Thanks

For the really kind comments regarding Oliver and his diagnosis.

It is comforting to know there is support and kindness out there, and I will reach out for it at some point for all our sakes.

So very appreciated.

xxx

moving swiftly on

because there are no other options.....

This is the drug haul we came home with on Saturday:

Obviously that is not the amount of stuff we need to carry around with us, and Oliver's daily stuff is in a little 'travel pack' bag-ette which the hospital clearly issue to children.  Much to Oliver's chagrin, this bag is bright green with a little frog picture on it.  We fondly refer to it as the gay green bag.  No offfence intended to the gay community.  I think I will have to try to trendy this item up for him. Presumably by replacing it altogether.....

On a brighter note, yesterday was mother's day and Oliver (ably paid for by Mark) bought me sparkling wine, maltesers, a DVD, the Hairy Bikers Bakeation book and some beautiful flowers:

Uplifting.  A bit.

What a difference a day makes...

...24 little hours.

Within this particular 24 little hours we discovered Oliver has diabetes. 

It feels like, within minutes, our lives changed forever.

I am sure that every parent, who gets told something life-changing feels like this.  Stunned. 

For us, there was no big build up - no advance warning - wham.  There you go, your kid's life will be more difficult for him - for ever. 

Oliver had been, suddenly, drinking loads, exceptionally unusually wetting the bed a few times and a  bit tired.  Being the sort of people Mark and I are, (paranoid parents), anything a bit extraordinary sets off alarm bells, and so Internet poking about was done, and an appointment was booked with our Doc, and on Thursday, her considered tone in uttering the word 'right,' set off alarms bells that signalled the end of life as we knew it. 

I drove straight from there to the hospital where we received the most caring of care, attention and support for two very long days, while we three had to adjust to the news our son had type 1 diabetes - for good. There is no reason why - no hereditary factors, no dietary factors - his pancreas does not produce enough insulin to  transfer sugars from foods into the body.  There it is.  That's it.  Oliver must now face an immediate future of 4 insulin injections per day, plus numerous finger-pricking blood glucose tests. 

I have to say, I just feel an immense sadness.  I feel sad his life is so fractured in this way, and so sad that the 'normality' of food he so enjoyed has gone for good. 

He has been wonderful.   He did cry.  Quite a few times.  His tears flow when the realisation that this is forever overwhelms him.  He has not cried over insulin jabs, nor the inconvenience of having his mealtimes scrutinised or the fact he can no longer freely eat whatever and whenever he likes.  (You have to know Oliver to appreciate the blow to his week this is).  His attitude to blood sugar tests and jabs 4+ times a day has been impressive.  He has done them all himself for the last day or so, and he seems to have a full grasp of what diabetes is, and what it means for him.  Our pride in his attitude is at bursting point. 

We came home this afternoon, and at the moment, we have to telephone the paediatric diabetes nurse before each meal, to tell her what he is going to eat, and after a blood sugar test, so she can tell us what insulin level he must inject in order to cope with the sugar levels in the food we are giving him.

Every time he says he is hungry, my stomach lurches, because I have to think 'What can I give him? What will this do to his blood sugar level? What will fit in with the meals he is having today? What time is it?'  I know for sure we will get on with this - it will be second nature within weeks,  I have no doubts.

I said as much to Oliver tonight as he prepared his overnight insulin, and then it hit me that this was to be our new reality, and the way we have lived with him for nine years is over for good.

That's when I felt like collapsing into self-indulgent, useless tears. 

But I didn't.   Not right now. 

Day one

of my new gardening career.  Well, day one of my new intention to run the garden.  Another lovely warm afternoon, so I dragged my protesting son outside to share in my venture.  He got a bit more on board once he'd planted some real life seeds in the bed I've allocated to him.  He wants to grow potatoes, onions and carrots.  Truly I cannot really see the point in growing your own carrots since they are so cheap to buy year round.  If I had my way and could be arsed, I'd have a garden full of mediterranean veg because it's costly to buy.  I shall make do with courgettes and runners, both of which are expensive and have done really well in the past.  My heart sank a little when Oliver said he wanted to grow spuds, as they seem to be a bit complicated, what with chitting, earthing-up, earlies and what not.  Confused.com. 

And to those who have heard me moaning about my garden - this is the reason why:

There are yet more steps behind where I am standing to take this photo, which lead to the bottom of the garden where the veg department lives.

It is bloody miles from the house and I am always out of breath by the time I get up to the front door (and I am not that unfit).  I have lost count of the times I have hauled myself up to the house to find I have left the front door key down by the shed.  My howls of rage have stirred foxes from their dens. 

twice in one day

is really too much, I know, and I do have a life away from the PC, but it is a useful monitoring tool for keeping me focused as I have a massive tendency to go off piste throughout the day.

Firstly, I made cupcakes:

And that fluff is on my camera lens, not the cakes,  you will be relieved to know.  I have not ever really produced good cupcakes - they have always tended to be very 'eggy' tasting and not the light and fluffy affair I imagine they should be.  Today's recipe called for an ounce of cornflour to add to the rest of the self raising flour, and because I took them out of the oven earlier than I normally do (I have finally got used to touching the top of my cakes and judging readiness from that) they seem much nicer.  I made a chocolate ganache using this recipe from Eric Lanlard (or, Rude Bloke, as Oliver and I like to call him),  and topped my little lovelies with it.  I have to say, they are the best I have ever produced.  That actually isn't really as much of an accolade as it sounds, since some very dodgy baking has emerged from the depths of my oven in the past.

Next I decided to make a stew for tea. (and for Mark and Oliver to complain bitterly about).  I used the Hugh F-W recipe from the Veg Everyday book, which I have used before.  Used sweet potato instead of squash though (read on for the reason behind that particular substitution) and as I couldn't face slaving over a hot stove, I bunged all the ingredients into my orange pot and slung it in the oven.  I felt very naughty in doing so, and yet quite liberated.  Then twas time to face the shed. 

Earlier on, between the cakes and stew episodes, I went down to the shed to get a squash, from the supply we have stacked in there from last Autumn.  On opening the door, I was met with a stale whiff and the horrific sight of putrifying squashes in abudance, and orange ooze everywhere.  Zut Alors I thought to myself. (!)  The options were: a) shut the door and pretend it never happened, b) report the incident to Mark so he might deal with it or c) don't be a pussy and deal with it so Mark, currently under loads of work pressure, doesn't have to.  I went for a mini a) followed by a brusque and stern talking myself into c). 

It was yuck.  I hate manual work.  I'm more of a crochet-along-to-a-DVD sort of girl, but I did it.  I pulled on my wellies and rubber gloves and dealt with it.  Yay for me.  It was bloody hard work too because I had to hoik the rotting carcasses in a wheelbarrow down to the allotment to dispose of.  I was sweating and everything. 

This spurt in the great outdoors has inspired me to tell Mark that I want to take over the garden this year.  (Well, I will tell him tonight).  It is a big garden, and I won't be able to do some of the manual humping of 'stuff', but I am convinced that part of my reluctance to help much in the garden stems from when Mark completely took over the garden when we moved in, and I completely lost interest as a result.  In the face of Mark's full-blown enthusiasm, the tiny flicker of interest that I had, was extinguished.  Can't blame him though, he really turned it into a workable garden from the overgrown mess it was. 

Here it is today - empty and ready for veg.  There are a couple of things on the go, including this pretty little yummy thing:

And the stew has turned out fine.  Too much onion in it, but it's edible.  And that's a good thing. 

Today I feel like...

...baking.  And if I've blogged it first, then I'm more likely to actually do it. 

Update on our week:  Business as usual  in terms of activities, but swimming lessons worthy of note this week as Oliver swam 32 lengths for a distance award, which equates to half a mile.  It's a long way for a littl'un to swim I think, and he is not even needing to flop over onto his back for an easy length or two.  I am very proud of swimming development.  He was very afraid of the deep end for quite a long time, and it showed in his panicky flailing around whenever he had to swim to that end of the pool.  Now his swimming style is sleek and efficient and I love watching him streak up and down. 

Yesterday he took part in the regionals for the Pokemon Trading Card Game.  Pokemon TCG is something he has attended on a weekly basis since he was about 5, and has been largely responsible for his reading development as he so desperately wanted to play, and you can't, unless you can read your cards well.  He came third yesterday, which is great.  He was chasing player points (like a ranking) in order to qualify for the nationals in June.  I found out yesterday that as they want to encourage the juniors, they don't have to have qualifying points, so Oliver could rock up on the day and take part.  I have been spouting off to Mark for weeks,  saying that if he qualifies, we should make the effort to take him to the nationals as he may never get the required points again and it's one of life's great opportunities blah blah blah, and now I think I've backed us into a corner and we will have to make the 8 hour round trip to bloody Kettering.  Me and my big mouth.  Enough already.

Anyway, gotta go bake.

Now THAT'S super cute

Yup, she sure is.  Meet Suki.  She is a bengal X BSH kitten, and yesterday we got to go and pick her up as a fait accompli for my mother-in-law to replace her great dane which had just got too much for her and was being driven up the M5 at that moment by my ever-suffering sister-in-law, for fostering.  (The dog, not my sister-in-law). 

My MIL took to her straight away, much to Oliver's disappointment.  He had already press-ganged Mark and I into promising to take the kitten home with us if MIL rejected it.  My photo makes her look like a big cat - but she isn't, she is quite wee, and very soft, and very affectionate.  Ahhhhh.

In other, joyous news, my ripple blanket is finished!  Un-believe-able I know, but there it is.  And here it is, in all it's colourful loveliness.  Because the living room is pretty bland, this splash of colour really does set off a little leap of my spirits when I go into the room.  And it is soft.  Sewing in the ends was a bloody nightmare though.  If you ever are tempted to take on the ripple - sew as you go people.  That's my advice to you.

And those brown circle-y print cushions were not my choice.

And PS, this blanket is folded in half, so it is really twice as big.  ha ha.