Blog 19.Its the festive period 29.12.12

Where has the past year gone?! It's flown by and it's now coming up for 2 years since we packed up our belongings and embarked on this Adventure in Oz-which was only meant to be for a year I might add! We have certainly had an adventure since moving to Australia which has included both highs and extreme lows but whatever,we can say its been an adventure that wont ever be forgotten.

Since writing my last blog in September,Charlie has had his 4th birthday which we held at the local mountain with a great turn out
of friends. Charlie found it to be a little overwhelming and wanted to go home (yes, from his own party!), halfway through as he was tired. Nonetheless he had a great morning and it was lovely to see the kids having so much fun.

Things have continued to be very much up and down with his treatment and the various "extras" Charlie gets with having the Cancer are still proving difficult at times. His little feet have been sore now for the past 4-5 months.We continue to see the Dermatologist but I don't believe they really know what to do to get them better again so its a matter of trial and error at the moment. His feet have been red raw for weeks and he didn't complain once that they were sore even though they clearly were very difficult to walk on due to the way he was walking on the balls of his feet.Charlie is a tough little boy who amazes us everyday with his continued strength and perseverance.He is clearly a popular little chap amongst our group of friends too!

There have been so many fun times spent socialising both with friends and as a family over the past few months which has been great.We've had bbq's in the mountains,trips to the theatre,fun at the beach,giggles in the pool,the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, there are clear constraints living with Cancer brings with it.Charlie has begun asking a lot more questions about why he can't do the things Thomas does (such as swim in public water areas) and he reverts to saying that Thomas has bad guys in his blood too so that Tom doesnt get to have all the fun (fair play)!We do have to take things a lot easier than if Charlie didn't have Cancer and he is still a regular fixture in his pushchair or resting on the sofa as he tires very easily. We try to capture the happy,positive moments and not dwell on the negatives (which is why you wont see too many photos of him looking miserable and sad as although many of the photos we have show him looking fed up and exhausted,they are too difficult and personal to share).Here are a few fab ones instead!!

Kayaking with daddy

Charlie knows how to get Tom to run after him-its a fine art!

Thomas broke up from school mid December after completing year 1.He's now on his school holidays until the end of January,and I'm sure we will continue to fill the time with fun activities.We've been lucky enough to have my brother and my mum visit us over the festive period and we've had so much fun. We had a trip up the coast to Noosa which was beautiful and we hired a boat where Paul and Rob did some fishing (and the kids joined in too).Seeing Thomas and Charlie with my brother and the amount of fun he brought to their lives in such a short time was priceless.I think the feeling was mutual by looking at this photo!

Trying to smuggle Tom and Charlie back to England

Feeding the kangaroo

Charlie will be starting Kindy on the 29th January. Paul and myself had a lengthy meeting with his teacher about any possible difficulties which they may encounter with having an immunosuppressed child in the class. Matt was fantastic and very flexible in meeting Charlies extra needs.Unfortunately Charlie isn't like all the other children in the fact that he is a sick child with a life threatening illness which means that simple things like sharing food at morning tea is a no no.Walking around barefoot so they can develop their sensory skills is not allowed for him due to the risk of infection should he get a cut/graze.However, in almost every other way he will fit in and be like the other kids. As you can imagine,it is going to be a HUGE challenge for both Charlie and us to see him start Kindy and be around a group of people with potential to pass on germs and bugs to him where we can no longer feel so in control and opt out (unless there's reason to of course).The reassuring factor for us is that the kindy are so well equipped to have a child with Cancer go there.They currently have a little girl there with the same disease and are amazing at meeting her needs.I'm sure it will be a turbulent time emotionally as we've gone through so much together and we now have to allow him to explore and grow on his own for a few days a week.I just hope hes as brave at doing this as he has been over the past 2 years of his little life. In all honesty,I'm dreading leaving him no matter how much I know it will benefit him- I'm scared of the potential of him being around so many germs and illnesses brought in by other children.Hopefully these fears will ease once he starts and I'm sure the extra time to myself will come in handy after a stressful 2 years.

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 Paul and myself have been lucky enough to find a house to move to which is closer to both the school and kindy the boys attend. One of the teachers from Tom's school is leaving and renting out his home and we were extremely lucky to get accepted to move in considering the competitiveness of the rental market here. It will mean less travel for all of us getting to work and school which is a godsend. We'll be moving towards the end of January so please don't forget to get our new address from us.

As many of you will know,we had an incident a few weeks ago with Charlie being very unwell and going floppy and not responding to us which resulted in us calling the paramedics out. To cut a long story short,they were more bothered about finishing their shift and getting home than seeing to him and we ended up taking him to A and E ourselves. We found out that he had very low blood sugar levels which we have since been told was extremely dangerous for him to have and the paramedics should have done a routine foot prick test to check his blood glucose levels,which they didn't do.There were a catalogue of errors made by the paramedic crew,so I felt that I had to put in a complaint against them.I was then interviewed by the commissioner of the ambulance service who couldn't apologise more for their incompetence.I have since been told by our liaison nurse that her son who's training to be a paramedic,was in a training session whereby they used the case study of Charlie as an example of how NOT to treat a patient. The fact he was treat the way he was as a floppy child is one thing,but as a floppy child with a life threatening illness who has no reserves,was disgraceful and I am so pleased to have brought this matter to the forefront for future paramedics to learn from as I really didnt enjoy making the complaint to the service but now realise how valuable it was. The 2 paramedics went to a panel last week to decide their fate so I will update on this once I hear anything.

Thomas and Charlie are continuing to be the best of buds and play together famously most of the time.We're waiting for the day the tide changes and all hell breaks loose between them but for now,they get along and we'll drink to that!Thomas is still the superstar older brother who continuously looks out for Charlie and involves him in his games (whether Charlie likes it or not)lol.Going through such a surreal experience has certainly developed a bond between the boys that we cant explain but have seen grow over the past 2 years into something special.They are like any kids and have their moments and can be little monkeys one minute and angels the next.The laughter that fills the house from Tom making Charlie giggle is priceless.Life is about learning and growing, and watching your children develop in areas which surpass your expectations is magical. Thomas has taken on a huge amount since moving away from family 2 years ago.Not only has he faced the difficulties any normal child does moving countries, he has taken on a huge roller coaster of emotions and dealt with the situation in his own unique way.We are so proud of Thomas and how much he has helped Charlie stay positive and always perks him up whenever a time calls for it. The reason I write this is I don't EVER want Tom to be the silent child who people forget in this horrible situation as he was there every step of the way and as I've mentioned before,he was and is Charlies rock who made him walk and talk again with so much perseverance.

We are getting closer to that finish line and boy you will know when the Barratt's touchdown on that runway at Manchester airport! We often get asked if we'll stay in Oz and the 100% truthful answer is we dont know.Our life is not what it was,and we wouldn't want it to be as things change and we have shown that we can survive the hardest thing ever by being told our child has Cancer,oh and being told just after we moved to the other side of the world!Yes,I sometimes get frustrated when people moan about their child having a snotty nose and cant sleep as I just think how lucky they are they'll be over it in a week at the worst. I get envious of people who can take off and enjoy being with family and friends back home or go on holidays within Australia to explore this beautiful country in its entirity.The last year has brought about exhaustion for both myself and Paul from Charlie being ill for months on end. The experience is so difficult and we try to stay positive for both ourselves and others but the reality is,its bloody hard! Without seeing it for yourselves I understand that people think we're doing really well and Charlies on the mend,but in all honesty,we don't know that and yes,hes plodding along nicely, but until that day he's given the all clear,things are still very unsettling and very difficult no matter how positive we stay.

Our plan is to keep taking one day at a time and spending as much time as we can having fun and making the most amazing memories ever! Life throws things at you and you make of it what you can. There's a lot to be said for positivity as it certainly breeds it!Happy New Year to all of you and have a fantastic 2013!!