Poor Ruth and Rhys

Al was filling me in on what R&R have been though over the last week or two. Rh needs minimum 4 litres of water and 1500 carolies per day - Ru's job is to somehow get that past the broken glass that is Rh's throat, where they zapped because that's where the tumour was - it's all sensitive soft tissue there, unlike where P had his boost, to the back of the head. Radiotherapy really kicks in two weeks after you start getting zapped so Rh has been bed-ridden, on the heaviest pain relief for a fortnight, apart from feeling plain abject terrible. It's massively stressful for Ru.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had an undisturbed night and the kids have been having a long lie after a hectic week. There is more risk of the pump alarm going off in the night for a blockage with the PEG tube which flexes into a kink quite readilly, so that's something else to account for before we lay down at night. The PEG tube entry site also needs more TLC than the NG tube: it has to be rotated each day and cleaned - slightly freakish but we're getting used to the idea and basically we're in a much better place with it than before with the NG tube.
Yesterday Pads made it into school for a few hours but one of those was over lunchtime when he is most valnurable as he doesnt go in to eat with his peers. He finds it exhausting to have to talk to naturally inquisitive kids. He asked one of these politely to leave him alone but someone thought this kid was bugging Pads and got all protective. There were tears and acusations flying around. It all settled down but just goes to show how easilly how fraught things can get in the playground. But it was mainly a good day with the boys excellent reports coming in: each commended for bravery (P), excelling at everything (A), sunny personality and effort (B). M's report came through last week and she was also warmly commended by each teacher. So, to celebrate, we went for a burger and to see Ice Age 3 (3D) which is a really funny film. We were on a tight schedule as B had to be picked up from Beavers on the way and just 10 mins before we were due to leave, Pads began to dry retch! Amazingly, he 'came back up' and off we went.