12 April 2012
I received an e-mail, yesterday afternoon from Doctor Margaret Saunders, who runs the Arthur Rank hospice. She was the person who made the original consultation with the pain doctor, Mark Abrahams from Addenbrookes, so she had a vested interest in trying to find a solution. She has discussed this with Joanna Sassons, my MND coordinator at Addenbrookes, and they will try to come up with some alternative painkiller.
We have been attempting for some weeks to change our commode for what I call a male model. Instead of just a small round hole in the seat it has one which is keyhole shaped. I needn’t go into details but this is clearly more satisfactory from a man’s point of view. Alice was running out of patience and telephoned our OT yesterday and was astonished to be told that there had been some delay as it is being specially made. I really cannot believe this is as it must be a very normal piece of equipment used hundreds of times every day in every hospital in the land. In they don’t produce one soon I will take the matter up myself.
We have two hoists, one called a standing hoist and the other which uses a sling. So far we have managed perfectly well on the standing hoist but as my legs and become weaker and weaker I find myself hanging from my arms which themselves are weak and, as a result, find myself slumping dangerously on this hoist with my face close to the metal crossbar. I know that the time is near when we will have to use the sling hoist. The only problem with that being that you must have two carers just to get you into the sling and then to lower you into your chair or bed. I have resisted this so far because acknowledging that I require the sling hoist is just another nail in my coffin. When we moved over to the sling hoist it will need a review of our continuing care time to cover the second carer. However, I gather that is a formality once you are in the scheme.
Doreen ‘ the secretary’ came in to do some filing although as I discard almost everything that comes into the post these days I cannot imagine what it is she finds to file. Although to be fair she also checks my bank statements and writes out cheques for my bills etc.
As my diaphragm gets weaker and I cannot project my voice as easily from there, it has become very squeaky and high pitched and as a result I make more mistakes in my dictation. Dragon is still pretty good at recognising the changes in my annunciation, as the more I use it the more it learns the new way I say things.
The situation in Syria has become so urgent now that the United Nations are taking an interest and insisted on a cessation of hostilities by today. Presumably, if President Assad fails to comply the UN will have to consider sending in NATO troops to prevent further massacring of the opposition. Heaven knows how many Syrians have died so far in opposition to this tyrant but whatever happens I cannot see that Assad can continue as dictator.
I have been dying to use this following video clip, entitled why you do not want to marry an Italian. Click here to see why!