This morning (Saturday) I was
surprised and delighted by a phone call from Matt to tell me that Phoebe was
being allowed out for an hour to the park opposite the hospital. I have
never been so thrilled to spend an hour in a park! The sun was shining
and the five of us got an hour of near normality – Phoebe even fancied a few
licks of Rachel’s ice cream!Phoebe’s isolation room overlooks the road and the park, and during the week Reuben and I had waved to Phoebe and blown kisses up to her at the window, but I never expected to be able to hold her hand or give her a cuddle as we sat on the grass. She looked so sweet, unselfconscious in her head-covering made out of an NHS pillow case!
Our main concern this week
has continued to be the tiny amount of food she is consuming; even the liquid
nutrients going through her nasal tube get vomited back
up so that her body is receiving very little nutrition. But her spirits remain amazingly
bright and she keeps busy with drawing, craft and school work. She has an
hour a day with a teacher, and is also being sent work from her school to help
her keep up with what the rest of her class is doing.Meanwhile Reuben continues to enjoy his mornings at nursery, and our afternoons together have included picnic lunches in the garden, scooting, football, games of Memory (which he wins easily!), jigsaws and playing with Bramble the dog.
