Much better!

I think we've finally rounded the corner with Charlie as he is much, much better today. While the fever and rash disappeared fairly quickly, he just wasn't himself and Jen was having a helluva time getting him to drink, which meant she/they were up half the night trying to coax him to drink something/anything but there was nothing doing. I had him all day yesterday and again he really was taking in very little, although to be fair I reckon he wasn't dehydrated, nor was he listless. Today he went back to the crèche in the morning but again he only took 60 ml of milk (as opposed to about a minimum of 150 ml we would aim for with each bottle). I went and picked him up at 1 p.m. and what a sophisticated place that is! I needed a code to get through the initial gate, obligatory mask, of course, then I had to put on "overshoes" before I could go in (fair enough, there are little ones crawling around), show my passport before they would hand him over to me, and finally as I left I had to punch in a computer screen to record  that Charlie B was being taken off the premises. Very sophisticated! When I got back to Jordan and Jen's place I offered him a bottle and he guzzled down 150 ml and then slept for three hours! Well that can't do any harm can it! He was just starting to wake up (albeit somewhat cranky) when his dad came home so I suggested another bottle as if he was still cranky it couldn't be because he was tired. So we went for it again and he drank another 110 ml and ol' smiley face was back with us again! Jen just sent me a message to say he just took another 180 ml tonight so she's relieved and I'm hoping he will get a good night's sleep so that they can get some rest too! I have to confess to the cardinal sin of plonking him down in front of the TV yesterday though to try to keep him awake for a bit while I was getting stuff together and he seemed quite taken with Scooby Doo - all the more so since Scooby pulled it off yet again and figured out who the bad guy was! Phew, it was touch and go there for a while!

I also spoke to my friend today and he thought he might be feeling just a little better also. Not great (he had to keep taking a breather just talking to me), but he had been able to walk the 500 metres to the baker's without taking a break and was also able to do a little work on the computer before his sight went whoozy again! So no, he's not great but hopefully getting there, if very slowly!

André gets the keys to his new place on Tuesday and when he mentioned to Max that he had better start thinking about furnishing it, Max told him he should get a move on because the sales were on but were finishing tomorrow (Tuesday). So with that André put in for the afternoon and shot off to the stores to take advantage of the sales - which nobody (except Max, obviously) had thought about, since I avoid those things like the plague. Well he came back having ordered all the "big stuff" - two beds, a dining table, sofa, coffee table, TV, balcony furniture etc. and today ran out and ordered smaller stuff like a vacuum cleaner, an iron (ha, what a joke), toaster, kettle and so on, so things are looking good! He's having it all delivered next Thursday and he's paid the extra to have it all assembled too. Some people don't know they're born!!!! Hell, when my ex left he took all the bedroom furniture so I ordered a new bedroom set but then nearly drove myself nuts trying to assemble it on my own (the bed collapsed a couple of times until I figured it out). But furniture was eventually assembled (and much wine was drunk) and I'm quite happy with the end result!

On Sunday he went white water rafting as Max had a spare ticket from someone who had backed out at the last minute. What he hadn't realized was that it was with an association of disabled people, since Max's girlfriend is in a wheelchair following a car accident involving a wild boar. She's quite amazing though, as she and Max go out cycling every weekend and Max can barely keep up with her. He's a plumber and so is obviously pretty muscular, but André said the strength in Elise's arms has to be seen to be believed and she leaves them standing. Apparently there were three boats, made up of able-bodied friends/assistants and disabled people from the association. In André's boat they had Elise (who had to sit in the bottom of the boat because she has no use of her legs), a young man who had lost a leg in a motorbike accident, and a young-ish man who had been in a helicopter crash where he had lost a leg, his left forearm, the sight in one eye and had extensive burns all over his body. I told André it makes me wonder if I would ever have the strength to come back fighting like these people have, but hopefully none of us will ever have to find out. Max apparently whacked one of the assistants' finger with his paddle at one point and she was complaining to him about it, but when she complained about the pain in her finger the second time Elise just pointed to her own crippled legs and said "really?" - and they all burst out laughing! After the trip they ate in a restaurant further up the mountain and are already talking about doing it again sometime. I know André will be up for it as he said they were such a great group of people! It does make you realize how much we probably take for granted though doesn't it. So next time I feel a whinge session coming on, I hope I can take a step back and think there but for the grace of God go I, right?