We’ve got a lot going on just now. (Don’t we all, I hear you cry, that’s just the nature of things!) As you know, we are counting down the days until our six-year-old daughter, Onna, has her bilateral cochlear implant revision surgery – just five days to go now. We have been waiting until the half term holiday starts (later today) to tell Onna and her twin sister Sala about the operation and the challenges Onna will face during the recovery period afterwards, during which time Onna will have no hearing whatsoever. We didn’t want to tell them while they were still at school for fear that, out of innocent curiosity, the other children might ask some altogether too direct questions about the actualities of the surgery – not something we want Onna to think too much about. I’m not looking forward to telling Onna and Sala because I know they will both be fretful about what lies ahead, as indeed we all are, although Ian and I are aware that we need to mask our own anxiety for the sake of the children. In addition to planning the practicalities of surgery day for Onna, we have to plan ahead for Sala too, because we do not underestimate the impact that this experience may have on her. She is such a caring little soul, who adores her twin sister, and while she will face the day and what follows with stoicism, we know she will feel it keenly.