Our day at the Hilton Hotel

Well yesterday was a busy day for Jono. We had a call from the Irish Daily Mail, regular readers of my blog will know that Jono was featured in the newspaper as part of their Cutbacks against Crumlin campaign. The paper had organised a day out for some of the children that were in the paper.

We got the 7am train to Dublin, the train was fairly quiet apart from a man who had some sinus trouble….either that of he had smuggled a goose onto the train with him (that’s what it sounded like anyway!) We had a cuppa on the train, I now bring my own milk to put in it because UHT milk is minging. The coffee was so strong I could feel the lining wearing away from my stomach just by looking at it.

When we got to the station a taxi met us and took us to the Hilton Hotel in Kilmainham. We were very early so we went for a walk and had a look outside Kilmainham Gaol (jail) If I knew we had enough time we would have gone inside. We also had a walk in the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art it was a lovely walk down a tree lined avenue. I’ve taken some photos and will put them on my flickr site when I get a chance.

By the time we got back to the hotel other people had started arriving. It was nice to chat to other parents in the same situation as we are. Although some of the children have had their operations and others have dates for theirs. We don’t have any idea when Jonathans will be. One girl had only had her spinal fusion done just over two weeks ago. She looked wonderful and Jono couldn’t believe how straight she was.

We met the reporters who had covered Jono’s story. They were very nice. We had a buffet lunch and then the photographers began their work. It took hours for the photos to be done and Jono back was in pain by the end of it. Most of the other families were staying the night, which would have been nice as there was a lovely leisure centre at the hotel but because of my other patients at home we decided not to stay. Although we did get a very nice dinner (although it was one of those ‘posh’ ones were nothing meets on the plate) 😉 I reckon half of my dinner was left in the kitchen. I also wondered where the ‘market veg’ that was meant to come with the main course was still at the market I reckon, because it wasn’t delivered to the table. Jono enjoyed it though and said he felt like a celebrity for a day.

A taxi came to pick us up again in the evening and took us to the station where we got the 7pm train home and arrived back at just after 10pm. It was a very long day.