Another weekend gone by with James mostly spending his days on the couch… He is slowly getting better, but even walking up and down the stairs makes him so tired that he has to lay down and rest.
From what we’ve read about labyrinthitis, the recovery is all about the brain learning to deal with the messed up balance signals it gets from the damaged inner year. I’m not sure if the ear as such will even heal 100% or whether the brain will just eventually learn to deal with it. Either way, it’s a slow process.
James went to see a cranial osteopath on Saturday morning. He took a cab there but a bus back – that was a great achievement in itself. He’s also been for a walk around the block once every day so the improvement is definitely there. It’s just amazing (and scary) to see how once very active and fit man get so tired now after a very short walk.
As far as everyone else goes – the boys and I went to the Estonian School on Saturday. It was Oliver’s first time as he’s now 3 (minimum age). I stayed with him for the first 45 minutes and then went to the cafe to join all the other moms for our usual gossip session for another 1.5 hours. Afterwards Oliver was glad to see me but had coped very well. I have decided that once the weather warms up a bit, I’ll start going for a run around Chiswick and Barnes during Estonian School. I should be able to do at least 10k and STILL join the ladies for a bit of coffee and gossip at the end :)
On Sunday morning I had a slow 11km run (it takes me so long to warm up when the temperatures hover around 0C) and then took Oliver to a birthday party. One of his nursery friends turned 4 and had a big party in a church hall – complete with 20 kids and an entertainer. He had a lot of fun even though he skipped his nap due to the timing of the party. I too enjoyed the party as it was a good chance to catch up with all the nursery moms.
Oskar and nana went to a soft play centre at the same time and then to see a short play in the nearby Colourhouse Theatre. Once they got home after 5:30, he amazingly did all his spelling work and reading for Monday without a struggle. He must have been keen to get some Lego time in before bed time.
Oliver fell asleep in 2 minutes due to a napless day but was up again after 10:30 so I spent the rest of my night in the bunk bed next to him like I have been since James got sick and can’t handle Oliver in between us in the big bed. Oh well, the bunk is kind of cosy :)
And now it’s Blue Monday. It started with a signal failure for me so I had to walk a bit to get to work. Despite the freezing temperatures, I had my proper winter coat on for once and actually enjoyed that unexpected morning walk. James too went to work today, but he knows he will not last much past lunch time. Thankfully he has been able to delegate quite a bit of stuff so he’s able to take it easy and not push himself too hard.
Let’s see what this week will bring.
An abandoned church that I walked past this morning on my way to work
Monday, 16 January 2012 at 17:57
Good luck back at work James, we’ve all been thinking of you.