I’M WRITING this from the sanctuary of my childhood bedroom where I have been isolated for the past five days after a nasty bout of stomach flu. Today is the fist day I’ve been able to get out of bed, have a bath and have something to eat and I’m now cautiously sipping peppermint tea to ease my sore belly.

Being ill for me normally results in a wave of self pity, a quick detour into my childhood where I want to be looked after like a little girl, followed swiftly by fantasising about all the productive things I’m gong to achieve when I am well enough to get out of bed. This particular pit stop of illness has led me down a Pinterest rabbit hole of blue/black hair colours and reading the book ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: The Japanese Art’ by Marie Kondo so I am now eager to go home and throw all my worldly belongings away to live in minimalist bliss.

Thank god for Chez Heale in times like this. I know I am very lucky to have a place to go when I can’t be at home; Greg absolutely could not get this bug, it would be too dangerous. Even though they are the middle of having their house ripped out to have a new kitchen fitted, my parents have happily dropped everything to bring me ice cubes to suck in the middle of the night (THE cure for nausea, thank me later) and make premature Halloween decorations with Dali and Bay so I can snooze upstairs.

Thank god also for Chez Gilbert, where Greg and the girls have escaped to. To have family to help with school runs, cooking dinners, sorting uniforms is essential in my life. I quite honestly have no idea how people with young children and no extended family nearby to muck in get by. Hmm, that’s actually what a lot of people say to me about our situation with Greg’s illness. I guess the answer is the same; you just get on with it because you have no other choice.

Right now, I don’t have to get on with anything because everyone is out, I’m sat in silence and getting ready for the last afternoon nap I can envisage for a long time. I’m going to need all the energy I can muster to go back to the madhouse.

* Stacey Heale has left her career as a fashion lecturer to focus on her two lively little girls and husband, Delays frontman Greg Gilbert, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2016. She launched the viral campaign Give4Greg to raise funds for lifesaving treatment: gofundme.com/give4greg. You can read more at her blog, www.beneaththeweather.com