Pete's day trip to Edinburgh 13th December 2014

I did one of my "one-day" trips to Edinburgh - remarkably easy to do, apart from having to get up at 3.45am! I was greeted at Lennox St by a smiling Nadia, with a steaming cup of coffee and a piping warm bowl of apple-and-raisin porridge, which was a fine start to the day.

 Zander slept till ten, then after breakfasting and more coffee together, we headed off to see B, arriving at her place for noon, which is lunchtime. B had been moved from her bed into a sit-up chair, and she was in good form today - delighted to see me, and quite chatty. She still has a marvellous giggle, and today, she accidentally did a small fart and belch at the same time, which made her giggle for a good few minutes :)
B has a great appetite: I fed her today (Z usually does it) and they made lunch for Z and myself too (cauliflower cheese....)

Z took the opportunity of B's comfy bed being free to put his head back and have a good snooze for half an hour, and soon B was also asleep, and so was I, in a chair! It was very peaceful. Z is in good form, with almost no side effects from the radiation treatment that he finished two weeks ago, apart from feeling much more sleepy than usual. They say that might continue for another couple of months after the end of the radiation treatment, but then he should start to feel more energy again. He has been fortunate enough to be spared the painful oesophagus that many people get with the treatment. 

Back to Lennox St after that, where we found James working away at his home study routine. He is in good form, and has even developed a bit of a Scottish accent!

He had a haircut yesterday so I am afraid I can't show you James with a high mohican hair do!

 

Z had another snooze in the afternoon (so did I), and then after a bit of online curling gaming, we went down to see his GP, Dr Reid. She was lovely (around 40, 3 kids under the age of 10 so a busy lady), and she will be our contact point at the GPs from now on, linking up with all other aspects of care as needed down the road. She made use feel very welcome and reassured. She also is helping fill in forms that are needed to get Z the "Attendance Allowance" which is basically a non-means tested payment that helps to pay people to help look after him. You have to be sick for 6 months to qualify for that, so that's where he is now. We are putting the claim in but it can take 20 weeks to get payment through - but they do give you back payment so it will be a bit of a lump sum this summer.

Back to Lennox St after that, where Nadia gave us lovely Russian supper - soup, a stew, then ice cream :-)
Then off in the tram for me to the airport: home by 10.30pm to help the family put the finishing touches to decorating our Christmas tree.....