The Unscripted Carer –20th December 2007
The last few days have been quite hectic – I guess it is something to do with Christmas!
Nicola is still struggling with her back, but she has arranged to have another set of cortisone injections after Christmas. She made a very interesting discovery with her back when we went out to see some friends last Saturday. She survived the drive (nearly 2 miles!) to see them, and her back “held up” during the evening, and her “tired” back “sort of” survived the drive back. OK she had to reset it when we got back, but it would have needed resetting after that length of time anyway. We are hoping that this is a very small piece of light at the end of a very long tunnel. Maybe next week she can get to Tescos!!!
Nicola has been discharged from Walsgrave, unfortunately this is not because she has been fixed, but because there is nothing else they can do for her. After nearly 3 years treatment, including some quite demanding “courses”, they have managed to get down to the basic problem, but cannot fix it. She now has an arsenal of techniques to help herself, and the Physio has offered to be at the end of a phone line when needed. The old science fiction story line of freezing someone until there is a cure, does have a ring of sense in it.
Our older dog, Max, has decided that sleeping is for wimps, and has wanted to go for a stroll in the early morning for the past few nights. Although the night skies are quite magical, this is well and truly balanced by the frosts and the desire to sleep! As he needs an insulin injection every 12 hours, we need to keep a fairly rigid regime with him, so I am just hoping for a quiet night, with just the “normal” issues of making sure that Nicola is sleeping on her back – approximately a 2 hourly check during the night.
We have invented / enhanced a wonderful recipe for a gluten free, nut free (etc., etc) Christmas cake – this was our third attempt to date. Having sampled it we need to make the official version for Christmas Day! Fortunately it does not need to be left for ages, as a “proper” Christmas cake would be.
I think we have got things more or less ready for Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Oh, I nearly forgot – the odd picture in last week’s blog was the pollen grains on a stamen of an Amaryllis flower that we had last Christmas. Hopefully you can still see the pollen grains on the larger picture. (I just love the way any camera allows you to see things with a different perspective.)
Click here to veiw the full image
Bye for now
Graham
