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Bob Williams.
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January 12, 2018 at 9:40 pm #15592
Things are much better today guys, thanks for all the good wishes.
Following the advice given by the young Physio, who is also apparently ‘Adaptations Manager’ for the Hospital, I have got my Gert to [Get. With. The. Programme]. Please. She has had a better day and is sticking to her exercises, about which I was not informed. These were with a bag of stuff that she had managed to lose almost as soon as she got back, sorted now and she is improving if slowly. My Gert’s problem is a lack of patience, always has been. She wants to be better NOW. John (JayCeeDee) will recognise this as he is apparently married to my SWMBO’s twin!
Tonight I cooked a tasty lamb chop dinner and was doing fine until a small person on two sticks began hovering and dishing out instructions. Things were coming to a head in my head, until my lovely granddaughter appeared and escorted grandma back to the lounge. “You wanted granddad to care for you and he’s doing it. Now let him get on with it grandma!” She is the only one in the family who can get away with talking to SWMBO like that. Dinner went well, except that I seem to have steamed too many carrots and brussels. Well, I ate all mine, but then I love brussels, which, everyone else in the family thinks, makes me weird. They have to be steamed and slightly crisp, I can’t stand soggy brussels. Tomorrow it will be fish I think.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.January 12, 2018 at 11:31 pm #15598My Gert’s problem is a lack of patience, always has been. She wants to be better NOW. John (JayCeeDee) will recognise this as he is apparently married to my SWMBO’s twin!
Ooohhh yes – ain’t that the truth. The only thing she took a long term view on was saving. She hated HP with a vengeance. Growing up, if she knew she wanted something then she’d put money to one side until she could walk into the shop, pay for it, then take it home.
When it was just her running the business, she would go into the local jewellers in London and put a deposit on something, pay him so much a week until it was paid off, then she would collect it. When it was both of us, because we don’t really worry about Birthday/Christmas/Anniversary cards or presents, when she saw something that she liked she would put a deposit on it and tell me to go collect!!! At least that way I knew what they really cost. Before then, I would only ever get the sanitised version!!
It’s a good job we love ’em!!
January 13, 2018 at 3:03 pm #15642John I reckon they are twins separated at birth! My SWMBO hates spending, especially upon herself. Legacy of a parsimonious dad who was a Railwayman with 3 daughters and had taken a peek into the future. He became a Stationmaster and had a very clear plan for when retirement came up. He accepted posts from Nuneaton, through Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire, which is where he was the last Stationmaster for Clay Cross, before Beeching’s cuts gave him a good redundancy package. He had always looked for a plot of land and finally found a former balcksmith shop and paddock on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. There he had a bungalow built in a beautiful spot of almost an acre, working as the builder’s labourer. The place had a tributary of the River Poulter running through it amd I was by his bedside when he succumbed to lung cancer there. Much like my own dad. I always got along with him very well and he treated me as a son, paying me the greatest possible compliment by saying “If I had had a son, I would have wanted him to be a lot like you.” To give you an idea of his dry sense of humour, he said once “I was going to build a house, but the builder had enough at one storey. So he ‘bunged a low roof on it and went home.” He also said that what sold the plot to him, was the pub behind it. I often went to the pub with him before MIL’s enormous Sunday Lunch: he used to say “Let’s go to Church Bob, where the glass prayer books have handles.”
Anyway, his saving resonated with the girls and SWMBO was his favourite, she was a tomboy who helped him build walls, fences and a shed. I have learned that if there is anything that I/We need or want which might require some expenditure, it is best to first recruit the persuasive services of Dear Daughter, who then introduces the idea to mum. Works every time. ?? DD has just departed, having been here for over 2 hours with our Gdaughter, having cheered up SWMBO very well. SWMBO is atm carrying out execises on the bed, after which she will probably zone out for a couple of hours, not before issuing Afternoon Orders.??
She has boxes of jewellery from me that rarely get worn, long ago she issued the Do Not Buy More proclamation. All gold and diamond, hates silver. Price of Gold atm, means that the insurance has to be enough to cover.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.January 13, 2018 at 4:44 pm #15651Impatience with recovery is a genetic trait built into the female of the species and probably into others as well.
Still if the patient is well enough to complain it means that they are making good progress, so in a back handed way it should be a good sign.
It is helpful when the hospital manages to give you the full documentation. I looked up the details for my wife’s last treatment and printed out the instructions.
Avoid using your voice for 7 days.
That answered why her throat was so excessively sore and her voice was not really working, with the lesson learned things settled down.
I found the exercises I was given excellent and managed to continue with them for longer than initially needed. They went so well that when I went back to see the physiotherapist she signed me off rather than dragging me back and forth for hydrotherapy for which I did not really have the time.
The fact is that doing the exercises correctly and following all the instructions is the fastest way back to improved (hopefully) normality. (Having said that I realised that sorting out garden tools and trying to start a two stroke petrol device 4 days after an operation was not wise. I managed to stop before any damage was done when I remembered the three week wait before light work, six weeks before even light gardening.)
On second thoughts, perhaps being impatient is not a genetic thing after all, – though do watch out for post operative depression. Your daughter and granddaughter could be a valuable pair of assistants, though the improvement in comfort might ease the gloom.
January 13, 2018 at 5:05 pm #15654Have to admit that I demonstrated similar impatience after my emergency colostomy in 2009. Remember that winter of ’09/10? We were snowed in at our Close, Lincolnshire had it really bad between the East side of the Wolds and the coast. A month after my Op, there were two of us oldpharts clearing paths: myself and my mate at the other end, who was and is 12 years older than me. Unfortunately he lost his wife a few years ago, whilst entering the first stages of Alzheimers. I actually alerted his daughters to changes in his behaviour: he had always been easy-going, laid back, a friend and helper to everyone. He became snappy to people, even me, and we had been mates since I moved here. I cannot see him often, it breaks me up when he doesn’t know me.
After clearing the paths, I developed a hernia over the Stoma, which is called a Parastomal Hernia. My GP was extremely annoyed with me. I asked him who was supposed to do it: I had phoned Highways, landlord, Age Concern and the SS. No one would help us in the Senior Ghetto and we could not get out. The road was cleared by a local builder and his digger, but we could not even get salt for the paths, which made it a real chore for us. Two weeks later I visited our Social Landlord’s HQ and found all their paths cleared. I asked how they did that – Oh, we have a machine! So why the “”!!!??*** did you not use it for your aged tenants? No answer, not even an embarrassed look.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.January 13, 2018 at 11:34 pm #15668John I reckon they are twins separated at birth! My SWMBO hates spending, especially upon herself. She has boxes of jewellery from me that rarely get worn, long ago she issued the Do Not Buy More proclamation. All gold and diamond, hates silver. Price of Gold atm, means that the insurance has to be enough to cover.
The more I hear the more I think we’re right. She’s actually ” allergic ” to silver – brings her out in a rash. If she wanted something shiny that wasn’t yellow, she’d go for white gold/platinum.
She also shares some of your missus’s ancestry, descending from mixed Romany/barge folk.
January 14, 2018 at 8:46 am #15669JayceeDee, Your wife’s allergy is actually a nickel allergy – quite common in females. (link).
My wife has such a strong reaction to nickel that she needs to test every new car we buy to make certain that she can sit safely in it. At one time in the early noughties we looked at a nice new Vauxhall, but they had used a nice looking nickel trim on most of the cockpit area, not only was she covered in a rash she could hardly breathe as the seat material was anti-fungal nickel treated. I gather car manufacturers now recognise that nickel allergies affect sales!
January 14, 2018 at 9:01 am #15672My wife has that, if it isn’t real silver or gold, her ears go green off earrings. High maintenance! Or awkward!
Iirc the first Fitbit has a nickel back and they soon rushed out a new model. If it wasn’t Fitbit,its was one of the big first fitness watches
I’m allergic to shark leather. I found out when i bought a relatively expensive and rugged Adidas watch in the 90s. I was to cheap to buy a G Shock. Plus they was ugly and bulky.
January 14, 2018 at 9:25 am #15674More likely genetic design!!?
That’s interesting Ed – she shows skin reactions to all sorts of things from dust, where she hasn’t worn an outfit for some time, or it’s changing wardrobes/seasons with the wardrobes in the loft, to a new cleaning product. After her wasp sting reaction, she went into St. Mary’s allergy clinic and indicated mild positives for a whole variety of things.
January 14, 2018 at 10:39 am #15675JayCeeDee – Pontardawe should be off-limits for you!
“Levels of nickel in air at Pontardawe are significantly higher than at other monitoring
locations across the UK (see Section 3). At this location there have been measurements
of nickel in soil at concentrations significantly higher than the typical UK national range . . ”When we lived out in New Zealand we took the kids on holiday to a Club Med on New Caladonia – big mistake, it is one of the world’s primary sources of nickel ore!
January 14, 2018 at 10:44 am #15677John, that is interesting and disturbing. My wife had a bad reaction to what she thought was a hornet sting some years ago. She tried to get to the hospital but collapsed outside the fire station where she did get emergency assistance to complete the journey. Recently she had a far worse anaphylaxis incident while undergoing medical tests*. The nurses blithely said, it was lucky she was in hospital when it happened it would have been far worse it is happened outside somewhere. After two months the cause is still ‘under investigation’ and my wife is terrified about any medical interventions and is concerned to even leave the house. She knew she had other issues including an allergy to aspergillosis for which she has to take daily treatment to support her lungs. Now I am urging her to chase down answers as the promised referral to the allergy clinic has not even been made. The hospital even sent her home without an epipen telling her to get them from the GP. The surgery were very unimpressed.
*Our research suggests she might have reacted to fentanyl used in the anaesthesia.
January 14, 2018 at 4:56 pm #15692JayCeeDee:
The more I hear the more I think we’re right. She’s actually ” allergic ” to silver – brings her out in a rash. If she wanted something shiny that wasn’t yellow, she’d go for white gold/platinum. She also shares some of your missus’s ancestry, descending from mixed Romany/barge folk.
That is intriguing, John. Is your missus short? Mine is only 4’9″. “I used to be taller,” she told me when we first met “How much taller?” I asked. “An inch.” (With a cheeky grin, still has that today.)
It’s not my SWMBO who is of Romany descent, it’s me. As she reminds me from time to time – “Flippin’ Gypsies!” My gran was the Romany, born in a proper horse drawn Romany van, somewhere in the West Country. I loved that old lass, could never understand how she and granddad got together. He had been privately educated until my Gt granddad blew the family fortune in a North Staffordshire fraud case in the 1880’s. Granddad never told dad or anyone else in the family about that, I found it in researching Family History. I could never understand why Gt granddad was the owner of a pottery employing 28 workers, and granddad was a “Potter’s Earth Presser” which is, I think, a Presser or former of pottery. Then I found the case in a Staffordshire newspaper from the 1880’s.
Strange coincidence again: while researching SWMBO’s family and mine, we found a common Griffith or Griffiths ancestor back at the turn of the 18th. century. (Not clear enough on the record.) Any of those in your Missus’ ancestry? Our son & daughter are my stepkids, although I brought them up as dad and that’s what I am to them. At our first Christmas together as a family, an old friend whom I had not seen for many years looked at our son and said “He looks a lot like you Bob!” Wife, son and I looked at one another and smiled.
SWMBO is a little more active today, to the point of trying to do too much and then complaining that she cannot do what she thinks she should be doing. Certainly getting around better. I don’t know if that’s good or not. The crutches are too quiet on the carpets, she keeps sneaking up behind me, “When you’ve done that…”
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.January 14, 2018 at 9:29 pm #15698Ed – haven’t stopped there, but been very close on numerous occasions. Parents lived in Carmarthen, so driving there took us down the M4 and I recall seeing the signs to Pontardawe. Glad we missed it now!! The otehr sign that I’ll always remember was when we took the A48 to Carmarthen, a couple of miles in there was a sign to 2 places – Cross Hands” and “Tumble” – it always made me chuckle that.
Richard – it was in the early nineties that happened. We were working when she got stung – I closed down while she got some steroids and anti-histamines, raw onion to rub on and take the worst out of the sting, got to the hospital and she was inside and on a trolley with an adrenaline drip and fluids in her arm, before I could get the van parked. They referred her to St Mary’s Paddington where they took blood samples and worked their magic for a week, after which time they gave details of levels of vulnerability to various things. Well worth the visit and trouble, so if she is similarly dodgy with allergies, push for it hard.
Bob – She tells me she’s 5′ 1 1/2″ but I swear that 1 1/2″ is the one thing in this life she exaggerates. The one disadvantage of crutches that I found when using them was I could – and insisted on – make a cup of tea, but there was no way I could carry it in from the kitchen to the lounge, so you’re going to be tea boy for a while yet.
Good to hear she’s on the mend.
January 15, 2018 at 3:20 pm #15718Yep John, still Tea Boy. Cook, washer-up, washer, ironer, etc, etc. Bedmaker, bather, dresser, most of all recipient of complaints about everything wrong with Her Tragic Majesty and the world. Most of which appears to be the fault of (a) Men and/or (b) this particular man.
SWMBO is not doing too well today, as you may have guessed. I am on granddad duty shortly, transporting junior Gson to home from work, taking senior Gson shopping and picking up his new spec’s. Senior Gdaughter is coming up to sit and sort out grandma. I shall be happy with the break.
When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out. -
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