Mixed emotion

It's been a funny old week. You'd think that being by myself a lot that I would have had more time to blog and keep up to date with all the comings and goings of being here in England. I just looked and realized I'd totally failed. Anyway, here's the precis of the week.

Work - crazy. While I was here the plan was to take at least a week's vacation, but that hasn't happened at all. Many reasons for it - I keep telling myself that I'll take more time in August. I think it's been OK and I don't think that I've suffered too much - however it would have been nice to have more rest time.

Mum - she's recovering slowly. While it can be frustrating for her, i think she's coming on really well now she's home. Today she made her first journey out to Tim's and we had a barbeque which was lovely - I'm hoping we'll get to a restaurant tomorrow, but we'll see how she is. Her knee bends pretty well and she's practicing walking without a limp. I'm sure that when I go home she'll hear my voice in her head telling her to "walk straight", "don't limp", "bend your knee", "don't cross your legs" - but it's all good. I think it's awesome and by the time I'm back in August she'll be ready for a shopping trip to Braintree.

Dad - so, we weren't planning on Dad being sick, but we had a bit of a scare this week. He had previously been told he'd had an aortic aneurysm and he was waiting for an appointment with the doctor. Well, on Wednesday he got a call from the hospital to go and visit the consultant on Friday morning. The thing to realize here with British healthcare is that for that to happen it's a real shock...usually everything happens over a few months. Quite a scary thought. Anyway, he and I looked on the internet and came up with questions ready for the doctor. So, without labouring the point here, he's got another scan in 6 months to see if it's grown - it's currently at 3.5cm, surgery is when it gets to 5.5cm. The scan to figure out how fast it's growing. Apart from smoking there's nothing he can do to prevent it, make it better or harm it - and given he doesn't smoke it's a case of wait and see.

My ankle. I'm getting worried as it's not getting better. I've tried wearing the bootie, not the bootie - but the fact of the matter is it still hurts. I go to the docs on Thursday so hopefully I'll get some guidance then.

I have really mixed emotions now. I leave to go home on Tuesday. I'm excited to see Trev and all the work done on the apartment but I'll miss seeing everyone so regularly. It's been really nice spending more than a few hurried days with everyone. That said, I'm looking forward to resuming my exercise regime - before I get back to England in August my friend Debbie and I are going to lose 10lb. wish me luck