Where the wind blows

If I wasn't faced with the prospect of working all weekend I'd be really glad that's it's Friday! After a week of being battered by wind and rain and being baffled by politics it would be nice to have a restful couple of days. The skies over Exmoor have been dark and threatening, blue                                                                                                            

and sharp, ever-changing as the weather blew through us and around us. The roads are littered with branches and leaves, stony debris washed off the fields and rivulets of mud. On Monday I heard a tree fall in the woods across the road, an unmistakable cracking, creaking and crashing, probably displacing unsuspecting fledglings as it lost its vital grip with the earth. We haven't found it yet. 

Meanwhile the election race gathered pace and more people turned out to vote than have done so for twenty years. We learnt that decency and honesty are well received whereas constantly putting down the opposition as if you have nothing else to offer turns people off. Today the winners look like they got kicked in the face and the runners-up are deservedly cock-a-hoop.

But enough of weather and politics; that all smacks of small-talk! With the backdrop of all this turmoil life goes on and we also had to focus on getting Nick's bone marrow biopsy done right this time (not that it was really in our hands to make that happen!). Today was the day and I'm pleased to say that the procedure went much better than last time. The consultant radiologist was brilliant, taking his time to explain exactly what he was going to do, why it was necessary and how confident he was that all would be well. Note, he didn't criticise the doctor who'd caused Nick pain doing the last biopsy, instead focussing on his own plan with reassuring honesty. This time it was carried out under CT guidance so he could see what he was aiming for. Nick said that whilst the injection of local anaesthetic was again painful, the actual drilling into the bone did not hurt. The hollow needles are about 6 inches long and each one was hammered down into the bone, reverberating through Nick's whole skeleton, an uncomfortable feeling apparently but not painful. He took 4 samples; four times tapping the metalwork deep into Nick's sacrum. I hope you're not too squeamish but if you are I don't feel too guilty as I feel that the least we can all do is hear or read about it. Nick has to actually lie there and have all these things done to her, time after time and she has never once complained about any of it. 

I guess people being brave don't realise that they're being brave, that's the very nature of it. Like all those bystanders who helped the injured during the recent terrorist attacks, no thought for themselves, just quiet courage. None of us know how we'd react in the face of any particular challenge but to see someone doing so with genuine courage and dignity is humbling.


So once again we must wait. Wait to see if this spell of blustery unsettled weather turns to summer, if a government with no public confidence can use a small far right party to help drag their policies through the house and whether the lovely Rahul hit the spot with his hammer and drill to get us some answers about the inner turmoil of Nick's body. We may not all agree on the politics but I think we're all together in our hopes for a positive outcome to reward Nick's bravery. We'd like to find the source of the   pain and we'd like to find the fallen tree in the woods.