Another whole load of nothing.

Autumn has arrived now. The days are chillier, though the sun is still shining most days. Hamish loves autumn in the park because he likes to roll on the ground and the crunchy leaves appear to please him. 😊

We have been enjoying the time in the park before the ground gets too wet for my buggy and we are consigned to the paths.

Once home I put my proper camera on a tripod and connected it to my phone by wifi so I could get some pictures without Hamish knowing. I didn’t expect him to look right down the lense each time he heard the zoom motor. 😆

Hamish is a handsome bloke, he looks so different from one picture to the next?

I had a slight mishap last month. I took a tumble just outside the back door! I bashed myself up a bit but like always I didn’t go to hospital. One of these days my luck will run out and I will get a proper injury. I still remember the bathroom fall from last year! That left me on the floor unable to move for several hours and feeling rough for quite a few weeks.

I had an MS clinic appointment a couple of weeks later so my nurse checked me over, she thought I possibly had a small fracture under my eye but it was stable so nothing would have been done at hospital anyway.

As I had no idea of how I fell and was confused for a while after, she advised me not to drive until I next see her in case it was a seizure. Had I shown other post seizure signs like bitten tongue loss of bladder control etc she would have had to tell me to surrender my licence again for 12 months.

Had I known at the time I was diagnosed with MS (and Epilepsy for that matter) being ill was going to be a career I would have given it a miss! 🤪 Who would have thought that some strange sensations in my leg and a very short lived numb arm in my early 20s would turn into this?

Thoughts are now turning to Christmas. Julia will be going to Spain for a week at the end of November (I hope her return isn’t delayed by snow like last year) and then the decorations go up!! I had better start thinking of things to get her. 🤔 I gave up receiving presents a few years ago, I told people there was nothing I need. It makes Christmas a more relaxed time as I am not engulfed in that dreadful giving/ getting cycle that becomes a chore, I just try to get people things I think they would like without any concerns about if it is expensive enough or too expensive.

Hopefully I won’t be lazy and there will be at least one post on here before Christmas? It is a bit early to be throwing seasons greetings around. 🎅🏻🎄

Back soon.

I almost forgot this; Julia asked me to retrieve a picture she had taken a few years ago from my online storage. We went to lay flowers at her mum’s grave, there was nobody there but when we looked at the picture we saw a white figure in the background!! She went back to check if there was a snowman but there wasn’t?!

A ghost for halloween 👻

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A new symptom.

I started this blog 6 years ago when my brother died on the advice of a blogger. He said writing things down makes you feel better even if nobody reads it, it did so I will try it again.

if you want to skip the “pity party” it’s not very long and there will be dogs further down.

This new symptom took me by surprise it is not exclusive to either MS or Epilepsy but I have heard of it being associated with both! What is it? Loneliness!!  I have always been happy spending time alone, my hobbies are solitary and I can spend days reading books without speaking to anybody but lately I have been feeling lonely? I still have Julia and my pooches but I have nobody else, I rarely hear from my brothers and since my son moved further away I only see him once every 2 or 3 weeks. I thought I had a couple of friends left but after a few unanswered emails and texts it became obvious I haven’t. I have tried to engage with MS and Epilepsy support groups but have been unable due to access and distance issues. ☹️

As always I will expect the future to be rosier and once over my self pity I will plod on. 😊

We have had a beautiful summer so far, two months of dry, warm and mostly sunny weather only ending a few days ago with a slight drop in temperatures and some rain. It is still warm but a little grey.

I always love the summer as the sunshine and heat despite worsening a couple of my symptoms always makes me feel better.

I had to let Julia walk Indy in the afternoons as now he is old he can’t walk as far or as fast as Hamish. Walks had to be planned in order to keep Hamish on grass verges and off the pavement on the way to the park as the pavement would very quickly burn his paws. We took plenty of water and stopped often under big shady trees to cool off. The park was deserted almost every day as it was too hot for most people (its not true that mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid day sun 🐕🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿). There was one week when the carnival was on that made Hamish cautious with the strange noises coming from the fairground rides, he survived it though.

It was a good summer. 😊

A few pictures of Hamish enjoying the lush yellow/beige grass.

Recovering at home in the cool.

Not forgetting Indy, out and about and at home in his lush watered garden.

Indy was far from happy being “furminated” mid summer to combat the heat but he was glad of it once it was done.

Now that the rain has returned it looks like it will soon be Autumn which is Julia’s favourite season, hopefully she will provide me with some good pooch pictures.

Back soon.

Reasons to be cheerful…

My friend lives on his family farm (3 conjoined farms to be more accurate) in the borders of Scotland. Recently he made a video to send to his daughter who is away at university, he shared it with me to cheer me up. It features some of Indy’s brothers going for their evening walk in a forested area of the farm, they are joined by the ginger tom, Topcat and a kitten, Bluebell. I can’t think of a nicer way to spend 10 minutes than to watch this video.

cats and dogs exploring. 

Maybe I will return to normal service soon?

My Mum.

Last night, 8 weeks after having surgery for a hip fracture my Mum died from a hospital acquired infection.

I will be absent from here for some time now as I feel empty and lost with nothing else to say.

Eileen Gorman 27/7/38 – 1/4/18

Happy anniversary to me…

and Julia I suppose. 😀

 

36 years ago today I married the wonderful Julia. Almost everyone I knew said I had been rash marrying so quickly and that it wouldn’t last!! I think they may have had a point, we only met on December 20th 1981, got engaged on January 8th, moved in together on valentines day and married on March 20th. 3 months to the day after we met, We must have been mad?! I think we did the right thing. I think our success has been because we put raising a family first. Early on we had little money but what we had was spent on activities with the kids. We didn’t spend nights down the pub or put any outside activities ahead of the family and we only bought what we could afford. Our motorhomes were always older than all the others in our motorhome club group but ours wasn’t on credit so we weren’t stressed about paying for it. (we always knew we would have the nice vans like our friends only they would be 10 years older when we got them 😀  ) There have been ups and downs, Julia has had to put up with a lot more than I have but she has been patient and waited for me to become an adult, when I was about 45. 😀 All in all we have done okay so far. Let’s see how the next 36 years pan out.

We have had a few false starts with spring this year only for snow to return and spoil it. As usual the country ground to a halt as soon as a snowflake hit the ground! How is it that other countries manage just fine with snow and we don’t? When I lived in Indiana we would regularly get 6 to 12 inches of snow in a day and still go about our business without any problems, here we get 5 cms and planes, trains, and automobiles cease running. 😀 We had a night at the weekend that was a bit bad. Temperatures were -5 but with the wind chill was -17 I really felt that in my bones but I think that is just my age. One Christmas in Indianapolis it was windchill of -40 and the main water supply line under my house froze but my Father in-law and I spent the day outside replacing it with nothing more than the soldering blowtorch to keep us warm.

My boys don’t let the weather spoil their day.

 

The boys in the snow, Indy laying down waiting for a ball and Hamish being a snow plough.

 

Now to my health again. I probably won’t mention it a great deal from now on otherwise the blog becomes a constant stream of complaining. I haven’t been great but I think I have expected that since I was told I now have secondary progressive MS. Once I get my head around the fact that I won’t improve I will be fine. The decline isn’t terrible, it is still slow, so I have plenty of time to find things that I can still enjoy doing. My Epilepsy has been okay so I have nothing to worry about with that. All in all life still ain’t bad. 🙂

 

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A gorgeous little girl called Nina looking for a home via Irish Retriever Rescue.

If you can’t adopt a lovely dog like Nina there are many more ways to help rescued dogs, you can donate money or time or even just spread the word about dogs that may be in need of a home.

Still hibernating.

Just when I was about to post a blog about nothing happening this year and then something happened.

This morning my 80 year old Mother had a fall in her kitchen, she was unable to move so my brother called an ambulance. It took two and a half hours for the ambulance to arrive!!! After xrays at the hospital it was found that she has broken her hip. 😦  she is now laying in a corridor waiting for a bed on a ward to become available. What is happening to our NHS? Ironic that this should happen on “save our NHS day” when 10’s of thousands of people all over the country are marching to draw attention to the lack of support for our health service from the government. It is not just more money that is needed but a return to the service being “national” rather than a cluster of competing health trusts farming out services to private companies to make profit at the expense of the service users. Finally, us service users have to be responsible in our use of A and E and not go with minor ailments such as minor bumps and bruises, coughs and colds, or any other things we can either treat ourselves or have dealt with by a GP. The NHS is an institution to be proud of and we should all do our bit to ensure it survives.

Update February 4th 11pm

My Mum has just had her hip replaced and the hospital plan on getting her up and about tomorrow. 🙂 She looked so sad and worried this afternoon and was very uncomfortable. 😦

Now back to my hibernation. 😦

I have more or less been housebound this year, partly due to the fall I had 2 months ago which is still causing problems with my back and hips ( made worse by not being able to play for sympathy as I haven’t told Julia about the fall) and also MS symptoms making it hard to move freely even to get on my buggy. I have probably only been out 5 or 6 times this year but when I have been out Hamish has really enjoyed himself.

What life is like when bed-bound with Hamish.

 

 

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And recliner- bound with Indy. We were both having a dressing gown day.  😀

 

 

Just so long as I have woofers life will be good, they keep me sane(ish) give me a reason to get up each day and out as often as I can. 🙂

 

A couple of dogs in need of a home from Irish Retriever Rescue.

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Scooter has had a difficult start to life but is in a good place now from where he can start again.

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Bliss would be living with me if I was feeling a little healthier, I love older dogs and Bliss looks perfect.

As usual, click the name to go to their adoption profile.

I hope to be active enough to have something to write about soon, bring on the Spring. 😀

 

In 2 days it will be 36 years since we met. :-)

December was going to be a relaxed build up to Christmas, Julia was going to Spain for a week to visit the grandchildren, get the last bits of shopping, and then relax.

The tree was up in good time and the boys did their annual  pose.

Don’t they look happy and relaxed? 😀

Then off she went. Julia was due back on Sunday and then this happened…

Everyone who has ever lived in England knows that more than 2 cm of snow causes chaos. We had 10 to 12 cm in our town and parts of the region had up to 33 cm. The airport was closed and the airline Julia had booked with cancelled all incoming flights for the day! No worries she will be given a new flight the next day, wont she? NO, she got Friday, a full 5 days later. Despite the disappointment none of this would cause any problems during normal times but what Julia didn’t know (and still doesn’t) is I had a bath a few hours after she left and as I got out my legs gave way and I fell heavily across the toilet, breaking the seat off in the process, and the sink. I ended up on the floor for at least 2 hours unable to get up and covered in bruises. I spent the next 2 weeks off my head on codeine only surfacing to tend to the boys and spending the rest of the time asleep or groggy and crying out in pain. I still can’t sit and I have a lot of back pain but Julia just thinks I am having some MS spasm issues. I can’t tell her what happened, firstly because I shouldn’t have baths at all because I might have a seizure and secondly because it would make her too worried to enjoy another visit with the grandchildren. Now we have a week left to finish all of the preparations for the big day. I have done my shopping online and I think Julia has done all of her present buying leaving just the groceries to get.

Today I took a picture of Julia wearing her new Christmas hat that I insist she wear at every opportunity. 😀

Hand made in Nepal and sold by Amnesty international.

The only condition was that I should wear it for my picture with the boys. I always say a lot of chaos ensues when I pose with the boys in order to get one picture. This year we took the pictures as soon as they got in from a walk so they would be worn out and compliant, some hope of that!!

Let me know if one is a “good one” 😀

And we still managed to miss the shots where they were both kissing me at the same time.

As a late addition to the blog; Julia did some shopping today and as revenge for making her wear a Christmas tree hat she bought me one with lights on, oh, and some elf pyjamas.  😀 😀

AWOL…

Or is it MIA?

I have no excuse for not posting for so long, I haven’t been busy or ill, just lazy. 😀

Truth be told life is being pretty dull of late. I started my new medications for MS symptoms and apart from a little added fatigue and dizziness they work pretty well, once I adjust all will be well.

Today was likely to be the last of the really nice weather days of the year so Hamish and I decided to travel the full length of our linear park. The official park is approximately 2 1/2 miles long but we are lucky enough to live a street away from an area that is pretty much left wild that we call the “scrub”, this is another 2 1/2 miles long and like the park runs between 2 areas of housing. On my buggy I can’t easily access the top mile of the scrub as there are high kerbs where a road cuts through but that’s okay. 🙂

The scrub is dotted with clumps of trees which Hamish has to visit in order to leave his calling card.

 

The scrub is largely even ground so my high ground clearance buggy copes well, the bodywork does crop some of the longer vegetation though. 😀 At the end of the scrub the cycle path begins next to a pond and marks the beginning of the park.

 

After the pond section of cycle path is an area near housing which is a favourite of Indy now that he is older and his joints don’t want him to go too far. It is also an ideal posing place for Hamish.

The main body of the park is served by the duel use cycle/ footpath which is well lit so can be used safely all day. The path runs through the middle and is flanked by football pitches (with changing rooms)and play areas but is mostly rolling grass with trees.

And a pause for a pose…

The undulating part of the park gives a good overview of the football pitches and one of the children’s play areas which we avoid on busy days as Hamish isn’t keen on little people!

After crossing the second of the 2 roads that dissect  the park and the only one that needs to be crossed as the other has an underpass, there is a short final part of park before reaching Croyland gardens and then the end in the town centre.

There is always time for one final pose before returning home. 😀

Hamish was quite worn out by his excursion but I think he enjoyed himself.

Tomorrow strong winds and heavy rain are forecast, this is going to be the start of a longer period of unsettled weather so I will be hibernating for a while. Before we know it it will be books and box sets instead of buggy as winter starts. 😦

Living in chaos.

That was an interesting few weeks.

We have just reached the end of a complete kitchen remodel. It took two weeks to completely empty the kitchen and set up a temporary one in the dinning room before the work began. The old kitchen was torn out followed by huge holes being gouged out of the walls and ceiling for the rewire! The kitchen was rewired, plastered, painted, new cabinets, and then the new tiled floor we had done in November was extended to fill the exposed areas created by the new cabinet layout. Now we just have to find everything we took out and return it to the kitchen, don’t worry we put everything somewhere safe… now, where was that? 😀

I found the past 2 or 3 weeks interesting as I had to hide in the bedroom most days with Hamish to stop him getting stressed by all the comings and goings. I watched a lot of television and Hamish did a lot of sleeping, mostly across me! We usually found a time in the day when the contractors were either taking a break or going to get supplies when I could get my buggy out and take the woofers for a run. Indy was more than happy to just lay down somewhere and watch the workers doing their thing, almost all of the polish workers were terrified of dogs so we had to keep him a safe distance from the kitchen, it’s a good job they didn’t meet Hamish he would have scared the bejeesus out of them. 😀 Funny people, who doesn’t love dogs?

My MS is much the same, I am still having the balance problems that have plagued me for months. I have an MS clinic appointment in two weeks so I will see if I can do something different that might help. The weather has been like a typical English summer, warm for a few days followed by chilly and wet for a week and then warm again, so I haven’t suffered the “hot weather exhaustion” that I have during prolonged hot spells. Now we are nearing the end of summer it is unlikely the weather will cause any problems this year. This is good because I won’t be as exhausted but bad because I love sunny days out with the boys.

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A lovely mature pair of pooches from Irish Retriever rescue.

Doug and Jan.

Jan and her mate Doug came from a home with a very elderly owner who was was
going into a nursing home and, of course, couldn’t take them with him.  IRR was
contacted to see if we could help. They have been together all their lives and have
a strong bond with each other.

There are other dogs available and always some being assessed and others still waiting to travel to The UK.

A bit of a whinge and a warning.

First the warning.

I don’t know about others but I have 4 dental checkups each year, this includes a thorough examination of the soft tissues of the mouth. I think it is more common for people to have 2? My advice is to have as many as you can afford both financially and time wise. My 37 year old niece went for her regular checkup at the end of last year during which the dentist found something he wasn’t happy about, he referred her to the hospital for further examination. Her appointment was slow arriving and by the time it did she was heavily pregnant. The hospital found cancer under her tongue, treatment was delayed a month to allow the pregnancy to reach a point where the baby could be delivered. The baby was delivered early and surgery was done followed by chemotherapy. A few weeks after chemo my niece went for a follow up appointment where it was found the cancer had returned and had also spread, she was told she had just 3 or 4 months to live, she died 8 days later. My dentist told me that 75% of oral cancers can be spotted early with regular checkups which sadly means 25% go unnoticed until it is too late! He also said that most oral cancers are very aggressive so the sooner they are found the better the outcome. So if you are overdue a checkup perhaps it would be a good time to get it done.

 

My whinge seems a little self indulgent now but the reason I started the blog was to say things that bother me without burdening my loved ones.

MS has been a real pain for quite a while now. I may be having a proper relapse at the moment? 3 or 4 weeks ago I had a fall which left my arms and body scratched and bruised this was at the same time a I started suffering severe dizziness. At the time I wasn’t sure if the fall came first and I had banged my head or if the dizziness came first and this had caused the fall? The dizziness has continued since along with horrible neuralgia in my lower legs, feet, right hand, and arm and such bad fatigue I can barely move my arms and legs. I thought once I had been diagnosed with secondary progressive MS it would be a slow plod onward without relapses? I guess not, I will still get the pleasure of relapses. 😀

After summer ended a week ago with rain and cold temperatures it has now returned with blue sky and plenty of sunshine. 🙂 The met office is saying that it will mostly remain like this until October? So, rain and cold for us then. 😀

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Irish Retriever Rescue oldie, Ralph is looking for a home.

Ralph is 10 years old, in good health (apart from wobbly back legs) and has a pet passport. Further details of Ralph can be found by clicking wherever you see his name.

Other IRR dogs can be found here… along with success stories and ways you can help the rescue. IRR is a wonderful rescue and is where our gorgeous Hamish came from.