HAPPY CHRISTMAS

 

Have a great time. 

Until the next time...

Are you getting excited yet?

 

I am not in the Christmas mood at all. Lynsey is moaning about her heating, work, the train strikes and the price of houses in Scotland, and politics. I hate politics so I just let that go over my head, in one ear and out the other.

 Tony is still in a lot of pain with his wrist, we were back at the hospital yesterday. They x-rayed it again and said, "everything looked okay but he may lose some use in his wrist and they would see him again in four weeks". That is not ok, as far as I can see! When we were at the hospital we bought some fruit, there is a stall at the main entrance. The man that runs the stall was selling as much as you could fit in a carrier bag for £5. So of course we had to do it.

Tony with his bag of fruit.

I have been watching a new visitor for the last few days, it has been in the apple tree over the garage at the back of our garden.

Fieldfare In The Apple Tree.

I have broken my distance glasses the right-hand side arm has fallen off. I don't suppose sitting on them helped. I am having to wear my old ones until I can get into town to take them in for mending. That of course is not going to be until after the New Year. I am not impressed with myself at all. 

Joanne sent me some pictures of Logan and Willow my youngest Grandchildren after they had been to see Santa. I think they might have been talking too much, you will see what I mean in the second picture.

Willow & Logan with Santa.

Willow & Logan with Santa 

I think he wanted to stop them from talking.

We had a visit from Joanne, Chris, Keira, Logan and Willow, it is always nice to see them however, it is always nice to see them go as well. 

Tony's son Richard sent Tony a message on his phone this morning, he got all excited thinking it was something he had been waiting for, I had to laugh when it turned out to be a photo of one of Richard's sheep in a Santa hat.

Until the next time...

A Busy few days...

We have been having a few busy days, the Christmas cards are all made and ready for delivery along with the 2023 calendars. It was a good job I started early because Tony had a fall on Friday, December 9th at 5:30am. I pressed the buzzer for the carelink, who was very helpful and told me "call an ambulance". I could have done that without asking them! I dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance, explaining that my 76-year-old partner had fallen and that it looked like he had broken his wrist. I answered all the other questions they asked they told me the ambulance should be with us in about 40 minutes but it could be considerably longer. I was to ensure that Tony did not show any signs of shock and to keep him calm. The ambulance arrived in about 45 minutes so we were fortunate. Tony was by this time in extreme pain, the paramedics gave him some paracetamol which didn't touch the sides of course. The paramedics were worried because Tony couldn't feel his fingers, so they had to check whether to take him to Pinderfields or Jimmy's in Leeds. Thankfully it was decided that he would go to Pinderfields. 

We arrived at Pinderfields and bypassed the regular A&E department, and we went onto critical care. Tony was seen by a doctor who said he should be seen asap. We sat in the same place for over 2 hours before anything else happened. Then Tony was taken for an x-ray, Tony certainly does things in style, he had 

Fractured it here

Broken it in two places

As if that wasn't enough he had dislocated it as well.

After being x-rayed a back slab was put on Tony's wrist, this is like a half pot that just covers the back of the arm in a pot and the front is just a bandage.  The doctor said this should hold the wrist in place until the swelling went down.

Tony had been given some morphine orally for his pain but it hadn't given him much relief. So the doctor came and put a cannula in his arm and gave him a second dose through the cannula. This gave him a little bit of relief for a while.

The doctor was a very nice person, he came from Egypt, and he couldn't do enough for Tony. He made sure that he was comfortable, he got him more pain relief, another shot of morphine an hour and a half after the last one.  

The meals came around by this time Tony was feeling a lot better so he had a meal,

Fish in parsley sauce with potatoes and veg, a cup of coffee and what did I get? a cup of tea.

By this time we had been in the hospital for about 91/2 hours. The orthopaedics couldn't decide whether or not Tony's wrist needed to be operated on, or whether it needed a plate put in. Finally, after 10 hours & 25 minutes, they told us we could go home but he had to go back on the 13th to be x-rayed again and a full pot put on.

Elvira took us to the hospital on the 13th Tony had his wrist x-rayed his half pot removed a full pot put on, x-rayed again then waited to see the doctor. When he saw the doctor he asked Tony if he had any questions, Tony told him he still could not feel his fingers properly, and the doctor sent him back to the fracture clinic he had his pot removed, a half pot back on x-rayed again because there was still too much swelling for him to have a full pot on. Tony was told to go home again and return in 3 days' time on the 16th to see if the swelling had gone down. Once again Elvira took us to the hospital, Tony had his wrist x-rayed,  then his half pot removed,  a full pot put on, back to x-ray, and back to fracture clinic to see the doctor. What I have failed to tell you is all this going between the clinic and the x-ray I was pushing Tony in a wheelchair and he is not lightweight the hospital wheelchairs are like shopping trollies they have a mind of their own. This time the full pot stayed on, hopefully, there is no need for any surgery and we return to the hospital on the 23rd for Tony's next appointment.

Tony has some beautiful colours apparently there are really psychedelic ones under the pot.

Oh and on the 18th I had my 60th birthday, I am officially old.

Until the next time...

   

It's been a while...

The squirrels have been having problems with the magpies stealing their walnuts.

Things are carrying on much as usual, Tony has some new cream for his legs, and they are looking slightly better, it's a pity they don't seem to work any better.  I am okay-ish at the moment, my usual aches and pains are there but I am used to them now. I have a new condition to add to the list, "Ocular Hypertension" when the pressure inside the eye is higher than average. The front of the eye does not drain fluid properly, which causes eye pressure to build up. If not treated it can cause glaucoma. I was not too surprised to be told this diagnosis as glaucoma is in the family.

It was with deep sadness I heard of the passing of my brother and sister-in-law's beautiful black cat Maia. She could be a bit of a terror at times, cheese was never safe when Maia was around, it would disappear under the table before you could blink. Neighbours with catflaps should never leave unguarded cheese or chicken carcasses out either, she could be in and out as quick as a flash. However, Maia also had her sweet side when we looked after her and her sisters she would sit in front of us with big, big eyes and cry FEED ME, FEED ME NOW, even if it was an hour early.

Seriously though, I am sorry to hear of her passing and I am sure her Mum & Da will know I am only trying to make them smile. 

Lynsey has had a 24-hour blood pressure monitor fitted today, this is to try to get an average reading before she can join in with a fitness program set by the long covid clinic. She has had it on for about 2 hours and has rung me about 4 times already complaining about how it is too tight, and how am I going to sleep with this on, I might just put my phone on silent.

I have begun making Christmas cards for the neighbours old and new, I have also started on the calendars.

I must find out if my neighbour from Queens Drive is home, she had a fall in the garden and managed to drag herself up 6 steps back into her flat, lying on the floor all night because she could not reach the phone, nobody found her until 1pm the following day. She had a broken hip. I will tell her when I see her I just think she is rebuilding herself one joint at a time, she now has 2 new knees and a hip, she is very lucky it could have been a lot worse. I don't know how she managed to pull herself up the steps, she could have been outside all night and it was absolutely throwing it down with rain.

I am going to stop waffling now.

Until the next time...