Cats, Devils, Conkers, Sparklers & A Bit Of Love Bomb Baby!

So, I log on this morning for a bit of blog hopping and was greeted with this post over at Jen's blog. Love reading Jen's blog anyway, she's just so bloody funny; but this post made me cry with laughter: it just sums me and Jen up circa 1990!

I also got to thinking today that I should maybe upload some pics (although Rob did an excellent post the other day, I thought trying to explain uploading photos might have been pushing it a bit!).

First of all, here's the munchkins on Halloween: Emily dressed as a witch's cat and Xander as (what else) a little devil:

Rob brought the kids into the hospital so I could see them dressed up. I also had the added bonus of not having to answer the door to the trick or treaters!

Whilst in hospital, I got lots of lovely cards and presents; but I have to say the one that stood out was from Rob's Uncle Neil (or Big Bad Uncle Fred as he likes to be known!). Most people sent flowers, chocolates, grapes, magazines but not BBUF; he thought what I needed to aid my recovery was a home made conker necklace:

Nope, I've no idea why either!! (And eek, that ain't a flattering pose of me!)

Last night, we had some fireworks courtesy of my parents and sister. My mum also made pie and peas and some good old Yorkshire parkin! Xander was less impressed with Daddy's firework display and retired to the living room with Grandad to watch Tigger and Pooh. Emily was however a bit more appreciative but got rather impatient when it came to sparkler lighting. Granted it did take about 20 minutes to get the buggers lit, but finally her and Auntie Gemma got to have some sparkler fun (yes, Gemma was doing it just for Emily, honest!):

Trouble was, Rob had been trying to light sparklers that long that he got a bit carried away when they finally did light, and lit too many:

There we go, all caught up now!

Dare I Even Say It...

...I'm home! Hopefully for good this time!

After a weekend of temperature taking and lots of blood cultures, the docs were happy that the infection hadn't spread and discharged me yesterday lunchtime; one month exactly since I was first admitted. It's a funny feeling: obviously I'm so happy to be home but it's also quite strange to be away from the routine of the hospital and having a nurse on call 24/7. In a strange way I'm also missing the mad old biddies which I shared a bay with (especially Brenda and her Shopmobility scooter tales!!).

So, I said I'd write out the full story, but that story has become far too long! So here's a quick rundown of everything that happened in the last month; I think you get the gist from that!

2 x heart operations
1 x bout of pneumonia
1 x water infection
1 x lumber puncture
1 x chest drain
1 x stay in ICU
3 x stays in high dependency
19 x canulas
5 x CT scans
6 x chest Xrays
3 x cathetars
and a partridge in a pear tree!

Hoping November's a little less hectic!!

Update!

Hi everyone!

I'm out on day release so thought I'd do a quick update.

First of all, get Rob being all good at blogging!

Like I say, I've been given a pass out today, though do have to be back at the hospital at 7. However, that's giving me time with the kids and a couple of meals that aren't of the hospital variety (how anyone gets better on those I don't know!).

The pneumonia has cleared up fairly well; I had a chest x-ray yesterday and it looked good. I had my last lot of IV antibiotics last night and now it's a waiting game; if I carry on and stay well this weekend, they should let me out next week. However, if I become symptomatic again it could be a sign the infection has spread to my stent and that means a 6 week course of IV antibiotics; which means I won't be out until Christmas.

Please keep everything crossed for me, I just want to get home and get back to normal. I'm also missing the munchkins like crazy and need more than the odd half hour by my hospital bed with them.

Take care everyone and hope to see you soon!

Get Well Soon Lou

Hi everyone, it's Rob, Lou's silent other half. I thought that this would be the best way to inform all of the regular readers of the Garlics blog that Lou is back in hospital again. She was discharged last Friday and had made good progress in her recovery over the weekend, enjoying time with the kids and a couple of family meals. However she started to feel ill again on Monday and was rushed back to hospital with an infection and what turned out to be pneumonia. She is currently on the high dependency unit at the Leeds General Infirmary and is making steady progress, however it will be some time before she will be back home. Please send Louise all of your get well thoughts.

I would like to thank everyone who has text and called over the last few days with messages of support and offers of help for me and the kids, it is greatly appreciated and I'm sorry if I haven't replied to you all yet. Carol, Phil, Gemma, Lauren and Mark, thank you for all of the help in the last couple of weeks.

Lets all hope Louise is back soon to provide you all with a proper blog....

Cheers
Rob, Emily & Xander.

So, It's Been A While...

Well, I'm home! After 2 weeks and countless 'procedures' I'm finally back to my own bed and my little munchkins. I don't really have the energy to write out the full story just yet, I just wanted to come on and say 'Hi!' and thank everyone for all their love and support over the past couple of weeks. Whether it's been texts, cards, quiches (hey, some people just get me!), books, magazines, babysitting, filling up the freezer or a quick visit to check on how I was; so many people have been wonderful in not only supporting me, but Rob and the kids too.

Like I say, I'll write more later; I just needed to say THANK YOU!

Lou x

University Of Disney

Whilst revising the other day, I glanced over and caught this sight:

Is Mickey Mouse really giving out degrees now? And will my exam be on the songs of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? I can see a First coming my way if so!

Just had to share, if anything sums up my life at the moment it's this picture: coffee, 3rd year English text books, glossary of English grammar...and a toddler's book!!

Get Well Soon Kay!

Oh no! After having a lovely afternoon with Kay and Scott on Sunday, she's only gone and ended up in hospital (jokes about Rob's cooking in the comment box please)! Poor thing has a blood clot on her lung and was taken in by ambulance on Monday. Thankfully she's OK and is already demanding her laptop and questioning why you can only have 2 glasses of wine a day on Warfarin, but it's still a bit of a shocker!

For those of you that don't know Kay, she has the same heart condition as me, so blood clots ain't good news; thankfully though they're treating it and she'll be fine (if the woman listens and slows down; no 6am gym sessions for a while, you hear me young lady!).

Anyway, as Kay is a regular blog reader, and hopefully she'll not be doing too much work from her hospital bed and having a bit of a surf, here's something to cheer you up buddy: