In the eye of a storm...

 

Our daughter has been quite poorly in hospital, with 16 days of operations, daily appointments with two teams of consultants and three types of IV antibiotics. 

She is now home and we are grateful, so grateful, not just to be home but for the NHS staff, medicines and the understanding and support of those around us.

She is getting used to sleeping in her own bed (without being woken up throughout the night), taking her medications and gently engaging with her friends and hobbies. She is pleased to have life and wants to grab it and hold on.

I can only try and sum up using this analogy how we, her parents, feel... in the eye of the storm, there is a quiet, contained calm and that was our daughter during her stay. Swirling around her, at speed, were us, and the doctors and the nurses. And then there were our nearest and dearest who watched this storm build and gradually subside.

Now the storm has passed, the swirling is still occuring but at a lower speed, before everything scopped up can be slowly settled back to the ground. The aftermath of a cyclone is devastation, and risks remain for several weeks. Of course, some people have wandered off now the storm has passed, perhaps another storm has started nearby, and some are helping to clear up. But the items that were swirling cannot be helped, they need to come to terms with what has just happened, perhaps they have been changed during the storm, perhaps all they need is time.