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.
What a weekend!
I don't know what was going on - and I'll confess to being a bit grumpier than normal after a busy week with the journey to London etc. - but it was dreadful.
The back story is that both the kids can be a bit difficult to get out of the house at the weekend. To be blunt, they're both something of a couch potato. This is understandable with Alex, and Jessica is just reaching that teenage kind of thing. I don't like to spend all weekend knocking around the house. So you can see there's a source of tension there.
To cut a long story short, it all went horribly wrong. We still ended up knocking around the house, but had at least 3 major ("I hate you all" style) rows with Jessica. This of course set Alex off on the wrong foot too. All hell broke loose basically.
We've agreed that for next week we need to agree a plan of action well in advance so that we can forewarn the kids, and hopefully not row so much. It's reached the point that doing anything at the weekend requires a 2 hour row in the morning to force the kids out of the house. We need to find a way around that.
Changing the subject, my return to Byzantine history continues after my visit to the Byzantium exhibition at the Royal Academy last week. I've picked up a copy of Charles Diehl's "Byzantium: Greatness and Decline" on Ebay cheaply, which should make interesting reading, although it's a little old now. I am currently re-reading Robin Cormack's book on Byzantine Art.
I still haven't really thought through how I feel about the exhibition itself. I need to post again about that I think. I can understand why the minor arts have received so much attention though. Some of the ivories and enamel work is truly stunning.
Well, what a 48 hours! I am currently sitting on the train travelling back from London to Liverpool. Yesterday I was at a very intense interview day for a development and mentoring programme (probably more trouble than it's worth in terms of what the programme offers, but good practice to keep my interview skills up to scratch).
I spent the evening with my sister Katie, and then today visited the Byzantium exhibition at the Royal Academy. This is something I've been wanting to see since I first saw it advertised last year. I still can't quite believe that I've managed to see it.
Thoughts on the exhibition? I was impressed by the sheer quality of the smaller pieces - enamels and miniatures. There was an ivory plaque of Christ Pantokrator from the 10th century I've not seen a picture of which was very impressive. For the items I had seen in books, they were far more impressive in reality than a photograph can convey. Well worth the visit. I was surprised that the icons which most impressed me were the very late ones by Akotantos (unusual because the artist signed the work). Very strong emotionally. I treated myself to the catalogue mostly to remind me what I saw.
Katie was incredibly generous and helpful, looking after me and making sure I got where I needed to go, although she was in work both days. Steve as gracious as ever - I walked away with a byzatine coin and a book as gifts.
Time, to go but I will blog more on my thoughts on the Byzantium exhibition when I get home, assuming I get the time.
Christmas is now over, and I'm back at work. The kids go back to school in about a week's time.
The day itself was OK. We did very little either on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. Watched TV, played with the children's new games, generally had fun. On the 27th we went out for a walk - did a couple of miles across some frosty ground which was very refreshing and great fun until Jessica stuck her foot through the ice in a puddle and got wet - and then complained all the way back that she was uncomfortable and that she hated the walk.
Sunday was even more fun when we went to IKEA. Bought a new table, although typically they didn't have any of the chairs we wanted in stock, and we'll therefore have to go back at some point. This seems to be typical at the moment. Whenever we've gone there they never have what we want in stock. Or at least only some of it (which is even more frustrating).
Anyway, back at work and preparing for a bunch load of project work that I'm going to have to do in the New Year. Quite looking forward to it in some ways, although I've sold myself as being really good at projects, so there will be a lot of pressure on me to 'perform'.
I also have an interview for an accelerated development programme in the New Year, which I'm hoping to tie in with a visit to the Byzantium exhibition at the Royal Academy. Should be interesting.
Deb is going for a MRI scan shortly, but I'll say no more about that until there's a bit more to tell. She's a little unnerved though.
That's all for now. I've had a bit of a saga trying to get pictures of Jessica in the school play onto the blog, but I'll have another go over the weekend.
