Monday 14 February 2011

A little set back on the bumpy road to recovery!

After writing my blog entry last week the worst happened! Hubs was out walking the dogs when he slipped and fell. Landing on his multicolored knees and jarring his back. After a stern talking to from my father - his father in law, he realized that if such a small incident could set him back so significantly the idea of returning to work was a ridiculous one.

So Hubs is home again, probably until Monday. His GP has advised that hes sees an osteopath. Hubs has been in so much pain since his tumble. Plus on Saturday night I noticed that he is also bruised on his back so more photographs were taken.

Hi knees are becoming less bruised but it seems to be really taking a while to go. The bruise on his back is right over his spine and is a lovely dark purple. Its about  3 Cm long and 2 Cm wide, but then the bruising goes out in about a 10 Cm diameter in green and yellow. Its amazing how many injuries he has that we didn't notice on the day of the crash. Probably due to the adrenalin and the stress of the situation.

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My formal complaint regarding Dr Y has been acknowledged and they assure me that they will get back to me in 2 weeks with a written explanation as to why Dr Y didn't ring.

Dr J has accepted me as his patient and I have been filling out various health questionnaires and my family's medical history. I have a couple of quite nasty allergies so it has been important to ensure the new practice is aware of those. CT contrast dye is one of my worst and the last time it was administered it was pretty frightening as I got very short of breath and my face was covered in hives and my lips and face swelled. Not that it is likely to be administered at the GP's!

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My recent reading list:

I have read quite a few books this year so far, for which I am proud of myself. I seem to read lots of books and then take a break from reading which could be up to 6 months. Then I am back reading again.

My favorite book has been A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Its a true story but reads like fiction and it covers James' time in rehab at the age of 23. He is so severely addicted to alcohol and every drug known to man kind, that he doesn't know if he can do it. He feels that he would just be better off dead than disappointing the people that love him. I have never cried like I have cried reading this book. Its so brutally honest and explores the relationships that James has with parents, authority figures and fellow addicts. I enjoyed the book so much I went straight onto Amazon and ordered My Friend Leonard by James Frey. Leonard is a character we meet in A Million Little Pieces. So I am very keen to get started with that one.

I have also read some war time diaries of Mary Berg who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto - Poland. Her family only escaped due to the fact her mother was American. She started the diary aged 15 and wrote until she was 19. Her diaries were so compelling that they were used as evidence against some of the Nazis who persecuted the people in the ghetto. It is one of the only first hand accounts of life inside the ghetto during the war. Its a tough read not due to the writing but the horrific events depicted in the diary that were happening all around her every day.

The Paper Chase by Marcel Theroux, is a small book more of a novella than a novel, which I have also read this last week. I loved this book for the twists and turns, plus it is also about Mycroft Holmes Sherlock's brother. Its intriguing  and i don't want to say anymore for fear of spoiling the story!

Thursday 10 February 2011

On the road to recovery

Just thought I would update all of you who have been following my blog since 28th January 2011.

Hubby will be going back to work tomorrow against my wishes as I don't feel that he is fully ready for 9 hours on his feet. He has promised me he will see how it goes and if he feels he can't stand around all day then he will get signed off.

The bruising on his knees has gone down  a lot,  but his right knee cap is still an interesting shade of purplish / black. His neck is still sore when turning it to the side and every so often he moans that his back is sore. However if he feels he is fit enough to return to work......... I have developed selective hearing and make no comment. It falls on deaf ears anyway.

We are still in limbo land at the moment with regard to the car as we are waiting for various documents to be returned to us from the DVLA before we can forward them onto the insurance company. They wont release the cheque until they have all the documents. Luckily we have the courtesy car until 7 days after the the cheque is sent to us. But it still puts its under pressure for sorting out a car.

Not that I can get hubby interested. I am going to moan here and I know he had a terrible accident. But if it hadn't been for me no paperwork would have been completed, solicitors and insurance companies spoken to. I get cross because no one runs around after me when the chips are down. I know through experience if I don't do it, things don't get done. I know damn well it will be me that finds our next car. Frankly I could quite happily throttle him. Its probably because we have just spent two weeks together and I am used to being alone 5 days a week for at least 9 hours a day.

Don't get me wrong I love him to bits and I am really thankful that he walked or shall I say limped away from the accident, but Mr Proactive he isn't!

The stress from all of this is affecting me quite badly. An unknown / undiagnosed (has been for 2 years) skin condition has erupted all over my body, much worse than it has ever been. Leaving me crusty and bleeding. Its not itchy just uncomfortable. I am back clenching my jaw day and night which has flared my TMJ. I have had to start sleeping with my mouth guard back in. Last night it seemed to make me snore! So I kept waking myself up. My tachycardia is also playing up and I think I experienced on Tuesday night my first ever adrenaline surge.

That was the strangest feeling ever, one minute fine the next minute consumed with a feeling of impending doom, agitated, breathless (but not hyperventilating) just a feeling that something was seriously wrong and I couldn't get away from the feeling. I have to be honest when I have read about this on POTS forums I have always laughed and thought some of the people on there are hypochondriac's. Well I am sorry I ever thought that and I wish to god I could take that all back.

I guess its like any illness, unless you have suffered with it you have no idea. One persons perception of their condition maybe completely different from a fellow sufferers. It made me remember not to judge some one until I have walked a mile in their shoes. An excellent saying that I think we could all do with living by - myself included!

Monday 7 February 2011

Celebration!

Wow! Thanks to Ellie's link to my blog and taking part in the blog fest yesterday I have had over 600 hits on my blog! I can't believe it! Thank you to everyone who has had a peek at my ramblings since 2008.

Double celebration today as Hubs picked up £130 from William Hill (bookies) today. At the start of the American Football season he placed a bet on the Green Bay Packers to win the Superbowl. The Odds were 12/1 - I don't understand odds, so you will just have to pretend that I know what I am talking about! Is it greedy to wish that I had won the lottery instead on Saturday night? Probably!

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I have now written a formal letter of complaint to my doctors surgery regarding Dr Y and that will be posted today. On Friday I was very ill and needed to speak to a Dr, I asked to speak to the duty Dr but was told quite rudely that I would only be allowed to speak to Dr Y and he would ring after 6pm. He never rang, he never attempted to ring. So I was left to deal with the issue alone.......again.

I could have rung the emergency Dr's but it takes so long to explain to them my various medical complaints it gets very frustrating. Plus when I tell them I am pretty much housebound and can't make it to the out of hours clinic they don't want to know. So you can see my dilemma.

I have now contacted Dr J today and requested he transfers me to his practice with immediate effect. I am hoping for a positive outcome. He at least has a basic understanding of POTS, as I was recommended to him by other POTSY people! So we wait.

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Yeah over 600 hits! And I have followers! Yipeeeeeeee

Thank you

Sunday 6 February 2011

Blogfest Top Ten Horror / Science Fiction Movie Quotes

Today Hubs and I are taking part in Ellie's Top Ten Horror / Science Fiction Movie Quotes. Ellie's Blog can be found at http://elliegarratt.blogspot.com/.

This is a collaborative effort as my memory is shot to pieces!

Top Ten Horror Movie Quotes:

You may notice a bit of a Zombie theme with these!

1. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" The Thing 1982

2. "Here's Johnny" The Shinning 1980

3. "They're coming to get you Barbra" Night of the living Dead 1968

4. "I hope I give you the shits" Dog Soldiers 2002

5. " Smile you son of a bitch" Jaws 1975

6. "Its alive! Its alive" Frankenstein 1931

7. "Choke on it" Day of the dead 1985

8. "Kill the Queen!" Shaun of the Dead 2004

9. "I'll swallow your soul"  " Swallow this" Evil Dead 2 1987

10. "Give me some sugar baby" Army of Darkness Evil Dead 3 1992


Top Ten Science Fiction Movie Quotes:

Doing these made us realise how many excellent films were made in 1968!

1." Game over man,  game over" Aliens 1979

2. "We came, we saw, we kicked ass!" Ghostbusters 1984

3. "Are you telling me you built a time machine out of Delorean?" Back to the future 1985

4. "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." 2001 Space Odyssey 1968

5. "Take your stinkin' paws off me, you damn dirty ape." Planet of the apes 1968

6. "Resistance is futile" Star trek First Contact 1996

7. "Gordon's alive" Flash Gordon 1980

8. "I've got a bad feeling about this" Star Wars 1977

9. " No, I am your father" Empire strikes back 1980

10. "E.T phone home" ET 1982

11." You are one ugly mother fucker" Predator 1987


Could resist putting in number 11! Can't wait to see everyone else's!

Friday 4 February 2011

An update from Friday 28th January 2011

Well as you can imagine the last week has been a little crazy!

Hubby's knees have turned a lovely colour combination of green, yellow, black, blue and purple. He is having to use a stick to get about and his knees now make a magnificent crunching sound when he goes up and down stairs. He visited the GP yesterday for a check up after Friday and has been signed off for a week. He is still suffering with headaches, neck and back pain along with the knees. If he isn't significantly better by next week he will be sent for physiotherapy.

The police haven't contacted us since last Friday despite us being told they would be in contact with us on Monday. I rang the station today to find out what is happening. The poor guy on the end of the phone had 17 pages to trawl through to find out all the details. He is emailing the officer in charge of the investigation. We now have a crime number not just a log number.

I had been congratulating myself on how well I was doing considering the immense shock and stress I had been under. POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) is a bit of a slave to stress and I was expecting to be incapacitated quite quickly. It actually didn't happen until after a visit by my best friend Ellie and her partner on Wednesday. I collapsed after their visit and have rarely left my bed since sleeping for 13-14 hours at a stretch.

I think Ellie's visit was the first time I had relaxed since Friday. There was no talk about accidents, buying cars, police or insurance companies. Just coffee and cream cakes! And laughing when Frankie brought down 3 cardboard toilet tube innards in his mouth at one time to prevent the other dogs -Willow and Mollie getting a look in. For some bizarre reason Frankie is obsessed with these and sits and chews them until they are a wet, soggy mess. He will even barge into the bathroom whilst its occupied to see if you have finished with a toilet roll!

Despite all this I have still managed to have a rather loud discussion with DR Y who has through his actions (or lack of them) and general attitude confirmed my belief that despite getting a diagnosis his ineptitude continues. I will next week be writing a letter to DR J at another practice to move surgeries. Is it wrong to want and need the support of your GP? Am I asking someone in the caring profession to do more than care?

I need to end this post on a happy note! So I need to thank Ellie for giving me a mention on her blog, (since this went on last Friday / Saturday I have had over 50 views), I would also like to thank Ellie's followers for leaving those lovely comments which were very much appreciated by all of us here.

Also just to let you know Mollies eye - which was cut in the accident has completely healed. Frankie's cut has healed but he has a bit of hair loss on the injury site so that will take a little time to completely heal. Willow has settled down, she is going through a phantom pregnancy at the moment and has adopted my hubby as her puppy. She was very distressed by the accident, but is now much happier as Daddy/ puppy has been home all week, so she has got to groom him every night before going to sleep. By grooming I mean licking him clean, she is particularly obsessed with his rather large belly, it takes a good hour to get clean!

Thanks again