Its been a long time since I put anything up here, I keep getting over taken by events, thinking ooh I must write about that and end up not writing about anything. So to catch up briefly. Neu is doing well, he’s back to fishing a couple of times a week, its not enough for him, the man thinks he’s super human and wants to be out on the sea every day but he’s finally accepting that he will have to build up to that. He has adapted well to using the machine for his dialysis and although most people here seem to think it must be something awful to live with, we both see it as a blessing. Due to peritoneal dialysis Neu was already greatly improved physically but it was tiring and frustrating for him to have to be at home at specific times during the day to carry it out. Using the machine at night has made a huge difference to Neu’s state of mind, once he’s hooked up to it, it does the rest while he sleeps and he’s then free throughout the day, allowing him to amongst other things, get back to fishing. Now we just need there to be some fish for him to catch!

In April my youngest son and I went to Sao Paulo where my daughter lives; we spent a lovely, though all too brief afternoon with her before heading onto England to see the rest of our family and friends. London was a bit of a thermal shock as it was snowing when we arrived, not enough for my son who would have liked it knee deep but the light snow fall was quite enough for me, thankfully we have a store of warm clothes at my mums, on with the layers. It was great to have time with my two older boys, though I should refer to them as young men I guess, I’m hoping they’ve stopped growing as standing next to them, I’m beginning to feel a shrinking sensation.

On arriving back I’m Brazil, a friend bought us tickets to a dance spectacular by the school EDISCA, a fantastic school that if we lived in Fortaleza, I would definitely try and get my son into.The school offers theatrical training and opportunities to children from all social backgrounds and has a fantastic record for helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds gain an education in the arts. The show titled Paideia, was thrilling.

I would write more about it but Neu’s going fishing at the crack of dawn tomorrow so is already hooked up to the dialysis machine, the down side of that for me is that he can’t help cook the dinner so off I go.

©Claire Pattison Valente 2013