We learned this morning that Ethan's surgery did not proceed as there were 20+ people in front of him. That is phenomenal, yet ridiculous at the same time. He may be called into surgery any time from as early as tomorrow morning. We are praying over that.
Ben and I went for a brief visit this afternoon. He was in good spirits and only taking Panadol for his pain, which is amazing considering the nature of his injury.
It was strange to be back at the hospital for the first time since Maria went to be with the Lord. I stopped in at Radiation Oncology to drop off a couple of thank-you cards and bumped into one of the nurses who was at the burial service. I also got to leave cards for Maria's Oncologist (who SMS'd me only the other day to see how we were) and her Neurosurgeon.
Vivienne and Kathryn did a huge amount of work helping me again with working on rooms in our home. Gabi's is now sorted and Ben's part-way through. Paul and Mel were over today helping in many ways also. Mel and I went shopping for a few essential items. About $400 later I think all has been resolved. I was joking with Mel that I will have a better appreciation if Paul ever calls her "high maintenance", having spent so much in only two hours in her company. Fortunately they both have a great sense of humour.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a note in Ben's diary that he had scored 100% in his maths tests on each day of last week. Ben was moved up to the top maths group as a result. There was also a notation that he had a wonderful first two weeks at school. While there is quite a bit of bickering between Ben and Gabi at home (testing my resolve in a big way), they both seem quite settled at school.
Gabi became very emotional at bed time, talking about how much she misses Maria. I laid in bed with her and found myself falling asleep before her, yet waking only a couple of hours later. I am finding the exhaustion is catching up with me, yet I'm still not quite there on the sleep front.
Ben and Gabi have asked to have a night each week sharing my bed with me. Today (Tuesday) is Ben's night and tomorrow will be Gabi's. Their allocated days coincide with their music lessons (clarinet and piano respectively) so it's not too difficult to remember. Hopefully I'll get sleep on these nights as they both are pretty good at using every inch of the mattress throughout the night.
