Starting to write again
It's been a while... After talking about Mally I'm back to telling the story of Joe.
Joe had his transplant on the 11th February and to begin with it all seemed to be going well. He was so well that I went back home on the Sunday and left his mum, Anna, with him. She came back on Monday afternoon planning to go back on the Wednesday. She had left him with Jane and Cheryl, (Jane's partner) who would stay until she went back on Wednesday.
Just to explain our exceptional family for anyone reading who doesn't know us. At the time of Joe's transplant Anna and I had been together for twelve years. Joe was 5 when we got together and Anna had been a single parent for most of that time. Joe had been born to Anna through AI when Anna had been living with a previous partner, coincidentally also called Jane. Though their relationship broke up when Joe was just a baby, Jane had maintained contact with Joe and saw him once a fortnight. I had split up with my partner, Steve, 3 years before that and we had three children. The youngest of whom was Beth aged 7, Robbie, the middle child was 11 and Tracey was 14. It was important to me, Steve and Anna that we all had a good relationship so the children would always know that we loved them and they were our focus and we had their best interests at heart. So the 3 of us got on really well. So much so, that Steve lived just a few doors down from us, he always had Christmas dinner with us and he would be there when they opened their presents. He would wander in at any time shouting our names when he wanted to see the children and he would often ask Anna for advice when he was worried about anything to do with his health. (The day Steve died it was us he came to for help. Anna tried so hard to save him but he had had significant coronary artery disease and it wasn't to be.)
So, between us we had four children and medals need to go to Anna who was thrown right in the deep end with one teenager and another hot on her heels. Beth and Joe were so similar in age they were similar in behaviour but teenagers are a challenge. So for twelve years they had all been brought up together and we were a family. As 'normal' a family as you could expect. We had fun together, difficult times together, the usual ups and downs of daily family life, the school run, holidays, sibling rivalry, chicken pox and D & V. Rules about homework and discipline, teaching them to cook (though that was Anna's bag) and trying to train the boys not to pee on the seat! As far as we, and they, were concerned they were brothers and sisters and that's how it would always remain. Tracey, Robbie and Beth worried for Joe when he started on dialysis and they were relieved when the transplant seemed to go well and couldn't wait to welcome him home.
At this time in the process all seemed well. Joe had had all his tubes taken out, didn't seem to need pain relief and had walked around the ward briefly. Even his consultant thought he would be home by the weekend. That's not to say he didn't have a way to go before he was completely recovered but everything was looking good.
Then, on Tuesday 14th Feb at around 7am, Anna and I got a call to say that Joe was really unwell and we needed to get back to Leeds as soon as possible. He had been taken to the High Dependency unit because he was coughing up blood, spiked a temperature and was struggling to breathe. We didn't know it then but this was the start of a nightmare month. We grabbed as much as we could and set off for the 1. 5 hour journey to Leeds.
When we got there, Joe had been taken down for a scan and returned only a few minutes later with an oxygen mask on. He looked scared but not too bad and was very relieved to see his mum. What scared us was all the equipment that the nurses had deemed necessary to take with him for the scan; including a resuscitation bag. However, Joe seemed reasonably okay at this point and we just thought he had an infection; which given the fact that he was on anti rejection therapy was a worry but we knew it could be treated.
Joe had his transplant on the 11th February and to begin with it all seemed to be going well. He was so well that I went back home on the Sunday and left his mum, Anna, with him. She came back on Monday afternoon planning to go back on the Wednesday. She had left him with Jane and Cheryl, (Jane's partner) who would stay until she went back on Wednesday.
Just to explain our exceptional family for anyone reading who doesn't know us. At the time of Joe's transplant Anna and I had been together for twelve years. Joe was 5 when we got together and Anna had been a single parent for most of that time. Joe had been born to Anna through AI when Anna had been living with a previous partner, coincidentally also called Jane. Though their relationship broke up when Joe was just a baby, Jane had maintained contact with Joe and saw him once a fortnight. I had split up with my partner, Steve, 3 years before that and we had three children. The youngest of whom was Beth aged 7, Robbie, the middle child was 11 and Tracey was 14. It was important to me, Steve and Anna that we all had a good relationship so the children would always know that we loved them and they were our focus and we had their best interests at heart. So the 3 of us got on really well. So much so, that Steve lived just a few doors down from us, he always had Christmas dinner with us and he would be there when they opened their presents. He would wander in at any time shouting our names when he wanted to see the children and he would often ask Anna for advice when he was worried about anything to do with his health. (The day Steve died it was us he came to for help. Anna tried so hard to save him but he had had significant coronary artery disease and it wasn't to be.)
So, between us we had four children and medals need to go to Anna who was thrown right in the deep end with one teenager and another hot on her heels. Beth and Joe were so similar in age they were similar in behaviour but teenagers are a challenge. So for twelve years they had all been brought up together and we were a family. As 'normal' a family as you could expect. We had fun together, difficult times together, the usual ups and downs of daily family life, the school run, holidays, sibling rivalry, chicken pox and D & V. Rules about homework and discipline, teaching them to cook (though that was Anna's bag) and trying to train the boys not to pee on the seat! As far as we, and they, were concerned they were brothers and sisters and that's how it would always remain. Tracey, Robbie and Beth worried for Joe when he started on dialysis and they were relieved when the transplant seemed to go well and couldn't wait to welcome him home.
At this time in the process all seemed well. Joe had had all his tubes taken out, didn't seem to need pain relief and had walked around the ward briefly. Even his consultant thought he would be home by the weekend. That's not to say he didn't have a way to go before he was completely recovered but everything was looking good.
Then, on Tuesday 14th Feb at around 7am, Anna and I got a call to say that Joe was really unwell and we needed to get back to Leeds as soon as possible. He had been taken to the High Dependency unit because he was coughing up blood, spiked a temperature and was struggling to breathe. We didn't know it then but this was the start of a nightmare month. We grabbed as much as we could and set off for the 1. 5 hour journey to Leeds.
When we got there, Joe had been taken down for a scan and returned only a few minutes later with an oxygen mask on. He looked scared but not too bad and was very relieved to see his mum. What scared us was all the equipment that the nurses had deemed necessary to take with him for the scan; including a resuscitation bag. However, Joe seemed reasonably okay at this point and we just thought he had an infection; which given the fact that he was on anti rejection therapy was a worry but we knew it could be treated.
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