Deb is at the hospital today seeing another consultant about the lump in her neck. She was told by the last one that see needed it removed through a procedure called a 'parotidectomy' which is quite an involved operation.

Deb was expecting her appointment in March, but this has been pulled forward at the last minute. We're not quite sure why, so I'm a bit nervous about what the outcome will be - although we're assuming that the hospital are just filling a cancellation.

It was half term last week, and I had a couple of days off. Still suffering with the head cold we've all had over the last week or so. Feeling very sinus-y and with a perpetually running nose. Back in work, and struggling to make sense of the project stuff I'm trying to fit around all my other jobs.

Great walk last Monday. Trying to follow a 5 mile circular route around the Cheshire plain, we managed to miss a turn and ended up completely off the route. Luckily, we'd taken the Ordnance Survey map with us and were able to work out a route back. It was very muddy though.

And another great walk yesterday - something we've been meaning to do for a while to the 'dungeon', a waterfall in a steep little valley just off the Wirral Way. Easy walking (good surfaces) and a cafe at the end for lunch. We made about a 3 mile circular route of it. Kids found it easy going (once we persuaded them to go) and we were done before lunch.

Kids back at school today and really cranky with it.

Challenges for March - Alex's statement review on the 9th.; I'm starting as a platelet donor on the 3rd.

Exhausted at the moment. We're trying Alex on another drug called Concerta instead of his normal Ritalin, and he's not reacting to it so well. He's struggling to sleep, and has been awake early all this week.

Neither Deb nor I like keeping him on the tablets he's been taking. The dose is quite high, and we're constantly worried about the short and long term effects. So Deb talked to the paediatrician about alternatives and this is what we ended up with.

I'm nervous about trying this after our experience with Stratera, and I'm aware of Concerta's reputation. But if we want things to change, we have to be willing to try new things - always a struggle where Alex is concerned,

Anyway, early feedback is not good. He's very jumpy and over-active all the time, it seems not to do too good a job at controlling his hyperactivity - which is the point of the exercise. School seem to think he's finding it harder to focus. And to cap it all his sleeping pattern is going to pot.

Sleeping is always something we've had to regulate for Alex. He has never really settled into a pattern by himself. Anything which disrupts this always has a strong impact on the rest of the family too. We're still using Melatonin to help, but Concerta seems to be reducing it's effectiveness.

So I guess he'll be back on Equasym shortly. Just in time for his statement review, which is on Monday. I'll post more about that another day. Too tired at the moment.

Snow!

Only a light dusting so far, but the kids couldn't wait to go out in it. Jessica was up and out of the door by 8:00, which is completely unheard of. Alex slightly more sanguine, he runs to a routine so wasn't about to do something spontaneous. That said, I've no doubt that he'll have been excited once he got outside.

Only a light dusting so far, so nothing to get too excited about. Forecast is for more tonight, so we'll see how we go.