Maggie Home (Briefly)

I was going to write a very long post about Maggie coming home yesterday. I was also going to write about the visits we've had from Mary (Shannon's sister) and Daniel (Swedish Daniel, as we call him, because he's from Sweden). But I'm not very well today. A combination of shitting and puking topped off with what may well turn out to be the flu.

But I'll go and see my doctor tomorrow. Because if you're at death's door, he's just the man to help pull you through.

Courtesy of Eric Morecambe, that one.

So we've had a busy weekend. Daniel arrived on Friday, left on Sunday afternoon and spent most of his time in the same spot on the settee. We did feel a bit bad about that - that we weren't more entertaining - but the sheer pleasure of our company more than made up for it, I'm sure. Mary arrived on Saturday afternoon, all the way from Texas, and she's been great - particularly today when my self-pitying whining prevented me from being too involved with the day's activities.

So yes, it's been great having them here. As well as being a help, it's just good to have nice people around the house. At the same time, it's a bit of a sad reminder that we're not a little closer to our families. It's funny, but it's an assumption that almost everyone to do with Maggie's care has made: "Oh, but you'll have family to help you out won't you?" Er, no - because we didn't plan on having a disabled child you see. We thought it'd be okay, just me and Shannon.

Best laid plans and all that.

Maggie's first visit home was, we believe, something of a success. She was a little tired and a little grumpy but, when awake (and not upset), seemed very alert and very happy to be here. We fed her here, with the pump, and that went well too. The whole visit was as good as we could have expected. The most important thing about it, of course, is that it made us feel a little more confident about getting her home permanently.

It was wonderful having her home. And it was particularly good to see her reacting to her new surroundings. As I've mentioned before, she responds really well to music and it was good to be able to whack it up a bit and have a proper dance.

There are, below, pictures and a short film from the day. Again, the quality of the film has been downgraded from the original. But it still gets across quite well how Maggie was yesterday.

And no, that isn't a trick of perspective - she really does have giant-sized hands.

I have to say though that this film (and the last film) paints a pretty positive picture of Maggie. She looks happy, alert and responsive. But that's not how she is all the time. Far from it. But the thing is, I'm not going to be filming her when she's distressed and I certainly wouldn't upload that type of thing here.

I mention this because although I'd like everyone to see how great she can be, I don't want to paint a completely false picture.

Talking of pictures, you'll see that we still have our Christmas tree up. I'd like to be able to say that that's because we've been so busy with all that's gone on that we just haven't had the time to take it down. But the truth is, we do this every year. It's nice to have it in the room, the glow of the lights providing a little cheer through the darker months. Last year - or the year before - we didn't take it down until the end of March.

Season's Greetings to you all!