What made you happy today?

[Mark Blanchard]

18 months off the sauce today.  And consequently 2.5 stone off the scales.  Who would have Adam and Eve'd it.

[bogle]

Just now, Mark Blanchard said:

18 months off the sauce today.  And consequently 2.5 stone off the scales.  Who would have Adam and Eve'd it.

Congrats on the weight loss.  I'm the heaviest I've ever been thanks to Covid.  I stopped the sauce 8 months ago, but the weight stayed.  Glad you were successful!

[andydclements]

Well done @Mark Blanchard I lost a lot of weight but in a shorter period of time, I found the duration to be the most difficult aspect.

[Mark Blanchard]

Soup for lunch.  It's boring but it does the job. 

I had a 1 pack, mostly the result of cider and Belgium beer.

[RobinB5]

1 hour ago, Mark Blanchard said:

18 months off the sauce today.  And consequently 2.5 stone off the scales.  Who would have Adam and Eve'd it.

Am looking for motivation to do the same Mark. The sauce has gotten quite free and easy over the last few years. It won't end well.  I keep waiting for a compelling event, but have realised that won't come. Just need to stop, full stop. What was your trigger to stop?

[Mark Blanchard]

Hi Robin, pm sent.

[Barrykearley]

@RobinB5 moderation is the key. If you think there’s an issue with that - no matter how small  - then a full stop cease is definitely a better option.  It’s not like you are really missing anything anyway.

sadly some folks will never accept the responsibility that comes with life.

[bogle]

I was using alcohol for the wrong reasons - pain control and zoning out of reality.  My body doesn't tolerate Opioids well. So good olde alcohol was there.  I only drank at home.  I was smart enough not to drive while I did partake.  Never really was a drinker in the first place, but the back surgeries (3 of them) started it.   The wife made it easy to stop.  She said stop and that's all she wrote.  Full stop for me.  I miss it a little, but I do better without it.

[ramjet]

I just picked this up. I'm keeping this one. It's nothing super special, but I have never seen a case decorated like this before.

[Bibs]

Just back from 9 days in the South of France, including over 1,900 miles of driving thanks to Ryanair! We stayed in Bormes Les Mimosas which is a stunning village and managed a trip into Monaco and my first visit to Italy, even if it was only for 30 minutes! 

[Sparky]

A wonderful, relaxing part of the world.  And I bet the drive was superb.

[Bibs]

Drove there in a day (6am to 11:30pm) which was a bit of a slap but the French motorways put the UK to shame. Well surfaced, pretty empty and tonnes of great Aire's to take a break every couple of hours. We stayed over in Troyes on the way back and broke the journey into 2 days which was much better. 

[C8RKH]

28 minutes ago, Bibs said:

French motorways put the UK to shame

France is 2.5 times the landmass of the UK, with roughly the same population, ergo, their transportation systems are nowhere near as "rammed" as the UK's. 

Pleased you had a great journey, in the UK everyone seems to be in a hurry to get nowhere fast.  I found the same in Berlin last week. So much more relaxing than London.  Even the cyclists seemed to get on with everyone else.

[Bibs]

Pretty much as soon as we were off the train and back on the M20, there were 15 miles of roadworks and I spotted 2 diggers parked up in the entire length of it. Made me want to turn around! 

[PaulCP]

I’ve done plenty of Euro road trips over the years, usually extended drives with the LoT French Frolic in between. In fact, for many years I did more miles on the. continent each year than here on the U.K.

However the most memorable was 3 weeks incorporating 5 days of the Lotus Speed Weekend Tyrol, just 3 Brits and around 30 Europeans from Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium and a couple from Greece. A fantastic crowd of Lotus enthusiasts & then on to Italy and back through Switzerland incorporating loads of passes & nice driving roads finally covering 2500miles.

Then, as you say @Bibs, back to Blighty with its constant traffic jams & roadworks.

God, I think I’ve just talked myself into getting back in a Lotus again🙄

 

[bogle]

Are you guys across the Pond happy that Boris is resigning?  

[exeterjeep]

9 minutes ago, bogle said:

Are you guys across the Pond happy that Boris is resigning?  

Well Putin and the Russians seem happy.

Boris has an interesting personality but the problems one after another was too much, but have no idea of who I think should replace him. (in a few months...)

[pete]

Fitted a staircase we made today

[bogle]

20 minutes ago, pete said:

Fitted a staircase we made today

Wow! That's amazing!  God, I wish I had carpentry skills!

 

[Alfa2Evora]

This most definitely belongs in here!

JENNIFER : LATEST UPDATE/NEWSFLASH

Well, Monday saw me finally having a face-to-face session with Jennifer's consultant and essentially he agreed with all the points and observations I'd raised in my letter to him. Not only that, prior to meeting with me he had already drawn up a new plan of action so that it could be implemented just as soon as he'd run it past me.

Conversationally, Jennifer has come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks. When it comes to talking, she's like the Duracell bunny on some sort of recreational substance, . Some days, it's difficult to get a word in edgewise and you almost feel the need, or I'm sure at least some of the ward staff do, to find the on/off switch. Most of what she's saying is making perfect sense although she does still have occasions where she drifts off-topic. Having said that, even although what she's saying doesn't make sense within the context of the particular conversation, it does still make sense within its own right with perfectly formed sentences and good use of vocabulary so the doctor feels that it's just a case of a bit more time for all these dots to join up properly.

Not so great is her ability to deal with words and numbers in written form. Tell her a word and ask her to spell it and she's spot on, or spell it out and she'll tell you the word. It's the same with basic arithmetic calculations but write them down and show her, and all you get is a blank stare, and no, it's nothing to do with my handwriting before somebody suggests that, . Her doctor has arranged for some further sessions with both the Speech and Language Therapist and the Occupational Therapist to try and address this problem.

She has regained full control over her 'weak' left leg and can move it in all directions 'on command'. For instance, when taking her out of the ward in her wheelchair for some fresh air, we come across several swing doors or gates on our travels and when asked (and often now without needing to be asked) she'll put up her left leg and push them open with her foot.

I had asked if, in light of this increased ability with her leg, they could try and see if she could now bear some weight on it. Long and short of it, since Monday, they haven't been using the sling and hoist device to transfer her from bed to chair and back again but instead, Jennifer now stands up under her own steam and moves between the two.

Also, they have restarted her physiotherapy sessions and what an amazing transformation has taken place in just a few days. From simply being able to stand up for the first time at the beginning of the week, she has moved through walking a few paces between the parallel handrails on Tuesday, to going 'freestyle with a zimmer on Wednesday, then yesterday she managed a circuit of the gym unaided apart from me holding her hand to help her maintain her balance. The tears were rolling down my face at this point, I'm not ashamed to admit.

After each of her little strolls, she then spends some time on the cycling machine - just a few minutes to start with but by yesterday she managed over 20 minutes and covered the equivalent of just over a mile. And this was somebody who had been 'written-off' by the system as having no hope of getting beyond the 'confined to a wheelchair for life' level of improvement and therefore all therapies had been dropped a couple of months back, .

Just goes to show that the professionals don't always get it right. One minute they're saying that "no 2 people follow the same path to recovery after a stroke" then the next it's "Jennifer hasn't responded to this by week #whatever like most people do so we're not going to try any more" Well, Jennifer isn't most people. She has the early symptoms of Parkinson's to deal with too which makes everything take that bit longer to happen. As has been shown this week, give her time and she will get there!

The only real issue now with her physically is that her left hand is still far from being fully functional. She has what they call 'stroke hand' where its natural resting position now is to form a clenched fist. They tried using a soft split to gently straighten it many weeks back, but it didn't have an immediate effect so they stopped using it. I wasn't happy with that decision, especially as, like me, Jennifer is very left-handed so it's vitally important to get it working. Therefore, I bought my own splint and started applying it every day I went in. The professionals weren't too pleased and no doubt removed the splint as soon as I'd left but, surprise, surprise, even these possibly short daily sessions with it have borne fruit and now her hand is half-way to being fully open. Now, the use of it is 'officially' approved too, and they're commencing a series of exercise sessions to improve her dexterity.

Sorry it's been a long one this time and thanks for lasting the course to the end but as you can see, a lot has happened these past several weeks with this week's events making the previous improvements look somewhat less significant, but no less important, by comparison.

Jennifer has agreed to my posting up this picture of her taken yesterday immediately after she passed the 1-mile marker on her pedalling mission. The look on her face says it all. Not only has it improved her physical well-being immensely, but it's done the same psychologically too. She now knows that she's not trapped in that chair for ever more, she now has something to focus on every day other than just what's occurring around her on the ward (which can be more than a little depressing most days), and she's looking forward to meeting and beating any challenges that are put in front of her.

I'm absolutely ecstatic at the moment. Finally, I can see 'my' Jennifer returning. It's just a pity that's it's taken so long, and longer that it need have been.

Onward and upward. Go Jennifer! 

[exeterjeep]

Really good to hear about some good progress with Jennifer.

[bogle]

David,

This is something that warms everyone's heart here on the forum. This is the good news and the picture is great because you've BOTH been through a huge ordeal. 

I see the sling on her left arm.  Physical therapy will definitely help the arm/hand, but it's just a question of duration.  Speech therapist will be able to assist with the fine tuning, but it may not get all of it.  That's okay because you can help her find alternatives for the harder stuff.

Are they able to project a possible release date for Jennifer?  Hopefully, they can send therapists to your home but that might be a big ask of the health system.  

Again, fantastic news and I will be thinking of this all day because it is amazing.

Bill

[Alfa2Evora]

Bill

No discharge planning as yet. Of course, they can't do anything just now as my Guardianship application is still slowly grinding its way through the various stages it needs to pass before being presented to the courts. While all that is going on, nobody can move Jennifer on as that could be seen as trying to circumvent the system and deny my/Jennifer's rights in the matter.

That's all to the good though as the longer she remains where she is, so the opportunity to take full advantage of their rehab facilities can continue unabated. When Jennifer is cleared to move on, I've come to accept that it still might be a while before she's recovered sufficiently to be safe in the domestic environment and so may have to go to a nursing home for a while.

Unfortunately, even the best of those have nothing to offer on a par to the hospital. Community physiotherapists are almost non-existent and even if you do secure one, the home won't have any of the equipment that might be needed so definitely, the longer she can stays put the better. The court process could take several months so that's fine by me, even although there is a little bit of guilt there about bed-blocking when there might be somebody else out there more in need of it.

[bogle]

David,

Thank you for updating us on the forum.

I wouldn't concern yourself with any guilt for bed blocking unless she's 100% back to normal.  Although it would great to think of a return to normal with normal physical activities and speech patterns, it's probably not realistic considering her situation.  All we can hope for is continued progress and gradual positive changes for Jennifer.

I hope you've been able to rest and give yourself a break.  You need to do that and find a way to release built up emotions to keep your health in decent shape.  I know if I was in your shoes,  I would find myself challenged beyond my own wits.  So hope you have that outlet with friends and family.  Of course, there's people here on the forum that will listen.  Not all of them will reply because they don't know what to say, but I know they are thinking about Jennifer.  

Bill

[cweeden]

That is awesome news, I am very happy for you both and have my fingers crossed her condition continues to improve at pace. 👍