Day 39 - Parting....

"Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be 'morrow"
William ShakespeareEnglish dramatist, playwright and poet, 1564-1616

And there is the crux of today's post. Cleo, as arranged had to return to the hospital. To say it was not easy does not even come near it. We had become comfortable with cleo back at home this last few days, and had got a routine going. Unfortunately it is in cleo's best interest that she has a few more days at the hospital to complete the plan for her care after discharge with james the physio, and the rest of the team.

While we both understand the reasons for this, and we promised we would not make it hard for each other this evening, it was always going to be a tough time. And of course there were tears. When we got to the ward we sorted cleos things which we had brought back with us, and then went and had coffee in the cafe. Returning to the ward I sat with cleo a while and then put her to bed as we had done before, which seemed to keep her settled.

I left about 7pm as the kids were on their own at home, and when I got home I got three texts from cleo: "missing you and the kids" etc.

I called her and it was then that the emotions came flooding out, not wanting to be there, just wanting to come home, and so on. She sounded so upset, and alone, I was tempted to go back. However I did not, and a little while later I spoke with her again, and she was a little more settled.

Earlier in the day Angela from Occupational Therapy had visited us at home, and we admitted to her that we had got cleo upstairs, and that last night we had given her a bath. Angela agreed that we should get an additional bannister fitted, along with a grab rail at the top of the stairs to help cleo on the ascent. I do think that cleo was a little tired after the few days at home, which didn't help the emotional response. Her knee was painful, as we had not used the wheelchair at all; everywhere we went in the house was done on foot, with cleo supported by myself or Sarah.

Together

These lyrics are the words to a song I wrote some time ago. They seemed particularly appropriate tonight.

When the evening comes my love
I’ll be there to comfort you
In the shadows of the darkest night
I’ll hold you close to me and we will always be
Together
Together we will be

When the north wind blows my love
I’ll be there to keep you warm
By the fireside we kiss
I’ll hold you close to me and we will always be
Together
Together we will be

If the snow should come my love
You can look into my eyes
See the burning embers there
I’ll hold you close to me and we will always be
Together
Together we will be.

I don’t care if the people all say it’s wrong
I don’t mind if we stay here all night long

We can share our love
Our lives
Build our castles in the clouds
And when the winter comes again
I’ll hold you close to me and we will always be
Together
Together we will be