This Week

I've woken in pain, worked through the day in pain and collapsed into bed after tea in pain.  I have fibromyalgia and have lived with this debilitating condition for twenty years.  I haven't had a flare this bad for ages so it is taking some getting used to this time.  Hopefully the combo of meds, heat and acupuncture should calm things down in time.

I've been up virtually every night trouble-shooting Benedict's blood sugars and either correcting the highs or suspending the pump to avert the crashing lows.

I've sat in the dreaded children's outpatients followed by an appointment with the diabetes team.  The consultant spent best part of an hour staring blankly at the computer screen with Benedict's pump therapy downloads in front of him.  When a mother complained to the nurse on duty that she had to get back to work and her son should be seen, he walked out of the consultation room, without even as much as a goodbye!

I spent the following morning of the consultation ringing the paediatric clinic at Leeds hospital organising a referral for Benedict to see Dr Fiona Mary Campbell, consultant diabetologist.  Dr Campbell travels extensively lecturing to professionals and parent groups, she has been involved with a pump therapy steering comittee as part of http://www.nice.org.uk/ and also works with this organisation too http://www.jdrf.org.uk/.  Leeds is about an hour and half drive from our home but the trip will be worth it to get some proper medical support for Benedict.

I've nursed one older daughter with a worrying medical problem and supported another via telephone as she encounters her own health crisis.  Prayers for both Kath and Sara would be gratefully appreciated.

We've made endless cups of tea and coffee for the bricklayers and glaziers, all with copious amounts of sugar... good job none of them have diabetes!  In spite of their interesting beverage habits they are making good progress and the exterior building works should be finished by the weekend.  Dave has taken copious photographs at the different stages, so once they've been whittled down, I'll bore you with a building post!

I encountered a mouse in the garden shed, eek!  It had chewed its way through a bag of bird seed which had been left uncovered, all unbeknown to me so when I lifted the bag the seed was everwhere!  Couldn't leave the shed in such a state, after all it would be an open house invite for a family of mice to move in, so shed clearing was the order of the day... not great when you are already in pain.  Still that's one job out of the way until next Spring.

I actually managed to organise some science work for Benedict including a fun, messy experiment.  DH did followed it through in practice, drawing on his geology training.  The activities went well and there was only a modicum of moaning when it came to writing things down.

So here are some snap shots of our past week:

A keen young gardener.

Benedict getting his gloves dirty!

Our first meal of the year outside.

Making the volcano.

Having fun watching it fizz.

Tracking the lava flow and exhibiting the volcanic changes which occur over time and through repeated eruptions.

Making a  geological study.

Playtime!

It's 3am and I'm on hypo prevention duty so I'll wander upstairs to check Mr B and then make myself another cup of this delicious tea: