A quick whizz through I guess:
Tuesday – the scan happened. Ady was booked in for 4pm. I’d been told by a radiographer friend to ask when the results would be back on the ward so did so and was told probably the following day. We were still a bit despairing at that point, not really knowing what to expect next. Ady was fading a bit, having convinced himself there was going to be something more sinister than gallstones found on the scan. He was struggling with the hospital environment, I was stressing about money and general logistics. The rest of the world was ‘getting back to normal after Christmas’ – we were finding it hard to grasp on to any sort of normal at all.
Wednesday – I went in first thing and we sat, feeling utterly surreal on my birthday. The clock on the car dashboard, the date on the BBC morning news, my usual 10:10am phonecall from my mum (the time I was born) all making it even weirder. Then suddenly at about midday the doctor came in and said that the surgeon was on his way to talk to us. He swept in, explained that gallbladders were his personal special interest, drew us diagrams, congratulated me on my googling and understanding of it all, talked best and worst case scenarios and everything inbetween, got Ady to sign the consent form and then swept out again, presumably to scrub up, while a team of nurses came in and prepped Ady for surgery. There was a brief moment when we were alone, Ady lying on the wheelie bed they were taking him away on, the echoes of the risks explained to us for the consent form hanging above us like speech bubbles in the air. Ady said to me “I’m really fucking scared”. I told him he’d be fine and I’d see him later, focussed really hard on not crying all the way down the lift to the carpark, phoned my Dad and held it together, went back to the hotel and told the kids Ady was in surgery, then walked across to the shopping mall for  more clean pants and clothes for Ady. While in there, in one of those unexplained and utterly random acts I decided to mark my birthday to myself by having my ear pierced, something I’ve been wanting to do for ages. I don’t know if I wanted some pain, or a tangible reminder of that day or whether I was trying to just be utterly irreverent but all of my ear piercings have had some sort of personal meaning to me – usually rebellion against someone or something. As soon as we could return to the carpark (2 hours away) we went back and sat in Ady’s room waiting for him to return. The surgeon came in, having left Ady in recovery to tell me it had all gone well, it had not been a complete removal of the gall bladder as as suspected part of it had adhered itself to his liver, it had been really nasty and infected but they had managed keyhole surgery, Ady had remained stable throughout and that he could not have been happier with how it had gone. I wanted to hug him but felt it would have been inappropriate. I think he felt the virtual hug from me nonetheless. A very groggy Ady was wheeled back in about half an hour later. He slowly came round and despite being clearly post op and a bit rough the relief was tremendous. When we finally left the kids and I went to Frankie & Bennies to have dinner in honour of my birthday and Ady being OK. We went upstairs to the amusement arcade and had 50p each to blow on silly arcade games. The strangest birthday I think I have ever had…
Thursday – Ady was recovering but it was slow and it was clear he would not be out of hospital that day. I had my usual stint there during the morning, in the afternoon the kids and I attempted to find a laundrette but failed. We got some half price tickets to the circus which was in the grounds of the complex we were staying in so decided to visit that. We went into the hospital slightly earlier for our late afternoon / evening visit, then on to the circus before getting takeaway pizza for dinner.
Friday – Release day! I massively overstayed my 4 hours in the carpark as we were kept waiting ages and ages for the discharge letter and the final meds from the pharmacist. Ady had been kicked out of his room so they could clean it ready for the next patient so we were just in the day room waiting along with a couple of other people for about 2 hours. Finally we were handed the letter and bag of meds and that was us, free to go. Several of the nurses / catering staff came to shake Ady’s hand and wish him well, as usual he had made an impression on the ward and seemed quite beloved to all 🙂 . Leaving the hospital and stepping outside felt monumentous! I showed Ady all the landmarks I had been familiar with on the drive to the hotel. The receptionist who had checked me and the kids in when we arrived on NYE was on duty again so got to meet Ady. It was amazing having him back with us – the longest in all our 22 years together that we have slept apart. The first new year not seen in together since I was 18 (I had spent NYE with Ady and other friends the year before we got together), the first birthday in as many years too. Davies had remarked that I’d been sleeping on the wrong side of the bed in the hotel, I think it felt wrong to sleep on my usual side so I had slept on Ady’s instead because then I didn’t miss him so much, the space was not on my left because there was no excess of bed on my left anyway…
Saturday – we took it easy. We had a cooked breakfast as Ady had been craving toast and sausages. The lovely receptionist told us breakfast was on her when we went to pay for it. She said we had had such a crazy week we deserved it and she was just so pleased to see a happy ending to the drama of our arrival. What a lovely, lovely girl 🙂 Â Ady wanted to walk a bit so he, Scarlett and I walked across to the mall and wandered round for a bit. Ady was taking two baths a day in an effort to keep his wound clean and because he found the water soothing so we spent lots of time in the hotel room too. In the evening we ate in the hotel restaurant downstairs which was dreadful but the service was so friendly it made up for it. The staff there were so wonderful all week.
Sunday – I wanted to be on our way fairly early to ensure we did the drive in daylight. There were horror stories of diversions and closed roads due to snow or flooding and although it should be 100 miles and about 2.5 hours from Glasgow to Fort William it can easily be double the miles and time if the snow gates through Aviemore or the road around Loch Lomond is closed. We called in to the Sainsburys for food and drink supplies for the drive and headed off. Ady dozed for much of the drive and it was completely smooth and straightforward. Our room in the Premier Inn was not ready so we walked around the town for a while until it was. We had dinner in McDonalds and everyone had baths and slept very well.
Monday was a restful day of more baths, some mooching round the charity shops, buying some thank you gifts for folk on Rum and then a two for one dinner in the restaurant (I had found so many vouchers and promotions for food while we were off). It was a fairly early night as we had a fairly early start the following morning.
Tuesday – Homeward Bound. We loaded our stuff onto the van and were greeted by Calmac staff who knew all about the whole drama – so lovely to feel ‘home’ even in Mallaig 🙂 The ferry was us four, an SNH staff member coming to Rum between boats and one bloke heading to Canna. The pier was quiet but we got help loading the car up and then drove into the village. We caught up with Fliss and Ali and then came back home. The kids walked to the croft while Ady and I swapped the stuff into the other car and drove across the river. All was well on the croft and in the caravan and we were just bringing the second load of stuff up when Bonnie appeared ahead of Ali. She was utterly thrilled to see us all. Â Ali helped with the final load of stuff and came in for a cup of tea. The table was laden with soup, bread, venison stew and a cake – so all the food we’d need for lunch and dinner that day, along with a welcome home card made by the school and signed by everyone on Rum and all of our various batteries fully charged up by Ali. Fliss had been in and lit the woodburner so it was warm and cosy. We have such wonderful friends here.
Ali headed off and we slowly unpacked and settled in. I walked down to the village to collect Bonnie’s crate as Ali had not been able to work out how to dismantle it, I stayed for a cup of tea and a chat with her while Ady fed all the animals and reoriented himself on the croft. It was amazing to be home.
Wednesday – we wrote up a list of things to achieve this week and agreed to just go slow and do one thing each day. That day was clearing out the food storage space under the sofa and putting things into plastic tubs. We also cleared through all the Christmas food and tidied the kitchen up a bit. In the afternoon I went down to Fliss’ for Crafternoon.
Thursday – Laundry Day – we had bags and bags of dirty clothes, some from before we went away and all the clothing from while we were away so Ady, Scarlett and I went down to the village to get it all washed and dried. While we were down there I caught up with Ali at post office, spoke to Jinty on the phone, we gave Ali a joint of pork, Ady caught up with Mike, Ross and Doug, we collected the post and got stuff out of the freezer for dinners for the next couple of nights. In the afternoon we ran the spare genny for a bit to charge up some of the batteries and for Davies and I to do some bits on his laptop.
Friday – Ady and I did a stocktake of animal feed, checked the pig fence and chatted with Stevie who appeared while were out on the croft. In the afternoon Ady helped Scarlett start a big bedroom declutter, Davies was doing some animation and I spent a couple of hours chopping firewood before coming in for a shower and to make pizza dough. We all played Blokus which I got cheap in the amazon sale  and is the only sort of game I like – quick, with minimal rules, no reading, counting or complicated ideas.
This evening I have been sorting out the details for our Edinburgh trip. We almost called it off after the drama and expense of the last two weeks but actually we could all do with the ‘holiday’ and have already arranged to have a croft sitter here, to meet up with friends in Edinburgh and Glen Uig and Scarlett has her first two appointments for her brace fitting. Lots of debating Travelodge over PremierInn, saver deals you pay for now with no cancellation or flexible rooms that cost more but can be cancelled up til the same day, train ticket prices in advance with no refunds or a railway card for Highland residents. I think we have it sorted now with a balance of all of the above…
Tomorrow I’m being Mrs Post Office, so on that basis I am off to bed.