To catch you all up a bit........................We came home from Southampton Hospital after her tonsils and adenoids surgery to a very happy Josh. He was so pleased to see us, as we were him. We had figured we would be in the Hospital a lot longer than we actually were. Georgia was over the moon to be back in her own bed at night and to have her colouring hand free of needles.
The happiness didn't last too long. Josh came down with a really bad case of Hand, Foot and Mouth. It started with just a few little spots on his fingers and gradually spread all over his palms, all on his feet and up the back of his legs too. The worst was in his mouth. Bless him, he does love his food and he could hardly open his mouth for the amount of ulcers he had.
Georgia contracted it 2 days later. After seeing how bad Josh's mouth had got I was petrified that Georgia would have it just as bad, that on top of her tonsils pain was going to be excruciating. Fortunately, she got one little lump on her finger and that was it. My little warrior! I guess the IV's had kept her safe.
2 weeks later came the chicken pox. Seriously! At this point Rob and I had not slept in weeks. Josh and Georgia had chicken pox at the same time. Both completely covered. They were miserable, we were miserable. I suppose all you people out there that don't have children cannot completely appreciate how it feels to be dead tired. We were all like zombies. I am surprised people didn't run and hide when they saw us coming.
So now to the good bit. They got better. Georgia started smiling again, Josh started driving me insane. All was right in the world!
Since then we have had a scare with a cough swab but it turned out to be nothing. I have taken Georgia to our local hospital a couple of times when she has been off colour but those are our usual midnight adventures.
To be completely honest, after all the drama of those few months, I was a bit worse for wear. I looked in the mirror one day and didn't even recognise myself anymore. I looked like I was defeated. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I do not get defeated easily. I suddenly just couldn't function anymore, and then there he was, my Rob. He took over and just let me recover. He is great at that.
One day we had a visit from Georgia's community nurse. She, and the team from Southampton, had become worried about me. They had all got together and contacted a charity for a holiday for us. She said she wanted to make a wish come true for us.
A few weeks later and we were contacted by the charity (not sure if I can say who it was) and a lovely lady called Kate who was to arrange it all for us.
We went to Haven in Devon for a week. The caravan was lovely, the weather was OK (rained a bit) and the site facilities were amazing. Best part of the whole holiday was seeing both of our children leaving behind all the pain and just being free from it. We could forget those awful times. Georgia can swim! No armbands, she will not tolerate those. She was off up the slides on her own, she wont tolerate hand holding.
Best thing about the holiday for Josh was his goggles. They stayed on at all times!
I am incredibly proud of both our children, and of us too. If I had known how hard this journey would be then I may have made a different choice sitting in that room at the very start. Now I know that no matter how hard it has been, it is totally worth it. I could not live without Josh, Georgia or Rob in my life. We were destined to be tested to the limit, all 4 of us. I think we have coped pretty damn well.
So I will leave you today with a picture of our little fish. She is beautiful, headstrong, intelligent and utterly bewitching to everyone she meets..................Our Georgia smiles.
