Back to Stanmore RNOH the land that time forgot - twenty-first century pioneering techniques carried out in 19th century (make that 17th century) surroundings but we love it for all its shabbiness and Nissen outbuildings - this is the consecrated land for us where Rose's leg was saved, prayers were answered and Tim Briggs comes to work every day. The man who sweated for hours over Rose's little leg has even made an appearance and it's only Wednesday - so the week is going well so far... Grossly unfair - oncologists and legions of doctors have attended to Rose 24/7 for the last eight months and largely I have struggled with them all (ooh it's all coming out now - says much more about me than them I know etc etc) but Mr Briggs spends a few hours with her in an operating theatre, takes away most of her leg and replaces it with bits of metal and he is our new god. Briggs for President.
Anyway - back to the weekend. Rose FINALLY came home on Saturday afternoon feeling not surprisingly rather crap. After five weeks of iv anti biotics and a lot more chemo she is wiped out and the whole champagne thing did fall rather flat after we had emptied the first few sick bowls - oh yes, this is what it's like having Rose at home - all coming back to us now. Reality had no chance of living up to the hype and the anticipation and there were lots of tears from Felix who had forgotten how immobile Rose is and is struggling to understand it. Oh aren't we all. But all four of us under one roof had to be celebrated regardless of tears and vomit and Simon and I made very very light work of the champagne.
Despite her absence Rose's school Christmas fair made a fantastic £550 from two stalls and donations from Felix's school sports parties made another £225 so fund-raising was right on track for the weekend even if nothing else was going quite to plan! On Calvin and Tayo's Big Day we woke up to snow falling lightly but steadily - the boys had headed down regardless to Kent before dawn to check it out in person but Kent being Kent it was snowing a blizzard by the time they got there and after hours of hanging around and safety briefings (number one: don't go up if unable to see nose through snow) the jump was finally abandoned at about midday. After months of build-up it was really disappointing for them (or so they said!) - and psyching themselves up to fall out of a plane from 12,000 feet probably not the kind of thing they want to do twice but they're going to have to! New jump date to be confirmed - lots more fundraising opportunities...you've been warned...
So Monday morning rolled around all too quickly and before Rose knew it we were back on the ward in Stanmore, all clerked in, goggles and swimmers unpacked, physio and hydro booked and raring to go. Well I was keen - Rose slightly less so! Hydro is fab - for Rose to be in the water doing something normal with freedom of movement for the first time in so long was just great to see. I felt very emotional - the last time she'd been swimming was in March in the DC pool with Tayo teaching her and none of us dreaming that eight months later he would be about to throw himself out of a plane to raise money for a bone cancer charity none of us had ever heard of. Anyway here she was having just as much fun as ever - riding woggles, splashing about, kicking away and no one would have been any the wiser that she can't walk - until we had to get her out! So with hydro in the morning and 'land' physio in the afternoon we are hoping for a bit of a kick start - loads of ward life either side of rehab to while away but Rose is relaxed and settled at Stanmore, trusts and likes the nurses, teachers, physios etc and like her mother is happy and reassured to get an occasional glimpse of Briggsy striding about in his theatre scrubs. She has also been in the magnetic leg lengthening machine this week and is a whole 1mm taller than she was on Monday. Very, very state of the art - prosthetic leg lengthened using a magnetic wheel which Rose puts her leg in and is timed for 4 minutes to grow 1mm! How clever is that.
We are realistic and we don't think Rose will be walking by Friday or the Friday after that etc etc but her chemo and infections are OVER, there is no drugs chart running to several pages attached to her bed, no daily blood results to worry about and she is probably in the best place in the world to teach her to walk again. All that and it's nearly Christmas - it's all on the up!
