Day Four (Friday 10th June 2011)

We haven't really done much today as we decided to take it fairly easy. Millie seems to be quite tired but then she has had a busy few days with a lot of new things to take onboard. She is doing remarkably well and taking it in her stride. Not leaping into things but also not shying away completely and screaming. She keeps saying she wants to go home, is aware that we are staying in Ronald McDonalds house and when we were out early said that she wanted to come back to RM's house! She is definately sussing the play areas - of which there are numerous, some that we haven't explored yet.

There aren't many families here at the moment, at least not families with children in the house. There are some parents who are presumably visiting children in the various hospitals around. There are currently 3 other british families including Jacob who I read about through his Dad's blog whilst doing bits of research before coming out. Jacob is eighteen months old and, I think, about a year ago was diagnosed with a tumour at the back of his brain. It was squashing his brain into the front part of his skull. The tumour was so large that it fractured the back of his skull and Jacob's parents were initially accused of child abuse. Jacob now wears a crash helmet all the time because they had to remove the back part of his head. He will have a plate fitted when he is 3 but that is still another 18 months to go. I can't imagine the horror of that one. He is coming to the end of chemo and is about to start proton. They and other families all seemed to have had quite a struggle getting here for various reasons. Two of the families are just Mum and child, although I think the Dads are coming out at times. I really get the impression that we were lucky to be in Bristol and looked after by Alison and Nathalie. And that the new procedure for sending people here had really only just kicked in.

Anyway, we spent this morning inside which turned out to be a good thing because there was a lot of smoke outside that had drifted north from the wildfires in Flagler County about 80 miles away. The recommendation was to stay inside or wear masks if going out, especially those with any breathing issues. It would probably have been ok for us but the staff here were concerned about the health of their residents. So we stayed inside and took it easy. Besides it was damn hot outside, about 32 degrees C. We seem to have arrived in the middle of a heatwave and drought.

Millie fell asleep after we skyped home. I pushed her around the house in her pram and she dosed off for an hour or so. We had a sit down, a coffee and a freshly baked banana muffin made by a volunteer. The same lady had made "sausage biscuits" for breakfast - a burger of real sausage meat in an english-style muffin. They were both good! We get brunch tomorrow morning and tea again! We get so much out of this place I am feeling the need to give something back. And I got my chance this morning after breakfast. One of the senior staff was showing some visitors around whilst we were having breakfast. We decided that they were probably potential supporters so I decided to try and 'use' Millie to help RMH's case. Everyone thinks she is so cute and after every meal she helps us tidy up. This involves going and getting the brush and dustpan from the cupboard and 'helping' me sweep. She carries the brush to our table and has recently started 'riding' it like a horse which gets many smiles and comments. This morning when Millie and I went to get the brush the visitors where standing in the corridor near the cupboard and Millie did her thing. I was then asked a few questions about her and found myself saying how grateful we were for RMH. My husband spoke to the staff member later and, yes, they were potential sponsors and yes they were taken by Millie! So, hopefully that is more help for RMH Jacksonville!

Millie was getting a bit hyper this afternoon after lunch so we decided to check out MOSH, the Museum of Science and History. It is only a 5 minute drive and we could have walked it but the heat would have killed us, so we drove. Turning into Americans already! MOSH is a small but interesting place with a handful of small exhibits including some small local wildlife and some old big dinosaurs. Millie wasn't too taken with it until we got to the end and went into the KidSpace play area. It had a water feature for the kids to play with and Millie spent a good half hour there! It was a good way to spend an hour or so but I'm not sure we would go back for the exhibits. However, it was air conditioned and we get in for free courtesy of RMH!

Tea tonight was meat lasagne and macaroni cheese. Millie liked her macaroni, I had the lasagna - I'm telling you I am going to be a full meat eater by the end of this visit. The salad and tomatoes were a welcome addition to what is becoming a very processed diet lacking in any fruit or veg. The cheese is not real cheese - it is bright orange, has no flavour and seems to come pre-grated! Millie isn't all that keen on it either but then she does like her mature cheddar! I think we will be heading to Walmart again soon to pick up some fresh fruit and veg.