The day of our move to Helen House, unbelievably arrived and we were daunted. None of the people who were about to care for us completely knew us or knew what we had been through emotionally. Yes they had the medical notes as to what had happened to Thomas but that is only part of the story. However, so much love and care was given to Thomas, Jason and me, once again, by the incredible staff and the transfer team, to make the emotional change as least stressful as possible.
As we arrived, there were a lot of new faces to greet us from the back of the ambulance. We were welcomed with open arms, shown to our room, and then a nurse showed us round. It was so quiet. The hustle and bustle of the hospital had gone. For me, it felt a little empty and I felt lost. Jason liked the solitude that it brought. There was no doubt, however, that it was friendly and homely.
When we arrived Jason and I were very tired having lost many nights sleep over the past ten days, as well as emotionally drained. We had been on such a rollercoaster of emotions at the hospital with our changing hopes and dreams for Thomas and his future.
We had lots of discussions as we settled in with the staff and we worked through a plan as to what would happen now. The staff couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful, listening to our wants and just dealing with them. This was particularly true over the sleeping arrangements to enable our children to live with us. We had them sharing the bedroom adjoined to ours, one in the bed and the other on a mattress on the floor, whilst I slept on the sofa bed with Thomas and Jason slept in the cot! They clearly understood that we had no interest in using the flat over the road as we did not want our children to be separated from us and us from Thomas.
An emotionally difficult decision we had made when we had been at the hospital, in anticipation of moving to Helen House, was for me to stop expressing, so I could spend more time with Thomas. The support from the staff from a practical, emotional and physical stance was invaluable and made the change a little bit easier.
We started to get to know the staff as they began to put things in place to prepare us to move back home. Our training started immediately and was kept at a pace to suit us.
When the children arrived late afternoon on Tuesday, we felt that the transition had finished. Our children had missed us and we had missed them. It just felt right for us to be together again as a family.
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