The downs and ups and ups!

Disabled Living Allowance (DLA)
When Caroline left hospital, we discovered that the only benefit she was entitled to was DLA. This came as shock when you consider that for most of her life she has paid her National Insurance, but it is only the last 3 years that count and as a part time worker, she did not have enough benefits.

Caroline has been doing so well that she did the honest thing and found out that she is no longer entitled to DLA, which is the up, the down is that she is still not well enough to go to work! She does go one morning a week, but she finds that exhausting. Especially when Ray is away.

She is planning a slow return to see how she goes.

Health - what do you take for an upset stomach, when you have no stomach?
Caroline is putting on weight and getting use to eating small quantities. Her stamina is also improving, but she does overdo it on occasions.

She managed to put on 1kg in a space of 4 weeks and then lost it overnight with an upset stomach. This was very disheartening, but what was amuisng was what is she allowed to take? There was no-one we could ask and NHS Direct would ring us back at 2am!! Caroline decided that sleep was more important.

We since discovered that she could take most off the shelf treatments.

The Legal case
The good news is that both Health Trusts have admitted full liability and have written to our solicitor to say that the only legal issue is to decide on the level of compensation. This is a huge relief to us as it means that things may not be that protracted.

We did discover that the lab had made a similar mistake with another sample prior to Caroline's case. We can only surmise that some kind of managerial incompetence meant that they did not act soon enough or efficiently enough. Doh!!!

We are still very chilled about the whole legal issue and trust our solicitor to get on with the job, so that we can get on with as normal life as possible.

The Children
Nathan is doing exceedlingly well at school, despite the disruptions from his classmates. It would seem that being in the top stream does not mean you have fellow pupils who are motivated to learn. We are hoping that this may be resolved when classes/ streams are reshuffled in year 8.

His whole class are being punished for one child who let off a stink bomb in a French Class. So there is no active breaks until that child confesses!!

He has recently joined a swimming club, which means that Ray can go to the Gym, when he is in class.

Bethany is doing well and is her usual bubbly self most of the time. Her friendships have changed as she is finding this difficult to cope with, but I am sure she will get there in the end. She is learning the recorder and doing Caparerio.

Ray
He has had a slight change in work. He still doing the recruitment stuff and is planning a review of the selection process. He is also coordinating special events for Church Army. This means the planning, staffing and admin of Church Army's presence at large events.

At the end of June he is off to Belfast for Summer Madness and at the end of August he is off to Greenbelt. So even more time away, but he is loving the challenge.

Summimg Up or is it down?
As you can see loads of ups and downs. Life has settled into some kind of routine, but it is very different to life before the operation. It would seem that we have to say goodbye to our favourite camping holidays for the foreseeable future and hopefully seeing Caroline getting back to work.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and thoughts.

Please continue to pray that we will get justice and have the joy and strength to keep on going.