It’s been a fairly busy time for me lately. One day I had 3 zoom/teams meetings. I said to Maggie that was more like a work day. Lol. One of the things I find difficult about zoom and teams is that because your comfy at home it’s more likely that you will show how tired you are. I yawned through a couple of sessions. It wasn’t to do with the content as that was interesting. It’s just due to the fact that it takes a lot of energy to concentrate that hard. I have enjoyed it and it was good to give my brain a workout. On top of that my sister Gail and I planned a surprise garden party for my niece Jessica.
Jessie has been studying at Greenwich University. Her cohort were really badly affected by the pandemic. Despite all that uncertainty and most lessons being on line she managed to graduate with a 2:1. I’m one proud Auntie.
As we move forwards (please note I don’t say as we move to a post covid phase) with the pandemic I find myself being disabled by society around me. When people were wearing masks and still practising social distancing I was able to go to quiet and out of the way supermarkets in a safe way. Now I often end up sitting in the car as it’s a bit too risky.
Sadly I also feel disabled by the NHS. When I go to haematology they are of course brilliant and really on top of infection control measures. All patients are vetted at the door. Visitors of relatives have to wait outside the unit till called by doctor. Everyone wears a mask and social distancing is practiced wherever possible. Sadly for me I’m also seen in many other departments. I have appointments in rheumatology, dermatology, respiratory medicine, ophthalmology, gastroenterology and of course all the scans and X-rays and blood tests that go with it. Now I’m expected to sit next to people who are unmasked. There really need to be safe zones for clinically extremely vulnerable patients. It’s a mess and I feel I’m being left behind.
On top of all that my car was vandalised. It’s seems they were either trying to steal the car or the catalytic converter. They have no idea of the damage they cause and the impact it has. My car is my lifeline. I cannot go on public transport. I use the car for all my appointments. It’s a Motability car which is the only reason I have such a nice big vehicle. My mobility scooter has to travel with me hence the need for a big boot. Despite the helpful Motability people it’s still a right royal pain. On the day I found it, I ended up being on the phone e or computer all day. Repair garages only have small curtesy cars. Again helpful Motability said they would hire one from me that I could keep my scooter with me.
On the medical front things are okish. I have read a lot recently about opiates not being good for chronic long term pain. Without consulting anyone I stopped my pain patch. I’d had it since at least 2014. Oh my days, it was like withdrawal. I couldn’t sleep, eat, sit still. I wore a path to the bathroom because I needed it so often. I was determined I wasn’t going to give in. I’m fine now but it was rough for about a month. Of course I’ve now given myself another problem. I’m in a lots of pain. I spoke with the pain consultant. She congratulated me on coming off the patches and said it would have been better to do it more slowly and gradually lower the dose. I’ve learnt that lesson. Lol. She is going to try some different types of patches with lignocaine in it. Lignocaine is a local anaesthetic. I’ll be interested to find out how well it works.
I had a really fascinating test the other day. I was having nerve and muscle assessments. As you can see if the photo below it was like a torture session. 😃The doctor was holding something like a small cattle prod. When she places it in the right place, it vibrated at that spot but would make my foot twitch. Weird. After testing many nerves in this way, she then went on to place these long fine needles in different muscles including feet, calf, shin, thigh front and back, hand and finally neck. Each time she moved the probe to a new place she would make me flex and relax my muscles. I could hear the energy used in the form of white noise on the screen. It was really interesting. I shall look forward to hearing the results.
Another great distraction for me just now is womens football. The #Weuro22 #lionesses. For those that don’t know me I love me footie. I played 40 years ago. It’s great to see these amazing teams getting such airtime. It’s about time too.
We are living through interesting times. Politics and governments are in a mess. Health care is under enormous strain. The cost of living is hitting people and yet people still do acts of kindness everyday and live lives that make a difference. It can be easy to forget that when surrounded by so much crap. This week alone I’ve had an unexpected present, an offer of £1000 from a lovely friend after hearing about my car. I’ve had offers of lifts to get me the hospital if needed and my caring neighbours all tried to help find the culprits. One of my young neighbours was woken by a noise and he looked out of the window. He saw the two people at my car and shouted at them and they ran away. There are so many good and honourable people out there. Don’t give to much energy to all the negativity. For me, integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Why not this week be kind to someone? You might be the only person who is, so that kindness will make a huge difference.
Take care people and stay safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment