More water under the bridge...............

The decision has pretty much made itself, I will ask to go at Christmas. My shoulder has improved due to copious amounts of Ibuprofen gel being rubbed in twice a day. Trouble is, to compensate, my arthritis is now becoming somewhat intense when I type..................... like now. My back has improved slightly, I think it was more bruising than anything else. I have been putting in derisory bids on Ebay over the weekend and won every one. So I am now the proud owner of a baseball cap and a clockwork train set for almost peanuts.

Getting older sucks!

I am so close to retirement now and all I wanted to do was leave gracefully. Chance would be a fine thing. My body is fighting me and trying to make me stop sooner now. My back is a dull roar most of the time and my shoulder is constantly hurting at present. With the onset of the colder and damper weather, my joints are beginning to complain and, as I cannot use anti-inflammatories, I have to simply suffer. Early starts are murder now and once 10.00 pm arrives I just need to fall into bed. That's as well as napping all evening and nodding off in my lunch break yesterday.

Hazel is suggesting I ask to leave at Christmas and not go on until the end of February. This idea appeals to me. She also thinks I should drop my hours to four days a week from now until I leave. This idea also appeals. Hazel would like to see me do both but I am more inclined to one or the other. We need the money for one thing as we are in the throes of trying to move out our current tenants and take in new ones who will actually pay their rent.

Still improving but still sad.

My own health is currently better than it has been for quite a while and seems to be holding. I still have some big problems first thing in the morning and last thing at night with my socks!!!!! but other than that I am a fully functional person again. Today is our son and daughter-in-law's wedding anniversary so most of the family are having a celebratory meal. janis, our camper van is back on the road and also functioning well now and we are hoping to manage a UK holiday in her next year when I have retired (see above). I am also stocking up as best I can with components for my retirement hobby. Both of these areas are recorded on their own blogs as listed below left.

Some you win.................

Whilst in the throes of improving my own health, one of my closest friends, Fred, has died very suddenly.
 He and I worked together at Freedom Fields Hospital when Sally was born and we remained friends when I left. I went to Plymouth Sound and he moved to Derriford when Freedom Fields closed but he still visited me every Wednesday when our shifts allowed. Just before we went on our summer holiday earlier this summer, Fred collapsed and was taken to ICU at Derriford. When we returned from our break, another friend told us where he was and Hazel and I went up to see him. He was in an induced coma and seriously ill. That's when we discovered that he had developed Myasthenia Gravis, a very debilitating genetic disorder that affects the muscles of the neck among other things. Freds father has it but nowhere near as bad. Anyway, over the following weeks, Fred slowly recovered but, having had a tracheotomy, was unable to speak and had some breathing problems. Nonetheless, last Tuesday he left hospital and moved into a good nursing home to recuperate. Hazel and I visited him on Thursday evening and he was pretty upbeat and joking with us. On Saturday evening we had a bit of a shock when we were told that he had collapsed again and had died almost instantly. It seems that, whilst in hospital, he was also diagnosed with a faulty heart muscle which would have required open heart surgery. As he needed to at least partly recover from his recent illness, he was told it would be a while before he would have the surgery. Sadly, he never got it and his heart problem appears to be what killed him. We are now waiting for the post mortem to be completed in order for a funeral to be planned. Makes you think!

Beginning to catch up a bit now...........

The hydrotherapy is beginning to bite, I am feeling the burn, even underwater, and muscles are relaxing and smoothing out. I am also having success with my walking correctly regime, that is also painful sometimes but I am about ready now to go back to my normal walking shoes again.

I'm confessin'.............................

Forgive me blogosphere, it's been a month since my last blog.

The truth is, I wasn't too well for quite a while and, with all the other problems around me, I just didn't have the energy to get stuck into this blog. However, most of my other concerns are now sorted to at least a manageable point and, after some treatment, I am now out of that painful place I was a month ago.

The family are all on the mend again and Fred has now left ICU and is taking notice again. Russ is better than he was and we are back to making plans for our break in September.

My treatment has been interesting, after a consultation at the Pain clinic, I have had traditional pain killers, a TENS unit, acupuncture and hydrotherapy. All seem to have worked well for me and I am amazed how much has been achieved without resorting to opiates. In addition, my job has finally settled a bit now with less of a backlog of email all the time. We still have to work hard at them to keep them down but at least we are now able to keep them down. 

I ATEN'T DED

As Granny Weatherwax is prone to declare.

I went on a holiday and then, when I returned, my back finally gave up. The first week I also had a lot of pain in my hip although that has mostly now gone. Two visits to the pain clinic have also improved me somewhat and I am aiming for a partial permanent return to work soon. Life over the past couple of weeks has been both painful and boring but is now beginning to even out again.