15 February 2012
I am a very happy man. today. Working through the night. good old Richard managed to recover the entire blog using a slightly different templates to the original but nevertheless it is still there. I am so relieved. For although I have the actual blog diary, as I said yesterday, the actual blog itself with all the additional anecdotes; pictures; videos and photos is a much more complete piece of work. This was all very alarming. It has prompted me to ask Richard, what I’ve been wanting to consider for some considerable time and that is if I could have a permanent copy made of the blog as it appears on the web, so that future generations of my family, at lease will be able to see it in all its glory, even if it is no longer active. The available on the web. Richard has an inkling that this might be possible and will revert to me shortly.
Having now ceased to take the additional cortisone that the good doctor had prescribed for night pains, my time in bed is not quite as good it was previously. One of the problems being that the weight of the bedclothes prevents me from moving. Accordingly, I thought that if I could get a frame or cradle, such as they use in burns units in hospital, then this would keep the heavy blankets off me and I would be able to move about, albeit only an inch or two at a time.
Having decided this was the way forward. I telephoned my MND team coordinator at Addenbrookes, thinking she could requisition a cradle from one of the other hospital clinics d however, this would have been far too simple!. I was advised to try the Red Cross. As Alice’s family have had a lot to do with this organisation. over the years – her paternal grandmother was head of the Welsh Red Cross for a while- and this was one of the charities to which’ my lovely’ makes regular modest donations, I thought they would be only too happy to help. I think they would have been had they had such a cradle, but apparently they had not seen one for some considerable time.
That left me with the alternative of going through my occupational therapist but then she would have to get it from the hospital so I decided to take the bull by the horns and contact the CEO of Addenbrookes Hospital direct. Working upwards from my MND unit through all the various layers of administration could become a nightmare, whereas one word from the CEO to the right department could solve my problem in a stroke. This indeed is what happened.
His PA put me in touch with a Community Services organisation, who, after a telephone call where I agreed to an assessment, thought that they would be in a position to provide what I need.
Today was the deadline for Greece to accept the terms laid down by the EU for the €130 billion emergency fund . they have agreed to provide, but only on the written understanding, signed by all parties, that these terms would be honoured in the future. As I understand it the Greek parliament has voted to accept the terms but that the government has yet to sign the necessary documentation so the possibility of a default is still very much in prospect.
As this entry is broadly about innovative thinking, I thought my readers might like to see how some bright spark made a dwelling out of a container box. Click here to see the finished result., it might surprise you .