A heartbreaking lesson about friendship

Julian learned an unfortunately hard and heartbreaking lesson today about friendship.

Friends don’t always value you as much as you do them.  He has discovered that it is all too easy for some people to dismiss who you are and your long-standing friendship when what you say doesn't suit them.

He discovered that it hurts and it breaks your heart.

I must admit, I am desperately worried about the backlash when he goes back to school in a few weeks.  I just hope this opens up new opportunities for longer, firmer friendships and isn’t alienated by rumours and lies.

I’m looking forward to meeting his new friends and hope that the old ones soon learn what they are missing out on.

Chewing Gum and Duct Tape

I learned something about myself recently.  It wasn’t pointed out to me, just a realisation that came upon me suddenly while I was clicking my way through Pinterest.

I’ve been hiding myself away from the reality of our life with Julian’s condition.

It is why I have stayed away from blogging.  It is why I have stopped any form of research, and it is why I stopped looking forward to getting together with the other families at the Pulmonary Hypertension clinic every 3 months.

I may seem fine on the outside, but if you don’t see me here or on the Saving Jules Facebook page, it may be because the chewing gum and duct tape that are holding me together inside is coming loose.

Introducing Julian!!!

Well, we’ve had a pretty crappy year this year so far.  The last few months we’ve spent packing and moving, which was not a lot of fun for any of us.  On the day of my last post (in fact only a matter of a few hours later) my cousin passed away unexpectedly, and I lost a very good friend to Pulmonary Hypertension a few weeks later.  My Nana’s health started to deteriorate quickly after the loss of my cousin and in March she sadly passed away at the wonderful age of 90-almost-91.

This morning I woke up with a strong feeling that I really needed to get back into the swing of things with Saving Jules and today I really wanted to introduce you to Julian himself, and the kind of person he is.

He loves to read.

With his favourite author, John Flanagan

Kicking it back with a book

 

He's dramatic.

Oh, the humanity!

 He’s artistic.

Fighting boredom at a clinic

He’s loving and affectionate.

Cuddles with Omar

A new cousin

  He’s a risk tasker.

Climbing a Pandanus Tree at Fingal Head

 

An Essex-Lopresti fracture

 He loves to make people laugh.

          

 

 

And best of all, he’s ours.

With his Dad, Nigel

 

With his younger brothers and sister

Julian, Ayan, Ella-Shae & Boey

Julian & I

Too busy to write? No, not really. Just slack!

I have been exceptionally slack with writing over the last few months, and to be honest, I don’t really have any reason not to be sitting at my laptop, tapping away at the keys.

 It’s been a big few months for us.  It turned out that back in October, Julian hadn’t just fractured the radial head in his elbow, he had what is called an ‘Essex-Lopresti fracture’, which basically means he fractured the radial head in his elbow, dislocated his wrist and compressed the ligament in his forearm.  He ended up with a ‘sugar-tong’ cast for 4 weeks, and he has healed quite nicely.  It took about a week and a half for him to be able to straighten his arm out properly though!

Julian turned 13 last month!  Such a huge milestone for him, and given his pre-teen attitude up until that point, nothing short of a miracle!!  Just kidding.  It was a pretty big deal though.  He wanted to go out to dinner in a restaurant for his birthday, so 36 people ended up at the Hog’s Breath at Main Beach, including 3 of his mates for a stomach bursting meal.  Of course, teenagers being teenagers, he and his mates ended up watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy while eating chips and finally crashing at about 1am . . . after which, Nigel & I thankfully crashed as well!  A big thank you to my folks for taking our younger 3 for the night, and to all our friends and family – some of whom travelled many hours to get there – thank you so much for making Julian’s birthday something he will never forget.

And of course, school has finished for the year, Christmas has come and gone - my family's first Christmas without my big brother - and we are so close to 2014 we can just about touch it!

Be safe, be healthy and make sure your children (in particular those with teenage attitudes!) remember that no matter how close you come to strangling them, you love them with all your heart, and you always will.