It never rains but it pours

Never has such an everyday expression been so true. When I arrived home on Saturday in the torrential rain that lashed the country, I discovered the rain coming into my utility room. The lead flashing between the house and the utility room has finally given way. This will clearly be another job to add to the long list of things that will be attended to later when Vicki is better. [sighs]. Oh well, after the car, and now the house, what next I wonder?

The most interesting development with Vicki is the news that she now has a boyfriend. You would've thought perhaps that love would be the last thing on her mind, but apparently not. The object of her affections has long been known to me as "John". Those that know me will know that when saying "John", it would be complete with quotation mark finger gesture, and a certain tone of voice that also inferred the quotation marks. "John" started out because naturally Vicki didn't want to tell me the real name of the young man in question, but then developed into a life of it's own, with Vicki using the moniker to talk to her friends about him in front of me. Now, I know his real name, it's Andrew. It will however take some time for me to migrate to his proper form of address, so Andrew please forgive me if I call you "John", it's all I've known you as for the last 3 months or so. It will pass. Might I suggest you wear a badge with you name or, or perhaps get it tattooed on your forehead as an aide memoir for me? That'd be much appreciated.

Vicki needed some more blood products on Saturday, but this time only platelets, no blood transfusion this time. Saturday evening "John", sorry Andrew came to visit, and the positive impact this had on Vicki cannot be understated. Her face glowed, and the smile she wore stretched from ear to ear. The effect lasted all night, as she spent the night in teenage-texting mode. The old Vicki was back.

The power of the mind in medicine cannot be underestimated as the following day no blood products were needed at all. Co-incidence? Maybe, but without doubt the immune system and emotional parts of the brain are interlinked. Later on Sunday Vicki had a slightly raised temperature and the medical team administered some antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

There's still no definite news on when she can come home, but hopefully this will be soon. The wait for news on this begins to weigh quite heavily on me, I often feel quite unsupported in this alien environment. People are quite good at offering kind words, but what's really needed is the practical things, like money and domestic chores, which just don't go away. No amount of kind words (welcome though they are) are going to mow the lawn, clear up the leaves, fix the car, do the ironing, take Samuel to school and back, put diesel in the car, pay for the car park, sort work out and so on.

I popped into work today, and it made me realise that I'm missing so much social contact. It made me feel so alone. I realise that my life has just become endless journey's to and from the hospital, endless waiting for things to happen, endless household chores when I'm home. With little distraction to break the monotony. I know things will improve, but after seven weeks of this, the cracks are starting to show.