for what seemed like a forgetful doctor....
It was wearing ME out, let alone Joel!
He was given a sticker for being 'Brilliant!" and we headed back up to the ward where uncle John had been waiting for 45 minutes, and a parcel had been delivered by Fed Ex.
What could it be??
One of the GP's at Louise's practice had sent a beautiful tin of biscuits from Biscuiteers.. Even the tin itself looked very pretty with its decorations, but what lay inside was even better... hand made biscuits - squidgy cookies with lovely icing....
Joel was looking forward to tasting them... and after all his hard work, I think he deserved to!
Look good enough to eat....
So hungry he could eat an elephant!
So he did!!
And it was very nice!
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