Update on life.

Which I have to say is pretty okay at the moment.

After working at the local High school for over 35 years, first as a caretaker, then teaching assistant , then behaviour support and now running the wellbeing department for the last 5+ years, I am about to semi retire. I will be working just two days a week in wellbeing. Not sure how easy this will be yet but I am SO looking forward to spending more time with Hubby ( who is already just working two days now) and being able to spend time being creative and hopefully travelling a little.

A bit of history :

I started to work at the school in 1990 2 months after my son died from leukaemia. I HAD been about to start my training to become a nurse , after working at the geriatric hospital next door to the school. As soon as my son became ill, I gave up work immediately to look after him . We spent a lot of time in hospital and eventually after a month or so we were told that he had a veery rare type of leukaemia that young children do not usually get , in fact they only knew of one other child in the uk who had had it.

There was no treatment available at the time, just to monitor and manage with weekly visits and the occasional stay in hospital. Most of that time is a bit of a blur now and I do not know how we managed - especially financially , as hubby had to have time off to take us to and from hospital and to look after Natalie who was 5 and just started school.

Our beautiful boy died on July 1st in Mayday hospital Croydon. We had gone to visit my sister for an early birthday as we knew he wouldn't make it till September.

He died on the day that he chose he would be three.

He name was Cavell Thomas Jones . He was names after Derek's dad , who in turn was named after the nurse Edith Cavell. 

***

I could not go back to the hospital and did not want to train to be a nurse anymore

I have always felt at home where I work in the school, the caretaking job served me well, after losing Cav, I did not really want to talk to people, I wanted to be alone to process my grief and learn to live without him.

I eventually had two more children and they helped so much. They were ALL a handful and after quite a few hospital, clinical and psychological appointments, we learned that between the three of them , they had : ASC, OCD,ADHD, Tourette's Syndrome, Dyspraxia, Speech and language problems, Epilepsy and type 1 diabetes and learning difficulties.  we were BUSY!! 

I became a teaching assistant specialising in additional needs ( I had had a bit of experience) after 10 years. I then realised I liked helping the children who were classed as "Naughty" - My problem solving skills learned from my own children helped. I stayed there until just before covid when the school wanted isolation and wellbeing ( we were doing both) separated.

About that time the school became a big bigger and they reshuffled the team system about as we needed more . They introduced 7 teams , named after famous people who lived locally including CAVELL ( after Edith Cavell). 

My son's name is now all over the school - WOW and yes I belong to team Cavell although not many people know why.

****

My children are now 30, 32 and 40 years old and are all doing really well - I am so proud of what they have coped with and continue to cope with. They are all lovely caring polite humans who seem to be happy 90% of the time.

We are off to visit the youngest , who moved in with her BF 6 months ago and have not seen ( apart from facetime a daily calls ). She is doing amazingly well but we do miss her.

I think that's enough for now.

Back soon possibly with pics of new tattoo booked in November.

Love Sue xx

Exactly a year

 

Well its been a year since I updated here and a lot has happened. Dex's  leg is SO much better!

He has semi retired, working just 1 and a half days a week.

I took up crochet, I still have a lot to learn and have a big bag full of different types of wool to play with.

My baby turned thirty in April .

Then she moved in with her boy friend- in Newcastle !!! 

It did mean that hubby and I could go out without feeling bad

 

My big girl turned 40 - eeek I am old.

We took her out shopping and for a meal

 

Spent a day in Yarmouth - Blinking cold!!

Flowers from Hubby most weeks.

Of course LOADS more happened but I was enjoying the moment and didn't always take photos.

Back hopefully before the year is out !!

sue xx

Poor hubby

Had his knee replaced tow weeks ago after having it cancelled 3 times.

 He had been this far before!

After the op same day. He chose to have an epidural so that he was awake during the op - which should mean a faster and less painful recovery.

He was full of Morphine here.

Allowed to go home after 1 day - although we had to wait a few hours to be discharged and it was almost 11pm by the time we finally got home.

 

If you look closely, you can see that he was bleeding on the carpet - I got it out but it kept bleeding the next day, so we ended up in A & E for a few hours.

They took blood to test for infection but the wound was surrounded by blisters . We think he was allergic to the glue in the dressing , so they redressed it before we went home.

Two weeks later - he has had two physio appointments and the dressing removed. 

He has exercises to do three times a day and is walking outside for a few minutes each day ( when its not raining) 

He was having a play with my copic pens here.

We still have a way to go and he is desperate for a bath - we have no shower.

More Physio appointments next week.

Back Soon Soojay x

 

Holiday Photo Drop

We stayed at Praa Sands in Cornwall for the week of our holiday this year.

We love the beach and the view from the house.

We wont miss the steps to get up to the house!

We went to Paradise park 

Nats did some scrapbooking

Never get tired of this

Lovely house

We stayed in Instow Devon for our second week.

More stunning views.

No steps to get to the house

Lovely balcony

Westward Ho! beach was also stunning and the sea was SO warm!

Yvonne And Roger came to visit .

Till next time 

Soojay xx

 

Not Been on here for a while- two years!! ( not too much happened) 

We did go to Liverpool to see family and hubby changed his job and now works for Waitrose.

These photos are from our Holiday in Marazion , Cornwall this year. 

On the way down we stopped at Bridgwater Premier Inn to break the journey.  

We visited Boscastle and Tintagel on the journey down.

We also stopped at the cider farm - we go there every time we go to Cornwall but where disappointed to find the it now costs £14.99 a head to look around , so we only went to the shop this time.

We went for morning walks along the beach at Marazion - the sand is not as lovely as Praa sands ( just round the corner ) and there is always lots of seaweed on the beach.

Great view though.

Of course we went to Praa Sands a couple of times - my fav place in the UK.

We wandered around Truro and had Pizza for lunch.

The second time we went to Praa sands we bumped into Greg Davies - I feel like a Hobbit!!

one of the best things about the holiday home was the tot tub at the bottom of the garden. It was SO big and we used it every evening - I DO miss it!

Can't go to Cornwall without a trip to Lands End

poor Derek's knee was playing up so he needed his stick.

An evening walk along Penzance Promenade

we left it almost till the last day to go to St Michael's Mount. Dan and Nats didn't want  to go - good job as it now costs &10 a head to get onto the island. ohh well - we took Meg and had a wander around. 

 

may be back soon - who knows!

sue xx