45156

Afternoon All,

Lily needed to go to the vet's for anal gland evacuation, nail trimmng, andto have some knots removed from her bum.  Not so easy with me still not driving.  The neighbour who drove her while I was in hospital is herself in hospital. so couldn't assist this time.  We were prepared for this. and luckily the local bus on one of its odd circulars passes outside the vet's door.  So off we goes for the 9.43 bus  30747 leading Lily, and me there for moral support.  AND IT WORKED - bus dropped us outside the vet's - Lily treated and no longer has a smelly backside - and we sat in the waiting room for half an hour waiting for the next bus to come round.  And Lil was as good as gold on the bus, and surprisingly in the vet's - 30747 puts it down to my presence, as the last time while I was in hospital, Lily was very fractious indeed, to the extent that they were going to sedate her if she didn't calm down.

30747 now off to Ludlow again on the next bus to get some shopping.  I will go with her tomorrow for the rest, and then in the afternoon, I get my hearing aids fitted - stand by for another large bill.

No Aurora here, just clouds, and a nasty thunderstorm last night, and it sounds as if Ross on Wye copped it.

There was something else to say, but I've forgotten what it was*

Regards to All

Stewart

* It was that I could never understand advanced maths either - at Uni, I kept asking "why?", and the tutors ansewered "Because - you'll find out why later".  I never did, and I never finished my course as a result. 

Also, I will need to change the car, as my clutch foot is weak, and I will have to get an automatic.

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 Perhaps it is time to consider reprising the 10 to 20 bed local cottage hospital.

Couldn't agree more Flavio - we still have a few of these in Shropshire.  When I was taken ill, I was admitted to the large (and inefficient) 500+ bed centralised hospital, and most if not all ERs are well aware of the outcome.  The food was terrible and the standards of nursing were, to say the least, variable, as wad the quality of the doctoring.  I fully understand that for me, that was the best place to be as I needed some quality care after my brain infection.  However, had I been able to go to a local hospital with competent care, and less pressure to get rid of me to release the bed, my condition might not have deteriorated - and if it did,  I would still have been sent to the major hospital for more intense treatment - by fast ambulance with blues, only 40 minutes away. 

When I was discharged into rehab, the small hospital was excellent - caring staff, and better food  - the only real issue was that it only had 24 beds - but they did not seem to have the same obsession with getting the beds available.  The doctors were actually three of the local GPs on a rota basis.  It seemed to work well.  So what is the future for this - it is under threat of closure.

Afternoon All

Not a lot to report, had a pretty bad night's sleep with about 1.5 hours lying there with lots of thoughts churnng.

Dinner calls.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All,

Well, this morning's greeting was a rude awakening: 

"You're doing the dinner today - oh and while you're going to be in the kitchen, the fridge needs cleaning out"

It's all been done - pulled brisket, new potatoes, amd a veg pot - with ice cream and fruit to follow.  One thing I am finding since I came out of hospital is that I like gravy with almost everything - a legacy of having to eat pulverised food for two weeks - and also for the same reason, I have developed a taste for yogurt - it was that or ready brek for breakfast during the soft diet period.

Friends are coming round for coffee tomorrow unexpectedly - good  that I've had a delivery of Taylor's coffees recently.

Other than that I'm still progressing.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All

Back from afternoon tea - Dave, the memory was possibly better than my actuality today - the hotel is badly in need of a facelift - the room was quite dull, and for £25 the tea was good but really only worth about £17.  There was no choice of tea - just English breakfast from a tea bag - not even leaf tea.  Sandwiches were nice but oh so tiny - scone was not bad, but jam was just a little jar of Tiptree raspberry and the sweet treats were - sweet - good job I took some extra insulin with me. 

There is another tea shop in Ludlow which we will try the next time - which will be for 30747's birthday which was in February, but which we missed as I was just out of hospital.

Forgot to say, 30747 managed to drop her mobile down a loo the other day - it worked OK for a day or so, but has died for all time this morning so we have had to order a new one - she only has a cheap PAYG so not a lot lost there and I should be able to do a sim change when the new one comes.

I will now settle down with a couple of single malts.

Morning All,

Today marks the celebration of the start of my 73nd circuit of the sun - one which I nearly didn't get due to my illness - still I made it and I now hope for many more.

Celebration takes the form af a few single malts from my somewhat depleted collection this afternoon, but 30747 suggested an afternoon tea at the Feathers - one of the oldest and poshest hotels in the town - at just under £25 a head it should be good. 

Meantime, I am home alone as 30747 has had to go into town to shop for a few esentials - she didn't want to spoil our tea by carting a load of shopping in as well.

Yesterday, we went to Church Stretton by bus x2, had a mooch round the charity shops, and got lunch of a pasty each from Mr Bun the baker, who makes lovely bread, cakes, pies and the like.  I just thank the Lord that I don't live there, as I'd never be out of his shop.

Must go - items on eBay finishing soon, and need to get the invoices away, and items wrapped and addressed.

Regards to All

Stewart

Morning All

Will this work out as the first post of page 13000, I wonder.

Today's fun and games involve staying in this am qhile 30747 goes into Ludow for a quick mooch round the shops, followed by getting the bus about lunch time to go to Specsavers to have a hearing test, as I am getting a bit deaf - no doubt they will try to sell me a very expensive hearing aid - no chance as we both need new glasses this year - and if our last change is anything to go by, we are looking at almost £1000 between us - I have high grade varifocals, and 30747 has a complex prescription which has to be made up in as thin a material as possible.

Regards to All

Stewart

Mornng All

Yesterday was my most adventurous day so far since my illness.   Bus at 09.43 to Ludlow, off at the market place, visited loo, walked back through the High St to the stop for the bus to Shrewsbury which we took out to the Ludlow Farm Shop - where we managed to spend £25 plus on marmalade, chutney, tartare sauce, coffee, and a half price Victoria Sponge CAKE - moist, and well filled with buttercream and their home made jam - delicious, but quite expensive at over seven quid full price.  Then walked back to the bus stop - bus into Ludlow, and into Aldi (bus stops outside) for a few bits that we forgot, then bus back from Aldi to the park and ride.   It was great to actually meet people and have a chat - though after I got back, I had an hour's kip.

Today, 30747 went into town to post a parcel and drop off my prescription request,  Managed the latter, but the Post Office was shut.  However, she picked up a replacement fireside rug from a charity shop, and brought it back on the bus!!   The drivers are getting used to her antics with pieces of furniture (smalllish), rugs, and the like all being fair game for fetching home on public transport.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All,

Yay - I've been to the supermarket - by bus yesterday morning (bus stops outside the shop in bith directions).   Aldi staff were pleased to see me - it's been almost five months since I was able to get there - and the main shock was the prices.   Still not heard anything more from the hospital for any follow up appointment, so I've booked to see my GP practice's senior partner next month.  Also, it transpires (so people are saying) that my hearing has deteriorated quite a bit - I felt that it was while in hospital.  I have been on the NHS waiting list for some time now but no appointment has transpired, and they say I am still "quite a way" down the waiting list.  So i've booked to go to Specsavers next week - stand by for a pretty massive bill for hearing aids.

Another large price increase has just come through to dent our pension increases - phone/broadband/TV package is up by 8.9%.

Other than that. I seem to be progressing well.

Regards to All

Stewart

Morning All,

I'm still here, still lurking, but not managing to read or post as much as I ought - largely due to lack of mojo.

High spots this week have included a walk to the Park and Ride, then a trip on the bus into town, stay on and come back to the Park and Ride by the other route - it's an odd circular route, as it also incorporates what were two of the three local bus routes and does a different circuit on alternate half hours - quite ingenious in a way, as it means only two buses are needed now instead of three.  Then on Thursday, we took the bus into town, got off at the bottom of the high street - we went to the bank and I did some business which should have been done in December, we walked up the High Street, to the bus terminus, and got the bus back.

I see from our bank statement that our State pensions have increased - only a partial increase this time, but a full one next time, and my BT pension is also due to increase by 5%.  So between our State pensions going up by 8.5% and my BT pension by 5%, we should be seeing a slight improvement in our budget.  But....

House insurance  UP   33%

Car Insurance  UP  27%

Council Tax  UP  7% (and will go up a further 10% if Ludford parish is incorported into Ludlow town)

Dog insurance  UP   12%

Tax  UP due to erosion of personal allowance

And so on...

But one ray of sunshine - Gas & Electric DOWN - amount TBC depending on consumption.

Still, it could be worse, I think we'll just about show a gain in our net income.

I see that my friend Mike in Lancaster area is having an open day for his garden and 7.25" railway - See Littledale Light Railway topic in Garden Railway Topics for details.  It is 99.9% certain that I will miss it this year due to this illness, and also the fact that it is on in July.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All,

Still on the road to recovery, albeit slowly.  Still not driving, which means 30747 is turning out twice a week to get the bits and pieces of shopping - if I don't pick up a little soon, we will have to consider paying Tesco or Morrisons to deliver, and that would mean an increase in our weekly bill of probably 15% over Aldi - a not inconsiderable increase.

Not a lot more to report, so I'm off now.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All,

I'm still on the road to recovery, but every day is a small improvement in one or other direction - if only I could cut down on the nocturnal loo visits I would even be getting a good nght's sleep - I have an appointment to see the GP in April to discuss this further - meantime,, the bottles which the hospital left me are doing sterling service and saving me having to actually visit the smallest room.  I am also getting out a bit more now walking on a stick - uo to about 600 yards now - entrance to the eco park and back.

High spots in the life of 45156/30747 are a bit thin on the ground - but only she could impulse buy a living room suite of chair, sofa, and pouffe.  It arrived at short notice yesterday, from a charity furniture warehouse in Leominster, who would not accept our old one as a donation due to lack of fire safety labels - it is an antique and predates such regulations by quite a few years - but rules are rules.  Luckily, I had already contacted the bulky waste team at the council once this new furniture was mooted, and in exchange for £43 they are coming to collect it on Tuesday.  Meantime it is sitting under cover in the front garden.

Also had to bite the bullet on the car battery, as the alarm started to sound due to flat battery, and I had to disarm it by leaving the car unocked - it is parked on the street, so I wasn't happy to leave it unsecured.  I rang my garage who came out sane day, bringing the correct battery with them, and changed it in the road.  They didn't charge for the call out or fitting either - worked out at £120 which is below average for round here, so I'm not unhappy.  It's good to have a good garage just down the road who are not too expensive.

I'll try to get back a bit more often, but no promises.

ps Happy clocks forward day and boat race day - but what I wonder is why it is the same two teams that reach the final every year?

Regards to All

Stewart

56 minutes ago, Ohmisterporter said:

With Kath still in hospital

GIve her all the best from us both when you see her Geoff.

Afternoon All

Odd sort of a mornng, 30747 up at seven and walked Lily, then went out again -  it transpired that we had run out of milk and bread, and she decided to walk to the convenience store - meantimel, Lily started to howl incessantly while I was trying to get a little more kip. 

Not a lot more happening here at the mo - I'm still not fit to drive, but I went out to start the car the other day, and all I got was a dull click - yes, the battery's almost totally flat.  I was going to get a new one when I got mobile, but have now booked it for the garage to come and jump start it, take it down and check it out and replace the battery, and to bring it back - more expense, as I'll incur their call out charge, while I was going to wait til I could actually drop the car down. 

Regards to All,

Stewart

22 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Stewart that sounds hideous. 10 weeks in dock is a lifetime. I hope they have really got it right this time.

It was, Ian, it really was - We're not letting matters lie, as there were a number of mistakes in diagnosis of my condition - resulting in my discharge to a non medical ward while the encephalitis was active and winding up in A&E - in fact I nearly didn't survive - this was over Christmas, so you can imagine what sort of festive season 30747 had.   We have raised a complaint and will have no hesitation in seeking legal advice if we don't get a satisfactory response.

Readers of ERs and Night Mail will already know that I spent 10 weeks in hospital with a chest infection (actually pheumonia), was discharged after a week before it was fully cleared, and then readmitted for 9 weeks with pus on my left lung, the antibiotics they used were so strong that they left me vulnerable in other parts, resulting in two bouts of c diff, but also encephalitis, sepis, and a stroke - now recovering at home.  I am mainly posting this to let those who are only active here know how I'm getting on and why I've not been posting.

Stewart

Afternoon All,

Not doing too badly here - physio said there is no more she can do - I'm doing all the exercises, and am still progressing, so she has discharged me from her care, with the provisio that she is still available to come back or do a phone consultation if required - in fact we agreed that I was progressing very well indeed considering it is only four weeks since I came out of hospital.

Just discovered that our nominated pharmacy in Ludlow has been sold to MSN/Lunts, who have already taken over what was Lloyds pharmacy - and as a result, our pharmacy in the town centre will close - that leaves us with a choice of Boots or MSN/Lunts, and so far the MSN/Lunts is not even fully stocked since it was taken over - so much for progress.

And on the domestic front, 30747 has been on a cleaning binge - and "decided" that I should be involved by cleaning all of my guitars - I currently have ten of them, all hanging on various walls, and admittedly all very dusty - I draw the line at oiling the fingerboards - that will have to wait, and they will be done one at a time.  At present, I don't have the mobility on my left side to hold the instruments, or to finger even the simplest chords - however, the exercises should help with that.  Aloso, I hope to be driving again by the end of April or the start of May.

Must go now, as other websites need my attention.

Regards to All

Stewart

Readers of ERs will already know that I spent 10 weeks in hospital with a chest infection (actually pheumonia), was discharged after a week before it was fully cleared, and then readmitted for 9 weeks with pus on my left lung, the antibiotics they used were so strong that they left me vulnerable in other parts, resulting in two bouts of c diff, but also encephalitis, sepis, and a stroke - now recovering at home.  I am mainly posting this to let the ex ERs who are only active here know how I'm getting on.

Stewart

Morning All

Still progresing - but not as fast as I'd like - still too much daytime/streamed TV being watched.

One thought on the streaming - why do 120 seconds of adverts seem like 250 seconds>

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All

Still slowly recovering - still having weekly physio sessions - now off zimmer frame and onto a walking stick - which happened this week and without physio's knowledge.  She'll find out tomorrow.

WIth apologies that I have not been here - been too busy trying to get myself into shape a bit.

Regards to All

Stewart

Morning All

Many thanks for all the aupportive messages and reactions to my post yesterday - I am typing this while trying to get through to my GP where I am currently no 2nd in the queue.  I have also been referred to see a diabetes specialist nurse, and have two options - the community service can offer an appointment in April, or my own DSN at a time to be advised when I get through on the phone.  I suspect that it will be the practice which will get my attendance - I also want to speak to my GP about some aspects of my discharge as they were not clarified when I left hospital.

10 minutes later

Got through to GP and am going there next week for a consultation re diabetes - and they can't help re discharge as the discharge letter from the hospital has not arrived.  Meantime, 30747 has had to go out, as she too has a GP appointment today and will also pick up some of the shopping.

It really is all go here, provided you like everything being medically related at the moment.

Regards to All

Stewart

Afternoon All,

I've been AWOL due to a long period in hospital with a succession of consequential illnesses starting with a chest infection, and worsening through an empyrema, to a brain infection resulting in a stroke - I was in for 10 weeks in total, and was apparently quite near to not pulling through - and thank God I did -

and only got out on Thursday - less said the better, I think as I was the subject of some less than adequate treatment and am still considering my options - but a solicitor is far from out of the question.

I'll try to keep up in the future.

Regards to All

Stewart

grateful to be here