Endocrine clinic

Yesterday Pads paced himself pretty well. We had quite a full house for lunch for the first time in ages for Moli's birthday - she was 14!
Today he stood up well to the tutor visiting, followed by the play therapist and then a clinic. It was as well I popped in to get the keys from Ally because the Dr wanted to measure both our heights. He also took lots of measurements from Pads. Apparently he's on the 25th centile for height standing up, and the 9th for height while sitting... This imbalance is an effect of his previous radiotherapy. He won't be going back for this kind of thing for another four months - they just want to keep a close eye on his growth and development and may suppliment his hormones.
Tonight, Ann, Paddy's play therapist, returned to Cardiff to give a talk at the Brain Tumour Support Group. It was fascinating to hear how she helps the children in a way appropriate to their age and needs... a remarkable and, of course, under-resourced work. The children can have an hour of dedicated play-time, whatever they want: 2 year-olds with a sand box or perhaps 'Chemo-duck' (complete with port, NG tubes, etc.), from Pads with his ink-art and Uno games, to 17 year-olds with an x-box.