An Eventful Week!

Hello! I hope that this finds you well and I am sorry that this is the first blog that you have received since last Sunday. It has been a busy week!

Firstly to tell you that Tim is slowly recovering from having surgery to remove his kidney stone removed late on Friday night. He is not improving as well as we had hoped or expected but we are hopeful that the next few days will see gradual improvement and that by the end of this next week that he will be fully better.

On Thursday night, Tim woke up around 1am in pain, which got worse and worse to the extent that by just after 2am he was lying on the floor in agony, sweating yet feeling cold and vomiting. As he was getting worse still, we phoned for the ambulance who came and took him to hospital. The ambulance men were loud and not very empathetic - in contrast to the lovely man that took Naomi and I to the hospital in the UK 4 years ago! I was worried that the loudest man who insisted on talking at a loud volume would wake up the children who would then be anxious to see Daddy being taken away! Thankfully, they stayed asleep but not thanks to him!

The ambulance took Tim to the Swedish ER in Issaquah where he has been seen before and eventually I had a phone call to say that he was OK and that they were waiting for some blood results and that they would phone me with the results. Well, over an hour later, when I still hadn't heard any more, I phoned them back to be told that Tim was being discharged and that he would be coming home in a taxi. So finally, at around 5:45 Tim arrived home in a terrible state, still vomiting and in severe pain and with a prescription for some anti - emetics that he really needed straight away.

We decided that I would go and get the medicine as soon as Silas woke up (which he did almost straight away, so no more sleep for me!) but by that time, Tim was asleep and so I collected them on my way home from school. All Friday morning, Tim was not well. He was vomiting even after the anti-emetics and the pain was not under control; worse still, when he wasn't able to keep anything down, he wasn't able to drink enough to pass the stone like the ER had told him.

I made several calls that morning and finally got him into see a Urologist at the Overlake Hospital where I had Silas on Friday afternoon. We all took Tim but he was very nauseous in the car and he didn't like the drive at all. We saw the doctor who gave us a few options but we decided that the best option was for Tim to stay at the hospital and have the operation on Friday night, stay overnight and then I would pick him up on Saturday morning, which is what happened.

Yesterday Tim did quite well - I think he was glad to be home! We had pancakes for lunch as a treat and because we hadn't had them on Shrove Tuesday and in the afternoon we went to Newcastle Beach Park which was good fun! It has been gorgeous here this weekend - really sunny and warm at times!

Today, Tim has not felt so well as he has been in a lot of pain from the stent that they inserted and has been feeling quite dizzy at times. I took the children out to the park this morning which was good fun and then we all went to the park again this afternoon. Tim didn't walk far but he is feeling washed out and went to bed after tea. Hopefully he will be better in the morning!

So, that has been the eventful end to the week! I think that I have forgotten to do all sorts  of things that I should have done and so if you were expecting  a webcam or a phone call, then i am really sorry and hope that we can reschedule another time this week!

This last week has been busy for me in the evenings, although the days have been less so, which is good! On Monday evening I had a board meeting for the Home Owners Association only to discover that the playground in the park had been condemned by both the insurance company and an independent advisor and so I had to email everyone to tell that that it was closed and going to be pulled down. I was glad that I didn't have too many grumpy emails about it! I was very relieved to read that most people are pleased that we have taken a safe course of action!

On Tuesday evening, I had a night out with the girls! Ulrike and Rosie went to a Bar in Bellevue for a nice dinner which was good fun! On Wednesday, Tim and I went out for dinner with an old UK Microsoft friend which was lovely too!

During the days this week, I have taken Silas to the Toddler Time drop in at the community center. Here they have a lot of balls, toy cars for the children to ride in as well as tunnels, slides and push-along toys. Silas quite enjoys it and if the weather is bad then it is a good way for him to run around for a bit. Esther has come with me on a couple of occasions and, although she is not too keen, she is OK playing or colouring for a short time!

We saw Ulrike and the children at the park on Thursday afternoon, which was good fun and we made it to the park on a couple of occasions on our own this week too. Silas is very good at climbing and sitting on the slide and it is funny to think that only a few weeks ago he really wasn't keen on the slide! These days it is his favourite thing and he will go up and down very happily!'

Silas also likes playing with the balls and I have been very good at remembering to take one with us in the car for him! One day, when we were at the community center, I was "shooting hoops" as they say here (ie, throwing the ball into the basket!) and this morning when we were at the park, Silas was trying to shoot the ball into the bare tree, as if it were a hoop!

Silas is talking a lot more and can say "gog" (dog), "ach" (hand), "ug" (hug) and "cakcak" (cracker). It is amazing how much I can understand what he wants!

The girls have been fine and have been very good at looking after Daddy! They were playing restaurants today, which is always funny and then they were playing at Doctors. They enjoy playing upstairs with their dolls and playmobil and are still drawing, drawing and drawing! Silas also copies their drawing but unfortunately, not always on paper! Yesterday evening I spent about 15 minutes getting Silas' drawing off the wall and the nappy cupboard door! I don't quite know where he found the pen but we shall have to be extra careful!

Esther is thankfully eating better at the minute and Naomi has been very helpful at getting things out for them in the mornings or at tea time! They are looking forward to Daddy being well again so that they can "jump on him" - Esther's words! Strange child!

Well, that is about it for now and it is late and I must go to bed! Take care and lots of love!