13 October 2012

Today turned out to be a pretty good one. The new morning regime is settling in. Whereas previously I would almost be woken up by ‘my lovely’ at 6.30, now I wait for the carers to come in at 7.30. Previously ‘my lovely’ prior to the carers coming in, had exercised my legs; given me my tea; given me my morning pills; given me my breakfast and shaved me. Now nothing is done. The only problem is that I am tending to wake up pretty much as I have done these past few months, at 6.30, or before, and it is this hour or one and a half hours that I am having to fight off pain. So what blesses one does not always bless all.

The district nurse, dropped in unannounced early this morning and casually let drop that we have been approved for a further one hour a day. This is terrific news as by spreading it over the four visits it will take the pressure from the carers.

Two or three times a day ‘my lovely’ has been making a valiant attempt to record my blood pressure. It certainly has not been anywhere as near as high as it was in Papworth (200+/103). On Monday, when Dr West returns to retrieve her blood pressure monitor, she will decide, what, if anything, needs to be done about my raised blood pressure.

I believe one of the boxes that the team have to tick, in order to get this increase in time, is that I am most likely to die within three months! Of course, there is no contract between me and social services, who are responsible for granting this extra time, so whatever boxes have been ticked, they have not been sanctioned by me. So, if I do hang around a little more than three months there can be no redress expected from me!. It is reminiscent of the Devil in Gounod’s Faust, where I played the priest in perfectly standard performances for the public. But in order to understand what I’m talking about the reader would need to see that part of my autobiography, which covers my time at Sadlers Wells. We have yet to determine how to use this extra time, but my own personal preference would be at least to let the carers feed me at lunchtime and at 6 30. As they are already doing breakfast, this means that ‘my lovely’ will be relieved of all feeding duties. However, I have to persuade her of the benefit first.

What impresses me is that we were only talking about asking the district nurse to drop in to look at a persistent itchy spot on my back a couple of days ago, and again this morning and, like the genie from Aladdin’s lamp she appear all the smiling and charming, ready to grant our wishes..

12 October 2012

I’m glad to say that my voice has strengthened again, from a whisper to a normal level of speech. Well, that’s not quite true. It sounds like me but with a sore throat, as if I had been lecturing too hard or recovering from a nasty cold. It seemed ridiculous to me that with everything […]

11 October 2012

Craig and Paula P came on the second of the new regime and like the first morning call it went like clockwork and was accomplished in 55 minutes. I was pleased to be able to hand over an envelope containing cheques etc which I believe added up to something in the order of £200. Although […]

10 October 2012

Smiler left mid-morning after giving me a shave (a first for him) but an operation we still have to work into our daily routine. He confided in me, from the sanctity of the barber’s chair, that he had been advised not to go on holiday in April as my condition was worsening and his informant […]

9 October 2012

Another beautiful crisp, sunny autumn day. The sort of day I would relish, in the past, when I was playing golf. I must admit sitting in my lounge chair and looking out on to the garden, I do feel envious of my friends meeting up for the Tuesday geriatric golf. Whilst I would like to […]

8 October 2012

Another reasonable night taking on board the additional hour in bed. The next phase turned out to be slightly dramatic.’ My lovely’ having got me on the edge of the bed, with the two Ross nursing carers watching, then handed me over to them but in a slightly precarious position. I was taking all the […]

7 October 2012

As I sit here writing this entry, the good Dr Michael is already an home in Melbourne shooting out emails to all concerned. I must say that both Alice and I realise I’m very fortunate we are to have such a distinguished surgeon and physician, I’m sure that the people we have seen at Papworth, […]

6 October 2012

Today was the first of the new regime which ‘my lovely’ and I had worked out, resulting in something like an extra hour in bed for me. When this had been discussed previously I had rejected it on the grounds that if I woke at roughly the same time as earlier I could find myself […]

5 October 2012

I woke up this morning feeling fine. I had absorbed the additional hours sleep with no trouble at all. Alice popped in and around 5.00 a.m. to tell me that she had now taken over and having sorted out my various limbs, left me to my own devices, with the lifeline alarm system operating with […]

4 October 2012

4 October 2012 And so the day after. I had a good night’s sleep and we have slightly changed the routine. Instead of me being dragged to a sitting up position on the edge of the bed, at around 6.00 a.m., I now get an extra hour in bed. Over the last two mornings I […]