It has not been a good couple of days.
I definitely don’t need a knot in my hankie to help me remember…
My father, recently turned 97 and in a nursing home on lockdown in the UK, had the latest in a series of TIAs (Transient Ischaemic Attack, or mini-stroke). The nursing home, which has been wonderful throughout his stay there, picked up on it very quickly, and he was put on aspirin and monitored closely. Thankfully, it never developed into a full stroke, and he is now back to normal. But it was distressing, since visitors were not allowed (with the proviso that if things took a turn for the worse, my brother could visit in full PPE). A worrying time for everyone.
After tearing the ligaments in my ankle several days ago, now on the mend, I forgot my anti-migraine medication again and this time went into full-blown Creature of the Night mode. I get very, very light sensitive, the pain is relentless and nowhere is dark or quiet enough. All I lack is the long fingernails and fangs… The ‘migraine hangover’ is no great picnic either. The arthritis in my hands and hips has flared. The car battery won’t hold a charge, The poor old doggo has a stiff leg and hobbles around like a geriatric unless there’s a walkies or bone in the offing (in which case, the limp is forgotten and he bounds around like Zebedee). I could go on.
On the upside, the weather is cooler, our restrictions are slowly being lifted and it looks as if our July holiday up north is on again, the sun is shining, I managed to get a haircut, and Mouse has a new friend, a pretty greyhound girl called Lottie who lives a few streets away.
I can never feel miserable for too long 🙂
talltalesfromchiconia 
Well, thank goodness for that. As for all the rest of the last couple of days, I am so sorry to read. I guess we should all really enjoy our good days. Take good care of yourselves Down Under, Kate. And as our old favorite Sir Winston used to recommend we should do, let’s KBO ~ Keep Buggerin’ On. And as the Queen reminded us a little while ago, Never Give Up & Never Despair. And especially to your Father as well. I send him my best wishes on this 75th VE Day. Judith
Days like the last couple really teach us to count our blessings, I feel. Pa should feel proud of himself today, he contributed materially to VE day by being a participant in the Normandy landings on D-Day. He’s a tough old bugger and I suspect will live to surprise us all. Only 3 more years to his century.
I am glad things are slightly less difficult today.
Me too 🙂 We all need days of shadow to teach how bright the sun really is.
Sending healing hugs 🤗 to you & Mouse 😍 Things always get better & when we hold on to that it will get easier ♥️
Pa has pulled round amazingly, and his care is so good that I’m no longer worried. Migraines are hell on wheels, but they pass eventually; I’m just angry with myself for forgetting the beta-blockers. The arthritis… well, I don’t need to talk to you about that. Bring on the Aspirin & Arnica! As for Mouse, he’s being spoiled rotten, as usual.
I would love to spend a day in Mouse’s life 🤩
Hmmm, let’s see. Breakfast served at 6.00am, followed by an hour snoozing on Mum & Dad’s bed. Half an hour poking Mum with a cold wet nose to make her get up and go for a walk, often accompanied by savaging her slippers. Walkies, a different route each date, with plenty of sniffs. Home again, feet dried, treat delivered, time for another snooze for 3 or 4 hours… etc. Well, you get the picture.
Like I said I’d LOVE a day in the life of MOUSE 🤩😍🤩
😀
Sending gentle hugs. Glad things are looking up.
Hugs back atcha! Much better now, thank you so much. I just fell into a black hole for a couple of days there, but I’m back out, and back on form.
You’ve been on my mind lately. Now I know why. What a difficult time you’ve had. Glad your father is getting such attentive care. Hang in there, things will continue to improve. ❤
The needle has swung out of the red and back into the green 🙂 Mouse and I had a nice walk this morning; he could walk and I could tolerate the light. It’s perfect weather just now; cool, fresh, a light breeze and on the walk we took, a wonderful scent drifting down from the lemon myrtle trees along the path. I am restored. Thank you so much for your concern. xxx
Ooo, that does sound lovely. 🙂 We went for a drive around our valley this afternoon. Haven’t done that together in ages!
I think a lot of people are rediscovering simple and local pleasures these days!
Sending wishes that you are feeling much better now. So sorry about your dad. Always worrying in the best of times, made more difficult by these complicated ones. ❤️
I have emerged from my coffin and am once again pretending to be a normal human being! Pa is back on form, the medication has sorted it and you’d never know his face had gone droopy and his arm floppy. All is well, for now. Thank you so much for the good wishes 🙂
Glad all is better, at least for now.
oh “bugger” but then as I read your replies…”bugger may have shifted off a tad” and as this last comment suggests, you’ve back on deck. With some painful reminders that medications must be adhered to….
hope you feel up to a bit of fabric manipulation this coming week…
It was one thing after another, but the migraine was the cherry on the cake. I forgot to take everything that evening, but the beta blocker is the only one that lays me low if I forget it. I’m back on the needle and thread game, no worries there!
That most certainly sounds like a terrible week. I was glad to read your father is doing better. My dad suffered from those TIA’s – scary stuff, just the whole nursing home /COVID thing is serious enough. Here’s to the upwards swing and better days along with ‘way to go Mouse on the new friend’
The distance does make it hard to deal with. Whatever happens is in the hands of others, but I have great confidence in my brother and the nursing home to do what’s best. Mouse is just a little unsure about Miss Lottie; she’s quite a pushy young lady, and very vocal. Mouse, on the other hand, is Mr Laid-Back….
I’m pleased you and your dad are both out the other side. Having experienced in the past both dad health issues and migraines but thankfully not simultaneously. I hope Mouse is on the mend too. For Deez’s joint issues we give him 3 dried NZ mussels and a dessert spoon of dried chondroitin/shark cartilage daily, from Bobbie Dogs… and he’s improved.
Mouse is getting cartilage when we have it, but I should probably look at something to boost it. I’ll check out Bobbie Dogs.
I don’t think Bobbie Dogs put the chondroitin on their website, we usually buy it from them at the markets but last time because no markets because covid19 I called them and they mailed it to me.
His kibble contains a bit, but I’m not totally sure it’s his joints. From the way he’s walking it seems more likely it’s muscular. And when he gets interested in something, he forgets to limp at all!
Your Pa and you are made of strong stuff! Nothing keeps either of you down for long it seems. It is tough when so many things crowd in at once though. Hope you can have a more gentle couple of weeks now.
I’d happily take a more demanding week if I didn’t have to worry about Pa and if the back and migraine would hold off. I have tiling and waxing to do!
I’m glad to hear your Pa, you and Mouse have come through a nasty few days. Sounds as if Miss Lottie might be a bit too ‘up front’ for a laid back chap like Mouse but a mutual sniff always adds spice to a walk doesn’t it?
I think she’s nervous and makes lots of noise about it. She’s younger than him, was abandoned, and hasn’t been through the GAP socialisation program. I’m hoping she’ll settle if she sees Mouse being calm.
Dear Kate – it’s never easy when there is distance between us and loved ones – especially aged parents. And now wwe add into that the inability to travel to be with them. I’m glad your pa got good care and has pulled through. Not surprised everything went haywire healthwise for you -m stress will do that to us. Hard to be on top of anything much when dealing with pain. Sending warm wishes for a return to balance and better days. Aren’t our pups funny when they get sore legs. Siddy had one for a while, it took me a few days to figure out that which one was sore kept changing ….. 😀
I think equilibrium has been restored, except for poor old Mouse, who’s still hobbling. I purged the last of the pain by scrubbing the interior of the car today. I feel better, and the car looks great! The back is still sore, but that is always with me and I don’t look for it to improve.
I’m sure you would give anything to see your dad now, but at least he is in good, caring hands and your brother is close by — just trying to find some solace with this situation.
Migraines are horrendous things. Nothing to do but take the meds (if you have them!) and then endure. I hope the hangover has lifted by now. Thinking of you xxx
I do get to see him on twice-weekly 10-minute FaceTime sessions, so I know he’s OK, and the nursing home staff are clearly fond of him. My brother knows how he wants his end-of-life care to go, and we are all solidly behind it, so there are no mysteries there, just the natural course of events. But that doesn’t make it much easier.
I do have migraine meds, which work well to prevent it occurring so long as I remember to take them twice a day!
Sometimes life just stinks. Sorry to read about your Dad’s health and delighted to read about his recovery. Now wonder you forgot your meds, and ended up with a migraine, glad you didn’t grow fangs. Look after your self! Poor Mouse, he’s got a nasty limp, and requires more walkies! Having a haircut must have lifted your spirits so much, and the prospect of a holiday is something to really look forward. Keep smiling dear one and remember to take your pills.xx
Everything is manageable, so long as I keep taking the pills 🙂 It has been a horrible week, but it’s over now.
So glad to read that your father is recovering – and impressed by your optimistic tone in spite of the week you must have had 🌿
I’d say I had a glass half full attitude, except there are times I’m just grateful to have a glass at all 😉 All is well once again; even Mouse will recover in due course.
so glad to hear about your pa’s care home – so often care homes get a bad press but there are lots of good ones out there
This one is really outstanding, in my opinion, and much more on the ball and caring than other, more prestigious and expensive ones we tried before. But most importantly, he’s happy and settled there.
sending hugs
Thank you! Always appreciated…
I was really sorry to read about such a horrible few days and relieved that you are feeling brighter now. Orchid played pathetic on our walk this morning and ‘couldn’t go a step further’ until I turned round! Then the limp vanished until she remembered she was supposed to have it and did the occasional hop to keep me fooled! Here in Wales the only relaxing of lockdown is that we can go out for exercise more than once a day. It is hard to be away from loved ones, especially when they are ill and frail. Take care and ‘cadw ymlaen’ – keep going!
We have comparatively few cases, to the point where the government has been able to develop a ‘road map’ for winding down the restrictions. This weekend, we were allowed to travel further, visit family in limited numbers, etc. If the numbers continue to drop, it will roll out more and more, to the point where there will be a lot more normality by the end of July.
The funny thing about Mouse is that the limp completely disappears when he’s jumping about in excitement before meals or walkies, or on the actual walk itself. He’s such a princess!
Lucky you! There have been hardly any cases round here but the restrictions cover the whole of Wales with no variations between urban and rurl areas.
Sending big Yorkshire hugs! Sounds like a pretty crappy few days, glad everything seems to be improving. We’re still on a tight lockdown and we can’t even realistically see our big holiday in December happening 😦 Take care
I suppose I can see why, though… We’ve dropped below the case threshold our health advisors set, and the population has been pretty compliant, so we’re being rewarded! It was a crappy few days, but things are better now. I hope things start to improve for the UK too…
We are still in lockdown here…it’s called stay safe at home now, and you are allowed to drive a generous 10 miles, but no further. Masks are required (even some communities are giving fines and jail time if you don’t wear one). There are small pockets of people starting to protest. The real fear of businesses failing is occurring, with a huge drop in commodity prices for farmers and ranchers with large increases in prices to the consumer. It’s a hard sad time.
Speaking of which, I do believe you have had the worst hard time…I am thankful your Dad is improving or at least isn’t worse, and Mouse can forget his bum leg for a treat…that helps. As for you personally, I hope you are on the mend back to your jolly self by the time you read this.
Hugs to you
So far, the Australian population is still mostly very cooperative; I believe they realise that there’s no point in keeping a business afloat if the population at large is ravaged by the virus… And the cooperation has paid off, with fewer than 100 deaths in total nationally, and fewer than 7,000 cases in total nationally. 5 of the 7 States and Territories have had zero new cases for several days running, and only 16 new cases in the whole country in the last 24 hours. Figures like that justify an easing of restrictions.
Things are much better at my end, and I’m feeling OK again. Mouse is still limping, but there’s a strong suspicion this has something to do with the extra attention it generates…!
🙂 You go Mouse! Boomer
Ouch!! ;( That’s a lot in a short time and I’m so sorry to hear it. Mouse obviously is having sympathy pain for you. I’m glad he has found a friend. Good to hear the place where your dad is staying is on top of it. My MIL had many TIA’s before the final stroke.Then she was finally ready to make the exit she so desperately wanted. Her staff never noticed the TIA’s but I always did. They didn’t even notice the last large one. He’s very lucky.
We really appreciate how lucky we are with Pa’s care, and my brother has written them a glowing review. The care Pa receives is warm, efficient and empathic, and we couldn’t ask for better. As for Mouse, he’s still hobbling, but mostly, I suspect, where I can see him. I caught him playing with a bone in the back yard with no sign of a limp as he pranced, zoomed and turned in mad circles!
Oh dear! Glad erverythings back to normal. Clever little Mouse 😉
He has me wrapped around his paw… I can refuse him nothing!
Oh gawd, misery comes in clumps doesn’t it? When such clumps happen in my life, I wonder how much of it spirals on itself. Perhaps a concern or worry manifests physically, and then things break or a companion animal isn’t well, as if the center isn’t holding. Interesting that Mouse is out in the yard zipping around without a care. Maybe he’s healed quickly or maybe he senses you are better or maybe all of this is part of the Greater Mystery just beyond understanding.
I call it the Crap Vortex theory. If you have one particularly distressing nugget of misery swirling around, it will attract other lumps to circulate around it, and smaller lumps which would only be irritants or briefly annoying in normal circumstances become red hot foci of worry and fear, all swirling around in a great big hot mess. So, Mouse’s few days of dead lameness resulted in lots of attention and worry about him, he learned the benefits and played it up far longer than it actually lasted. He’s fine now! The ankle is mending. The migraine is past, Pa is his (literally) old self again. What was all that about, anyway?
Oh dear, you’re really going through the mill. All the best for your Dad’s recovery, and I hope you’re back enjoying daytime hours by now. Other than a minor roof problem, we’re still tucked up cosy in iso….By the time we’re allowed out it’ll be hibernation season here anyway! Hoping we’ll be let out fully by Xmas, I need a tropical holiday…. Take care all!
Hey Cas, good to hear you’re all fine. It’s cooling down beautifully now so walking doggo is a pleasure and licking the garden into shape is much more enjoyable! Hope you’re able to come north for Christmas… we’re hoping travel restrictions will relax enough for us to take a scheduled break in Cairns in July.
I am sorry to learn about your father. It’s hard to watch our parents age. My own mother lives with us (she’s 88) and I have seen signs this past year of memory loss, confusion… It’s scary. I don’t want to be the ‘old guard’ generation of the family– but I guess my sisters and I are now ‘it.’
Pa was made of steel until he got to about 90, and after that his health began to deteriorate, he had mini strokes, lost his memory, etc. We are so happy that he’s being so well cared for. I’m still wondering when I’ll ‘click over’ and my brain will begin to accept that I’m ‘the older generation’!
I had been wondering about your dad, with his recent homes including hard-hit Spain and the UK. Thanks for the update. I hope he stays well now.
He’s being incredibly well cared-for and the staff are wonderfully kind to him. It’s just hard being so far away… And yes, I’m eternally grateful he’s away from Spain and the situation there; I don’t think he’d have survived the virus.
I wonder how much different the UK is from Spain now, but I have all my fingers and toes crossed for him. My husband’s first father-in-law is in a nursing home in Canada that has had cases. It seems lessons have been learned and many such organisations are better able control the spread if it gets in.
So far, the precautions seem to be working, and there have been no cases. I spoke to him again yesterday, and he’s looking pretty fit and well for 97 not out!
I hope you are all feeling better now! God Bless You ❤
I am better, the dog is better, and most important of all, my father is better 🙂 Thank you very much ❤