Due to health constraints we were unable to attend the triduum services at our church but we did manage Easter Sunday Mass. In addition to hearing the Hallelujah once more we also renewed our baptismal promises, it is quite something to hear a church in unison rejecting Satan and his lies and to make a stand for God :-)
Once home the Hoppity Bunny had left an Easter trail for Pip and then she, Tom and Sara had some fun painting the eggs:
We have had a higher than usual round of hospital and clinic appointments these past few weeks. On the Monday of Holy Week both Dave and Pip were at hospital appointments twenty miles apart! I did a fair bit of driving that day :-) Dave's appointment was first around lunch time for an MRI scan. Pip and I went in search of drinks and a snack and when we returned we could hear the machine making a banging noise. Dave was in the mobile scanning truck which was parked in the car park. I must admit I felt for him being inside such a noisy and claustrophobic machine. He doesn't mind confined spaces but is needle phobic so the injection part is the worst :-(
We had time to snaffle some lunch parked in a shopping area car park before travelling to the next hospital for blood and urine tests for Pip. I was more than apprehensive since Benedict has had some really bad experiences in this department. Thankfully the anaesthetic cream worked a treat and Pip was suitably distracted with a game on the ipad!
On Thursday of this week, we travelled another twenty miles to a specialist clinic so that Pip could be fitted with her hearing aids. She did really well throughout the whole procedure but it was a bit daunting taking her into a restaurant on the way home for some lunch. We managed to find a quite spot and thankfully the place was not overly busy. The hearing aids are meant to self adjust according to the background noises but still it was incredibly overwhelming. After all Pip was hearing sounds she had probably not heard in quite some time. Only yesterday she remarked that the keys on the lap top make a clicking sound when they are pressed. As with a lot of medical conditions we were given a heap of information including the contact details of our local children's deaf club. I think it is important that she meets other kids with hearing loss as only another person in the same situation can truly understand.
A gluten free goats cheese and red pepper pesto tart, with side salad and chips. I asked the waitress three times to check that the dish really was gluten free! I did not want a repeat of my hospital stay from a few months back but in all honesty it is the first time I have ever seen a gluten free pastry dish being offered on the menu.
It is interesting to read that hearing aids help to magnify sounds as best they can but they cannot ever truly replicate the fine balance between the ear and the brain. Crowded and noisy public places will always be a nightmare for her as she is unable to filter out the background noise and concentrate on one individual speaker. Pip is really good at lip reading otherwise her work at school would have suffered but that too comes with a price to pay and the level of concentration required is quite exhausting. Also hearing aids are no good in traffic situations since they are unable to pick up the required sounds and on her favourite bike ride on Morecambe prom, she is totally oblivious to people or bikes behind her, so it is pretty useless another cyclist dinging their bell for her to move out of the way! I have seen a high visibility jacket that has " caution deaf rider" emblazoned across the back, it does make me feel a little uncomfortable that her disability is being drawn attention too, but in reality the safety aspect wins hands down.
Despite the difficulties of the past few weeks Pip has still made consistent strides with her home school programme and Benedict has finally shown an interest in a history project, which is all good. I did however spare them the onerous task of dissecting this poor creature:
We have lived in this house since 1992 and never once have we encountered a rat! Field mice yes but not a rat. I think it might have been poisoned and had some how made its way into our garden. Our compost bin only consists of vegetable peelings and grass cuttings and since we do not have any pets there is no food source for vermin.
As for dissection, I remember our science teacher at Our Lady's Convent Grammar school keeping rats preserved in formaldehyde in the science lab fridge! That classroom always had a peculiar smell :-)
Never a dull moment at this end, eh?!