December 7th-8th 1996
The next day, Jenny was exhausted and she needed to rest, but I noticed that William had started to sound chesty. His breathing grew faster and worryingly laboured.
The doctor sent me to Casualty, where William was admitted with bronchiolitis – an asthma-like lung infection.
Fortunately, the condition clears up after a day or so with nebulisers and regular doses of oxygen.
But it was tougher than you can imagine for us all to visit William in hospital then, with Jenny unwell and Emily still so small, too.
Somehow we managed, and I’ve a lasting memory of mother and daughter smiling as they played together on the floor of the children’s ward, whilst William slept and the first snow of the winter fell outside.
And although William recovered quickly, the effect of having been left alone in the hospital overnight was obvious – for months afterwards, he’d scream whenever he was left on his own.
December 17th 1996
At Christmas every year, my company gave us tickets for the pantomime in Guildford. This year it was Snow White. I collected Jenny and Emily from home, and we parked at the office.
It wasn’t far to the theatre – just a few hundred metres – but the Christmas shopping traffic made it impossible to drive, and with Jenny’s bad hip it was hard for her to walk even that distance.
And it amazed me that whilst several of my colleagues saw Jenny hobbling, they said hello, and all kept on walking. Not one of them stopped to walk with us, or to offer any moral support. Jenny might not have wanted any special attention, but we didn’t get it either.
At last we arrived at the show. Emily loved the pantomime, and we took her to join the kids’ tea party afterwards before heading back to the car.
It seemed even further to struggle now, and it hurt me, too, to see Jenny suffering like that.
But she would never admit it was too much, and she wouldn’t have missed that day with Emily for the world. She wouldn’t have many more chances to take her daughter to the theatre, I thought.
4 responses so far ↓
Author // 27 May, 2008 at 18:40 |
It’s strange to think you went to see Snow White at the Guildford Yvonne Arnaud theatre in 1996 – I had my own business in those days and my office was almost opposite the theatre then.
I was on crutches at the time myself due to surgery to remove the cancerous tumour from the bone in my leg.
One day as I was looking out of the window (which overlooked the zebra crossing in front of the theatre ) the seven dwarfs crossed the road in single file. It was such an unusual sight it stuck in my mind. That must have been the same production that you saw – in 1996. Small world.
It’s wonderful that amidst all that turmoil you were able to find moments to enjoy and cherish.
Roads // 27 May, 2008 at 23:49 |
That’s amazing, Jan – and thank you for your memories. We must have hobbled right past your window, not far behind those Seven Dwarfs. Little did we know that you were suffering your own mobility problems, just a few painful steps away.
It’s fantastic that you have recovered from that difficult time so marvellously to take on your tough Devon clifftop walks – no feat for the faint-hearted, and that’s for sure.
Meanwhile that production is a trusty Guildford favourite, and I’ve seen it in the same theatre several times since. Or perhaps the same old jokes just make me think I have. But for all of that, the show never ceases to amuse children of all ages. This one most definitely included.
With warm best wishes today from Stratford-upon-Avon.
nichole3 // 28 May, 2008 at 18:20 |
Roads,
Again–what a brave person she was. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for your little son to be in the hospital during this time of your life. So glad Jenny and Emily had this event to enjoy together.
Roads // 28 May, 2008 at 23:33 |
Yes, Nichole. The timing of William’s stay in hospital was very difficult – it seemed like one thing after another just then.
On another level, though, perhaps it might after all have helped us and in an unlikely way, since it gave us something else and more immediate to think about than Jenny’s failing health.
Children are always our priority, and I think perhaps it did us good as well to focus back on them.
“Ooking back through these past few entries, I’ve hardly mentioned the kids. Perhaps that shows just how much we had to focus on Jenny then, with so many hospital visits to arrange and so many preoccupying concerns which followed on from them.
And yet of course the children were there with us throughout – silent watchers and participants (well, not always silent) in the whole stressful story, sometimes at the hospital with us, and sometimes at home with friends or my father-in-law.
It wasn’t easy to balance then, and I’m sure those stresses had some effect on the children during those difficult weeks and months. How could they not, however hard we tried?
I’ll come back to explore this theme further before too long.
In the meantime, many thanks again for your comments and for your great support of this book.