My Boy

Was rudely awoken by my Mum this morning with the news that little Henry (my Nephew) was in hospital! Thankfully, he seems fine today, but what a shocker! It is REALLY frightening how what appears to be a bit of a nasty cough/cold for a child can so quickly become very serious! Yesterday afternoon, Grandad commented on Henry's nasty cough, and although Tracy said it sounded quite a harsh cough, she had no cause for deep concern. To cut a long story short, poor Henry's condition worsened quite rapidly (temperature raised, became floppy/sleepy, vomiting) - culminating in him panicking because he couldn't breathe between coughs - Tracy says it is a blessing that he likes having the baby monitor in his room for the music it plays, as she managed to hear him having breathing difficulties! Thankfully, Sam was around (as he was sposed to have Henry last night), so they managed to get him first to a walk-in medical centre locally, and then in an ambulance to James Paget Hospital. Tracy said it almost broke her heart when he still managed to squeak out that he loved her, and that he could see the Christmas lights through the window of the ambulance... Thankfully, on arrival in hospital, he responded immediately to the drugs they gave him on the Children's ward, and was reluctant to stay in bed (not through fear/illness), but because he was desperate to play with the doll's house on the ward! The weird thing that we couldn't work out, was when the ambulance arrived to say he was being taken to hospital, he went into a blind panic - although Tracy says he has no experience of hospitals, in the negative sense at least! Must have picked it up on CBBC or something! Anyway... he is home now, and looking very pale/tired with bloodshot eyes, bless him. It appears that he may have had Croup, which is a viral infection that can turn threatening for some children. It is also contagious, so she has to keep him away from little Oscar for the next couple of days - which may prove difficult! She has also been told that he has a heart murmur, which may/may not be due to the viral infection, but there will be tests for this... I am SO relieved that he has got out of this mostly unscathed though. Makes you realise how fragile we all are!

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful really! Wednesday night, we (Mark and I, and Robert and Emma) went to see The Broken Family Band, who I have to say were pretty amazing. The band play an excellent set, interspersed with much joking and chit chat by the lead singer - made for a really good night out. This was at the end of a fairly stressy day in London - I had to pack up my desk in the St. Mary Axe office, as we are moving en masse to Canary Wharf this weekend. I am SO looking forward to adding another 45 minutes to my journey into London once a week, to go and sit at a 'hot desk' (I have no allocated desk this time) on the 38th floor of a big terrorist target next to London City Airport.... call me cynical if you like, but it doesn't fill me with joy! I guess I can't really complain, as all the others have to be there every day of the week. But, still... whinge... whine... splat.

A pretty quiet weekend planned. Tonight, Mark is out with some work friends in the Local, and I am going to his Mum's for dinner (I have the chicken stew in the slow cooker already!). Tomorrow morning, Mark will undoubtedly be sleeping off the beer, and I am going into the City for a full body massage (THANKS JEN!) and to finish my Christmas shopping... in the evening, Mark and Lindsey are coming to stay the night, so it should be good to see them. No plans for Sunday at the moment, but am hoping to spend some quality time with Mark.

The garage/workshop is going great guns at the moment - the roof is going on as I type, so that will be good! Can't wait to see the finished result - looks nice enough to live in at the moment! Speaking of which, my house is not up for rent yet... so finger's crossed for that!

Anyway..
Love to all. Have a great weekend, and I promise I will try and get some cards written this weekend!

Hayls
xxxx