Latitude Photos - Volume 1

Family life .. a return to the 'ups' and 'downs' of the real world

Dear Sheddists,

thank you so much for following the trail of this somewhat meandering blog as we journey together through my three month sabbatical.  Today's posting explores the reality of our family life, blessings and burdens alike.

A fitting outcome

We're fresh back from adventures in Cornwall and our youngest grandson is fitting once more. This time it's a big one,  meaning the emergency medication must be broken out.  Here's what Great Ormond Street Hospital has to say about it ....

'Midazolam belongs to a group of medicines called benzodiazepines, which are used to treat a number of different conditions, including seizures. If a seizure lasts for more than five minutes, it may be difficult to stop unless treatment is given. It is therefore important that rapid treatment is given to stop the seizures and therefore prevent status epilecticus.

Status epilepticus is a condition where a person has a seizure (convulsion or fit) or a series of seizures that last for 30 minutes or more, without a complete recovery of consciousness.'

As a family, we've lived day by day with the threat of a major episode never far away and within the hour our dear grandson and his mum are hospital bound on-board an ambulance.

Much to the relief of us all he's released come the evening.

Respite in sight

By co-incidence, he's booked-in later that week for two days at a local respite centre, meaning we get to look after his elder brother.

Four years old and with the capacity to speak non-stop for several hours at a stretch without seemingly drawing breathe we're in for an interesting time, and so it proves to be.  The high-light of his visit is a trip to a local sports stadium for the last of his gymnastics classes for the term.

It's such a joy to watch him climb, crawl, jump and tumble through a carefully constructed circuit, pausing only to chat up the girls on his way round.  Clearly, a bright future lies ahead.

A sporting life

And things continue to get better a few days later when we attend School Sports Day at eldest grandson's nursery.  We behold a veritable sea of bright, beaming faces, the children shepherded expertly by a crack troop of teachers between track and shade.

The event finishes in some style with a series of push-car races featuring the very best in faux-plastic automobilary!

Postscript

Being part of a family means sharing in both good times and in bad times alike.  Our daughter rang this morning to say our previously non-verbal grandson is currently making a series of very interesting sounds.

Bearing in mind he was given just twelve months to live not so long ago that is most definitely one of the good times ... and in more senses than one a most fitting way to end this short post.

Yours as ever,

electrofried (mr)

Retraced