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Tuesday 28 February 2017

Mavis unwell

The other thing that happened last week was that Mavis's day centre phoned on Monday (Mavis being elderly friend from previous church, we sort of help her out a bit). Anyway P answered and this woman who worked there said:

"Mavis is complaining of shortness of breath and chest pains what should we do?"

What should they do? What should they do? Phone an ambulance is what they should do.

P had to phone the GP and then phone the day centre  and say the doctor said to call an ambulance before they would actually do so. An ambulance turned up and whisked her to hospital with blue lights flashing. At least they were taking it seriously.

Anyway she was in hospital a few days and I felt frustrated cos with my cold I couldn't visit and P had to keep popping down to feed Cyril the cat then she came home and they still hadn't decided exactly what was wrong - an unexplained 'episode' they said. She seems to be ok now although in general she seems to be slowly declining somehow.
 

23 years is too long

Carried on feeling ill for a couple of days but was well enough to go and visit J at the weekend. Had a lovely time with him. On Saturday we went out to a Mediterranean restaurant and discovered a second hand bookshop which had a sale on. Bliss. I bought a book called 'Marley and Me' by John Grogan because when I was sorting out some paperwork I came across an extract from this book which J had studied at GCSE and it made me laugh aloud and I thought I must get that book sometime.

On Sunday we went to his church which we really liked. There was a real 'God moment' during the worship and the people were really friendly. It was nice to see him so settled there.

Then I began to feel qute ill again and by the time we got home was quite unwell and stayed in bed all yesterday morning. Sigh.

This morning I was bending over to swish the water round the bath and ouch my back went. Mega ouch. Shouldn't have bent and twisted like that, I know.

Today is also 'illness anniversary day' as in 23 years since the day I consider to be the start of me getting M.E. It had been gradually building up for some time but that was the day my foot decided it was no longer going to walk properly and heralded the start of the viral infection which really kicked things off.

On 'illness anniversary day' I cry. I just do. 

And why not?

23 years is too long to be ill.

Monday 20 February 2017

Still ill

Ok this isn't just a cold this is the lurgy and is much worse than just a cold. Having had it since Thursday I thought I was on the mend yesterday but last night after blogging I began to feel terrible - temperature went up again and ached all over especially my face which is still painful today. Thankfully due to my knee escapades I have a drawer full of strong painkillers.

Going to rest now.

Sunday 19 February 2017

Cheesy Leek and Potato Pie


The other day I came across a recipe for 'Cheesy Leek and Potato Pie' (just google it and you'll find a recipe). I thought it looked tasty and P cooked it for me - just like that. Finished it off today. Yum.

Being appy

Sooo I'm trying to think what else has been happening:

The knee is doing very well. Still a bit stiff and sore but the doctor said it would take about a year for the operation wound to heal. We bought a secondhand exercise bike so I could try and keep the joint mobile. I only manage two minutes a day (and tell it I'm 75 so it will give me an easy ride) but it's definitely helping. P meanwhile is going great guns on it - currently about 10 km a day but has plans to go further.

P and I have joined a beginners' German class and I'm really enjoying it. In fact I'm beginning to think I have a bit of an aptitude for languages. Sooo why did none of my school teachers ever tell me that? Why did they let me go through most of my life not studying languages?

Actually one thing that's good about our adult education is that they bend over backwards to help disabled people. When P couldn't come one week and droppd me off with  my scooter I felt quite nervous but everyone was so helpful.

 I must say though that there comes a time in learning German when it becomes a bit complicated like when they start talking about how the word order in sentences changes under different circumstances. J assures me that it's going to get a lot more complicated than this. Thanks J.

I have been doing a bit more decluttering and the results are beginning to show though I am beginning to accept that we will always have lots of books.

Church is going well, I have rejoined the welcome team and have become a 'prayer link' person i.e. connecting with other churches in our network to exchange prayer requests. Because these days this sort of thing involves WhatsApp I finally had to give in and get a smartphone and I have spent the last few weeks trying to work out how to use it. Think I'm beginning to get the hang of it and am discovering the wonderful world of apps. This morning I loaded the whole of Dickens for free and listened to an audio version of 'A Tale of Two Cities' read with an American accent. I also have an app to track my chocolate consumption (not sure the word 'fail' is all that encouraging). Also have several Bible apps, a GPS, First Aid app, Duolingo, Evernote and a shopping list app. There may be more.

Hello again

Been a long time since blogged. In fact have thought about giving up blogging cos have I really got very much to say? Or should I start a totally new blog? But today here I am lounging on the sofa with a dripping nose (cold probably caught when visiting J last weekend - tip - if someone's coughing and sneezing don't hug them) & have been reading my Anne Tyler novel but need a rest from that and thought I'd pop over here.

So since I last posted we had Christmas. It was so lovely to have J home again, felt like he'd never been away but felt a bit on the awful side when we took him back again. And ok I cried, just sat in the car and cried.

In many ways he's getting on well at uni but the first half of term had a very demanding lecture schedule and he has been ill with one cold or another the whole time. He now has less lectures so things should get easier. Like I said we visited him last weekend but he was coughing and sneezing almost continuously. If he felt like I feel now he did amazingly well to not miss any lectures. 

We also had Mavis over on Christmas Day, she is doing well but getting very tired these days - she does have a bit of heart failure. We also had a couple of parties (one a bit more enjoyable than the other tbh) and a few Christmas meals out. I missed going to Wales to see my family but my brother and my niece called in on the way back from her uni and it was lovely to see them and exchange presents. Went to 'old church' with J on Christmas morning. All in all a bit of a quietish low key but very enjoyable Christmas.