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This poor, sad neglected space. I've not been able to face writing about what's been going on - until now. Right...

So ... we discovered Ewan had a cholesteatoma in his right ear. That's medi-talk for a dangerous cyst, growing inside his head. Short version: he had an external polyp removed. Diagnosis was that there was a bigger problem. So he had a far more involved operation that meant his ear was opened up, his (unsalvageable) eardrum removed altogether, along with some hearing bones and part of the skull that the cyst had also eroded (blasted thing).

From diagnosis to two operations later took no more than 6 weeks. It is amazing - I honestly had no idea it was even possible to graft a new eardrum. It is. They took a small piece of his own muscle and grafted it in place; it will hopefully grow over beautifully and act as a new tympanic membrane.

I've found this incident quite incredible on a couple of fronts. In the days after diagnosis I felt a very overwhelming sense of gratitude - for it having been picked up at all (though I wish it had been earlier) and for living in this country, in this time with breathtakingly wonderful medical care at our disposal. Left untreated, this condition is fatal.

But the biggest sensation has been the guilt, which I suspect will be with me for some years yet. Almost all parents would do anything to protect their children. That I somehow failed my son by not picking up this medical problem earlier on is not easy to digest. We're hopeful that after his last operation (next year) he'll get 80 per cent of the hearing in that ear back.

Just moments after waking from surgery...

Other stuff has been going on too. E lost his first tooth in September. It wasn't actually ready to come up, a kid at school punched it out. They were "playing karate" .... mmm-hmm.

The cat died. Well, actually we played God in that one. It was my best friend's cat and we took her when she moved to Finland earlier this year. T looooooooved that cat so much, but the cat (who was almost 14 at the time of her departure) had some serious kidney failure happening. Kinder to put her down...

So let's have some happy photos now!

Bits and bobs from the wonderful Reverse Garbage have been turned into E's 'hideout'.

T with a 'goodbye picture' that was placed on the cat's 'grave'...

Springtime planting...

She's got wheels...

Excess mandarins turned into iceblocks, bit of a hit...

And that's it for now. Less doom and gloom next time, hopefully...