There's a worm at the bottom of the garden and his name is Wiggly Woo.

Joe has got his Hickman's Line in now. He had a longer operation in Cambridge on Weds. Waited from 8 til 3 with no food or drink!

They made a hole in his neck and went down a vein, then dragged a line through the skin on his chest and into his vena cava. Or something. He was supposed to have a single line, but the surgeon put in a double by mistake, so it's a bit more bulky than it could have been. While they were there they took a bone marrow sample and stuck some chemo in his spine.

He's absolutely exhausted. He had 3 chemos (one in spine, one in drip into chest line and one syringe into chest line) on Weds and Thurs. And he's back on the steroids, double dose. So he's tired and grumpy, with minimal sense of humour. Not very hungry either at the moment. His neck is sore from the operation and he doesn't move it much, so he looks miserable and uncomfortable.

The chest line is mostly refered to as a Wiggly by children. It is white and comes straight out of the skin. But we haven't seen that yet, as there is a lot of dressing on the site. The tubes are kept in a cloth bag that hangs round his neck on a piece of ribbon that's turning his neck green. He has to keep the dressing on, undisturbed, for 3 weeks, to reduce exposure to infection and reopening of the wound. So no baths! Well, no showers or swimming anyway.

He was back at school next day, though almost asleep at the dinner table afterwards. And now he's got hyperactive Uncle Mark visiting! He loves him of course, and does his best to keep going.

Sammy has found the whole thing disorientating: he has also started nursery this last 2 weeks. We've had wet trousers and waking up crying since Joe went into hospital. But the rest of the time he is fine, especially with Uncle Mark.

It's been a busy time. Lucky I took my paternity leave now.