BEING OUT AND ABOUT!

By the way, I forgot to tell you that, although my right hand is still numb and I still cannot use it except as a hook, after Alan fetched me a crochet hook [mine not found since the move] I began crocheting again. I cannot use a really small hook to do work with crochet cotton but can do knitting yarn for about ½ hour. = PROGRESS!

Now I must apologise for the long silence, the laptop keyboard gave up on me, it would have been too expensive to buy a new complete keyboard so I had to wait for Peter to finish transferring everything from this so I could buy it off him. The only hitch is that this is a Mac so there are some ways of doing things I have had to get used to and some different software I have to purchase and learn.

I did feel so much better and more positive until the housing department decided to do the bathroom upgrade a month earlier than they had told me. Wonderful I thought and got really excited but, I should have known better! First came the step, all went well although I haven't yet tried for a month, I just did not feel safe using the old electric wheelchair, and now workmen were here every morning, I say morning because they have finished each day just after lunchtime.

I knew there would be no shower during the process but what they never told me that there would be no washing facilities at all! When I rang to complain I was told as I had no family that would let me use their shower on a daily basis [it was easier to say I had no family than to explain that showers over baths and upstairs couldn't be used by me] I would have to use the kitchen sink. Am I to sit on the draining board as I used to as a child? Apart from the fact we have not yet found curtains or blinds to fit, how will sitting at the kitchen sink on my perching stool [I cannot stand without holding on with both hands] keep any infection at bay?

Worse was to come though, when the floor was levelled and the bathroom that now only contained a toilet was out of bounds until the floor had dried! So no washing facilities and now no toilet either, the floor person told us it would take about 4 hours to dry. [Yes it might only take 4 hours if the heating was left on, but turning the radiator off mister floorer stretches 4 hours to infinity]. When we realised it was off and rectified the problem it did only take 4 hours but from midnight not midday as it would have been if the radiator had been left on.

When the inspector visited I mentioned the washbasin situation to be told that they had to remove the washbasin to lay the floor beneath it but anyone with eyesight could have seen the old one was wall hung and so was about 2.1/2 feet above the floor!

Well that was then and now I have a complete new bathroom but the curtain runners are too stiff for me to pull, it isn't a problem though because the shower has its own corner so only needs ½ of 1 curtain to keep the hand towel and ring dry. What has been and is ongoing is the toilet blocking approximately once a week [that have been with their plungers at least 19 times in the 6 months we have lived here] eventually after 5 months they sent contractors with a drains camera who confirmed what we had been saying all along, that the large tree in the front garden had broken the drain, but they weren't allowed to dig near the tree because it is on housing authority land. No-one has yet turned up to start digging, so watch this space.

What was a problem though, was the workmen's boots, so I went on a 'dirty' protest and refused to clean the floor until the drain was fixed but I had to give in when I realised that I was walking in mud after leaving the shower.

Right, now back to the present and the bathroom latest – the shower drain has started to block again and has, through covering all floor in water, shown the faults on the floor. I am not reporting it today [Friday] because they only work Monday to Friday, the puddles will dry up at some and definitely will by Monday, so I will ring when the puddles are fresh and won't have time to dry.

I went for my final 'cycle' of chemotherapy yesterday so have lots of bruises on my arms where the vampire darts team tried to get blood out of me. Thank goodness I don't have to endure that again but have to remember that if it has not worked the other remedy involves daily infusions for a full week every few weeks, so fingers crossed. I am very tired today because I was up very early the day before yesterday for the arranged appointment and guess what? The ambulance went to the old address AGAIN I wouldn't mind but in the 6 months we have lived here I have had 3 patient transport collections here before they messed up 3 months ago. Logic? There is none. Intelligence? Was lonely and ran away.

I did go in my new wheelchair yesterday so kept disappearing from the ward, in fact I can't be kept in the bungalow now. I have discovered that the paths here are numerous and many have got steps but there are some without. Luckily the paths to the doctors, supermarket, tram-stop and mother's care home are without. But now as I go out virtually every other day and spend the next day recuperating, so I seem to have accepted having MS [although I do get problems].

I think not being able to leave the house for over a year was causing me not to accept my illness, and now I can and do go out when I feel like it, it has helped acceptance because I feel like a person again not just a list of symptoms.

WHY A FEW MILES TOOK A FEW HOURS TO TRAVERSE

We had about two weeks of clear weather when everything arrived [we now have a cooker] and we managed to get to the doctors to do the new patient bit. Of course I needed some medication, so the doctor trip was needed as soon as possible, which was the first day they were open after the Christmas/New Year break and therefore we hit the sales traffic, a taxi there was under £5 and back over £7, obviously someone had moved the bungalow whilst we were out!

It seems almost spring-like now, until you go outside that is. It feels like it has been below freezing this week and I would say it definitely was a minus number yesterday and today.

I went to see the vampire darts team for the penultimate time a couple of weeks back so only one more time to be bruised [so I hope] and that was a pure farce. I didn't feel well so expected to be sent home without treatment or having to stay in hospital.

By 11.30 the ambulance transport had not arrived so I rang the day-ward that I attend to let them know, they rang me back to inform me that it had gone to the old address! That is despite coming to this address the time before! It confirms what I've always thought, that the patient transport department is run by minus levels of IQ.

The urine tests showed no infection but my consultant still had to agree to my treatment causing even more delay. Then it took over half an hour and many attempts to insert the cannula needle.

Of course, the delays meant everything was behind times so I was too late for the normal patient transport home. They got me a taxi instead, the driver of which thought that he could drive up the footpath to the bungalow but I had only directed him to the drop kerb to make wheelchair access easier! Needless to say he was of sun-tanned skin heritage.

The next day we went to the doctors to get antibiotics to treat the urine infection [or so I thought]. I did have an infection but, as it turned out, not a urine based one. The entry point of the catheter [my second belly-button as I call it] had become infected and therefore was weeping onto my underwear - nice!
So after a two week course of antibiotics plus Canestan spraying twice a day for the next month [a spray being easier to use than cream with only one working hand], I am nearly back to normal, I still have bladder spasms but have learnt to spray the connectors on the leg bag and the night bag with antiseptic spray before connection, and empty my leg bag before I think I need to. Now the spasms aren't as uncomfortable.

The week after the fiasco I was once again at the hospital, a different one this time to receive training in using the electric wheelchair that was earmarked for me. Although I have been using an old second-hand one this new one is 100 times better, and more controllable. It even has a gadget for climbing kerbs and steps. I can't wait for it to arrive which should be any-time now!

Speaking of the new chair reminds me - the council is upgrading the bathroom and removing the small step at the front door. None of this will happen until the end of March, I can live with the stupid bathroom layout and constantly blocking toilet but we can't get back in over the step when we venture out with either wheelchair.
As mother had another fall a while back and this time when they let her out is definitely going into a care home, I will be able to go visit her as the home we want her in [and she has finally realised why] is only around the corner from here.

Will let you know what is happening as soon as I know, and as I feel livelier it won't be as long a wait I hope.

MOVING INTO A NEW RESDENCE

Well I'm back, the problem hasn't been with internet access as I thought it would but with the laptop charger dying. The best part was that it died quietly so I had no idea until the message flashed up that I had no battery power left. As the lappy had arrived via Emma's partner, I left it to him to get a replacement charger. As it turned out it had to come from Germany so took about 3 weeks.
That wasn't the only bad news that dogged us from Day One. My Debit Card details were cloned and the fraudsters had been using the card to buy a range of products all over Europe, and so I was unable to do anything, even obtain cash, as my card was stopped. So after a month I eventually was taken to the bank by wheelchair to prove that I am me, and without using a mirror! Having a driving licence, even though not being allowed to drive, does have its uses after all.
So, I had a month without being able to make online purchases [we desperately needed curtains etc.] and a further two weeks having no means to able to access anything online.
Right, so I will start at beginning and tell you a moving story of moving.
We were told by the woman who came to assess us for priority that we would only be offered a ground floor flat and that would take until December. So to be offered a property [which the occupational therapist had approved] at the beginning of October came as a bit of a shock. We arranged to do a viewing the next day, and did it rain! The officer who was to accompany us at the viewing was running late so we were left in the rain for 10 minutes. We liked the kitchen which was brand new [exactly the same fittings that I had chosen], the bathroom was a wet room, and the garden was the ideal size for the dog. We were asked to give our response by 10a.m on the following Tuesday, we spent all weekend wavering and decided to ring on the Monday and request a second viewing. This was done with the proviso that if the answer was affirmative they needed to know on the Tuesday so the upshot was that we made an appointment to sign and did the second viewing alone straight afterwards.
At the signing we had the bombshell of being told that we would only have one week in which to move before we lost housing benefit. We decided that paying for one week at the full rent to give us more time was worth it and so we did. We arranged for the move by hiring a van to be on Thursday the 14th October. Luckily my son was off work that week and so him and his step-children had to pack most of the stuff for us. [I wasn't capable and Alan was doing his headless chicken impersonation] Every evening we discussed how we wanted the interior to look, making plans for the furniture etc.
I wanted to have the same provider of television, phone and broadband in the new residence, so arranged to have this installed the day after the move. When the engineer arrived he informed me that he could not do the satellite installation because, being a bungalow on a hillside, the surrounding buildings were too high, as were the trees. So we were left with no alternative but to find a service that was not satellite based, and the only one we found was the main telecommunications provider in the country which provides all three through the telephone line, and we have subsequently found to be very expensive!
We moved in with Alan being here doing all the directing and me staying at the house with the dog to arrive later. As it turned out Alan was sat in the cold because we didn't know how to turn the heating on, although a plumber did come out immediately the next day. The heating and hot water is through the district heating system which, it transpired, needed to be turned on at the mains, and we have discovered is either on or off, which means we either melt or freeze. New thermostatic valves are to be fitted in about February [and they will be on the sides of the radiators not underneath as they are now!] but I have heard intentions regarding the council work before and know that a 3 month planned waiting time can be 7 or 8 months because their pace of work.
Then there is the bathroom; it has been blocked since day one. When I say all, first it was the toilet that would fill to the top when flushed and slowly go down in its own time. We have got a better fix today, two nights ago the washbasin would not drain and last week Alan had to clear out the shower drain to stop it smelling and the water spreading into the hall every time it was used. Today's plumber [the fifth in as many weeks!] has investigated further because of the total blockage and cleared the drain outside so all seems OK for now.
We were to have all the bungalow painted white [anything to cover up the artexed salmon pink walls] and Alan's cousin Ken was to do it. We've since discovered that Ken is a bit of an 'old woman' and can only work 1 day a week for various reasons so its a room or area a week apart from the hall that had 6 brown doors and so they have taken a few weeks. Now we are ready to have the laminate floor fitted and buy all the new furniture we want, but it seems that we are now too near Xmas.
The snow has arrived and so stopped all deliveries for the past few days and future undetermined days. It is only about 2 feet deep so I don't see what the problem is, and the dog disappears whenever she goes out!

ON THE MOVE!!!!!

YEEESSS!
We have been packing! Why? We have a bungalow! Probably moving on the 13th or 14th October, it is ideal apart from the broken fences and artexing everywhere, well the hall living room and bedroom. Which in reality only leaves the kitchen and bathroom which have both been renovated recently, and so are brand new. Also the bathroom is a wet room so no bath problems and more space
Fences are Alan's speciality and do need to be done first for the dog, the garden is accessed by a door [which we call the back door] in the living room and so we are putting a solid lockable gate in the back fence which will also be peep-proof both to stop the dog barking at anyone walking past and stop anyone peeping into the garden with a view to breaking in.
We have decided to just paint the artexing white, so we've no problems on that front [apart from getting Alan to ring his cousin], and to use the curtains that are already in place [not our taste but they will do for a few weeks].
The van is booked now for the 14th so a lot of work needs to be done this weekend. I have spoken to my broadband and tv supplier [Sky] and it seems I may be offline for between 2 and 4 weeks. I will post another update when I am back.