17 March 2012
There were two issues in articles in The Times over the last couple of days that ‘my lovely’ cut out for me to read , as they are both matters about which we both have strong views.
The first concerned experimenting on animals, testing out new drugs etc in the interest of research. It is well known that primates, gorillas, monkeys etc,. share 98% of DNA with humans and therefore, are prima facie ideal guinea pigs for general research on the effects of humans. This not only includes testing drugs but also clinical procedures beneficial to humans. In his book The Cost and Benefits of Animal Experiments, Andrew Night an eminent bioethicist and veterinarian, points out that only 2 out of 20 reviews concluded that using animals for clinical procedures had been beneficial to humans and even then one of these was controversial. With the amount of shared DNA, between humans and primates, it would be surprising, if given the millions of tests carried out on primates had not correctly predicted the human response but as the author of this book says ‘it is clear that animal research is highly inefficient means of attempting to advance human health care’.
Using animals for research has been a battle fought between the protesters and researchers for many years. The Humane Society International, is working with expert from academia and industry within the EU, to find animal alternatives for testing and research. Quite apart from the medical procedures carried out on these animals when they reached the laboratories there is the cruelty aspect of catching them and transporting them cramped up in cargo crates to the various laboratories.
It is common knowledge that such experiments are not restricted to primates, dogs and cats and rabbits are also used. These animals are subjected to countless invasive procedures, some of which are undoubtedly frightening and very painful. Here, Alice and I are firmly on the side of the protesters.
I like so many other sufferers from MND; Parkinson’s diseases; cancer; multiple sclerosis and similar other terminal illness are naturally more interested in finding a cure than the average man in the street but, I would suggest, that only if it can be shown that using animals in their research can only be done without submitting those animals to pain and suffering and what’s more the advantage of using such animals would have to be significantly higher than other alternatives.
The pro-lobby for such experiments claim that many of these animals lack intelligence language or consciousness but experiments have shown that many of these animal species do indeed suffer from emotion and sensitivity.
In her article in last Saturday’s Times, Jane Goodall pointed out, most notably during the Nazi carer in Europe, the large number of potentially harmful experiments carried out on non-consenting humans but she questions whether this is really so different when we do this to other animals. Such experiments are morally and ethically unacceptable. Fortunately we are currently going through a transition and discovering ways of improving medical research that do not involve experimenting on animals. What attracted me to read this article in the first place was the title, writ large across five columns’ So much animal pain, so little human gain’, this is a matter on which ‘my lovely’ and I both feel passionately about and would urge other people who feel the same way to peaceably support those organisations who are against such animal testing.
The other issue that ‘my lovely’ and I feel strongly about, was also the subject of an article in The Times by William Rees-Mogg was on the subject of traditional marriage for the sake of children. This came about because our Prime Minister has asked for a period of consultation: on gay marriages and whether or not civil partnerships should be defined for legal purposes as ‘marriages. Personally I have no strong feelings about civil partnerships between two devoted human beings of the same sex with the concomitant advantages of tax and inheritance which might go with them. My objection, however, is to calling these civil partnerships marriage, which they clearly are not, as the Bible says marriage is convened for the purpose of procreation, which, apart from the incomprehensibly weird transvestite ‘males’ who get pregnant, is a physical impossibility, so why the need to call this marriage?
The main thrust of Rees-Mogg’s article concerns words. He says’ that words are immensely important to the development of religious beliefs’. The author had attended a service in the Farm Street Church where a pastoral letter was read out to the congregation explaining the Roman Catholic Church’s position on marriage which had been criticised as unfair in terms of implied discrimination against gay people. The Archbishop of Southwark, one of the participants in the discussion, in explaining his view of the pastoral letter said that “a change in the law (changing the legal definition of marriage) would gradually and inevitably transform societies understanding of the purpose of marriage. There will be no recognition of the complementary of male and female or that marriage is intended for the protection and education of children”
Rees-Mogg himself has no objection to those involved in a civil partnership calling it “marriage” but pointed out that last week he heard the strongest argument for traditional marriage from any government. Ian Duncan Smith, published a strategy on social justice that takes the view that children are indeed best reared in a stable marriage. I certainly would not disagree with that. The author says that the problem comes down to the best way to strengthen the role of marriage in our culture.
It is widely felt to be under attack as is religion in general, he then alluded to the issue of the woman banned from wearing a cross át work and the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury has refused to support the wearing of a cross as a declaration of Christianity. Personally I find the Archbishop’s attitude incomprehensible as the head of the Christian church, in a Christian country.
Frankly I am disgusted with this radical approach and indeed a lack of our Prime Minister who, not so long ago is reputed to have ,said that this was not a Christian country but a multi-cultural one. We have seen, over the past few years, the banning of the short Christian service at the beginning of each school day and some schools going so far as to ban reference to Christmas per se for fear of giving offence to the 30 or 40 children in the school who come from different religious backgrounds. I have lived in four different countries and, wherever I was I assiduously observed their religious rules. removing my shoes, for example, before entering into their temples. Why on earth then can we not say quite clearly that this is a Christian country and our rules have to be observed, in much the same way as their rules are in other countries. People are free to worship as they please but accepting the fact that they do so in a Christian country. With people such as the Archbishop and Iain Duncan Smith having such strong voices against such observations, we have little hope in enforcing them. With this sort of attitude and the numbers of other religious sects growing steadily year by year then are we not possibly building up the situation where one day one or other of these sects. challenges our right to enforce Christian views and attempts to impose their own, such as the introduction of sharia law as has already been attempted.
Rees Mogg goes on to say that ‘same-sex ‘marriages’ have been adopted throughout most of Western Europe, but the attitude of church is that the welfare of children matters most, and that changing the defiition of marriage would be unhelpful for children. Whatever else the archbishop’s attitude may involve, it puts the interest of children first.’ Not wanting the doctrine of Christian churches to be progressively undermined by aggressive liberalism most traditional Christians, both Anglican and Catholic, oppose renaming marriage’ . Can it be, as the author suggests, ‘that Christian belief is under attack by people who wish to exploit the American doctrine of separation of Church and State to undermine the English Christian churches. They fear each further change will weaken Christian belief. They would rather wait and see if civil partnerships proved as stable as existing partnerships before they pass further legislation. They do not want the social commitment of the Christian churches reduced’. Rees Mogg concludes that ‘they may be wrong but their anxiety about progressive damage to religious faiths seems only too true of the churches in England.’
When I started to read this article under the bold heading Protect traditional marriage for children’s sake. I thought it was going to be about children needing a father and a mother and not two parents of the same sex, which to my mind is unnatural. I have no objection whatsoever for two persons of the same sex forming a loving, long-term relationship but I cannot accept that such a couple are ideal for adopting children and bringing them up to believe in traditional values. For this reason I am extremely disappointed in the Archbishop of Canterbury and his very liberal approach to this topic.
Good luck, Magdalene College, (my son’s Alma Mater) Cambridge, where I gather the Archbishop has recently agreed to become Master
Slightly, tongue in cheek, I invite you to click here, to see how important is the meaning of a word
16 March 2012
Another milestone day. Our
49th wedding anniversary.
I remember the day well.
I have arrived back, on Friday evening, from a three-week ski holiday in Zermatt and St Moritz, played squash on Saturday morning and got married at 2.00 at Holy Trinity Brompton-but that’s another story, other than to say that the best place for any prospective bridegroom is to keep out of the way while the girls get into a flap making a last-minute arrangements
Some time ago, having no idea how long I had left, I set myself a series of targets, my birthday; Christmas; our wedding anniversary and so on. Well here’s another one. The ultimate goal will be the next wedding anniversary, the big five O.
We don’t make a big deal about swapping presents as anything we really need we can buy for ourselves and I am in no position to shop around to buy’ my lovely, a surprise present. Usually I end up by giving her something from her box of antiques she has purchased during the year to give as presents to family and friends. There is usually something in there that she would really love to keep herself which I wrote then pay for and tuck it away. Then I won’t get it wrapped and given to her on the appropriate day. It does seem rather pathetic, particularly when it comes to the greetings card but really there is no other way unless one of the children happens to be around at the time and can give me a hand. Fortunately I do have a little hoard of greetings cards for all occasions which have been bought by me so at least that is something she has not seen before. When it comes to inscribing some loving words, if one of the children is not around to do it for me, it seems awful but I have to dictate them to Alice. But there you are, needs must, when the devil drives. Better that way than not bothering to give each other presents on anniversaries and Christmas. There’s always Christian Doir to fall back on in emergencies!
This year I have given to ‘my lovely’ a charming little multi-coloured enamel bird. She bought one for daughter Chloe, some time ago and admired it so much that she thought she would like to keep it, so it became obvious present to buy and spirit away. For the man who has everything ‘my lovely’ cleverly bought me a fine cashmere blanket which is as light as a feather which I shall be able to use on my bed in the summer, Weight being something we try to avoid, as a turning in bed becomes more difficult the heavier the bedclothes; a. box of scrummy chocolates; and, oh yes she insisted I opened a bottle of champagne which, as she does not drink herself, I had to enjoy on my own.
No doubt if I do manage to reach our golden wedding anniversary, which seems an awful long way off at the moment, I will shall set further targets at the time, but nothing too ambitious. What have we got in between?’ Well there’s ‘my lovely’s’ birthday on May 21; various matches at Lord’s starting with 18 May and finishing on my birthday, 18th of August. Following that we have Christmas and then the final few weeks to 16 March 2013. In addition to these there will be the various distractions of the Olympic Games and our Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, plus half a dozen or so lunches already booked at, The Cricketers, so it’s going to be quite an interesting year.
My friend Paul, the computer’, came round for a couple of hours this afternoon and we are now working on to new projects one to establish some dedicated Voice Commands for the 7000 tracks in my music collection and something which Paul is quite confident he can do with the minimum of trouble and expense and that is linking my laptop to our television set so that in the evenings, if there is nothing better to watch, I can put on the odd film for ‘my lovely’. Or even use ‘catch up’ to show her something she would like to watched but didn’t because it went over our bedtime call from my carers. Paul is absolutely brilliant the way he comes up with ways of resolving any such problems and seems to be able to cobble together relatively inexpensive electronic items to achieve his objective I am so lucky to have such a good knowledgeable friend.
Much as I love the girls, there are some you can’t possibly please what ever innocent pastime you might take up also click here for a typical example, wife who even objected to her husband going fishing. How unreasonable can you get !
15 March 2012
Another absolutely beautiful ‘summer’s day. When the temperature in the mid teens and an almost clear blue sky, it was a repeat of yesterday’s weather when I really should have gone to the golf club left it too late to book with Ollie’s. Wheelchair Friendly Taxi Service.
I’ve had a couple of calls now to tell me that my blog is up and running again with no problems. Well, I knew that but it seems that some servers experience problems of their own, for example, Talk Talk, but that seems to have sorted itself out and the blog is getting through all right.
Another problem I had was with Dragon speech data. I have no idea how many of my readers use voice activation to operate their laptops. Obviously this is only of real interest to those, like me, who have lost the use of their hands, but I would also recommended to any reader who cannot type proficiently and has to pick out letter by letter. I’ve now been using the Dragon Preferred Naturally programme since it came out 20 odd years ago and although I’m having a long-running problem with the senior technicians in the UK over one particular issue, I would still have no hesitation in thoroughly recommending this programme.
Most of my friends, to whom I demonstrate this, are absolutely amazed at seeing the words spraying across the screen at the normal speed in which I speak. Provided I do not slur or stumble on a word the result is 100% correct. The programmer is not expensive and can be trained in 10 min or so. In addition, they do have a helpline with some very nice courteous technicians at the other end. This is supposed to be free. It is correct to say that the advice is free but what they omit to say is that the telephone call is not. In fact it is at a premium rate of 6 p per minute. No big deal unless you are on for one and a half hour session as I have been on a number of occasions, or you have over 50 calls trying to resolve a problem!. Regular readers will recall that I got so frustrated in the end that I even raised the matter with the trading standards office and may promised to draw it to the attention a of Nuance, Dragon’s Parent Company , and get them to make it clear that the caller is paying for the telephone call at a premium rate according to the officer I spoke to, Nuance agreed that they would take steps to amend its automated message. That was a couple of months ago and nothing has happened.
The reason I mention this is that my latest problem was over speech data collection. I have the latest version of Dragon, 11.5, and apparently it stores up to your speech and will play in back to you any time you are uncertain as to what you said, if an error appears in the written word on the screen. I thought there would be some way I could switch this off altogether as is something I do not use but apparently all you can do is to allocate a little more space to prevent a pop-up box appearing every minute or two telling you that your data box is full.
I hope I have overcome the problem by going into Tools; Options and then increased the space on the hard disk, specifically allocated for this purpose, from 100 MB to 1000 MB, bearing in mind that when I finish the session and close down this box is emptied. As I said I had no idea how many of my readers use voice activation so it would be very helpful to me if you were to let me know.
Apologies to all those of you doing this gobbledygook, the working of Dragon mean absolutely nothing to hear) If it is an insignificant number of the 3000 or so hits I get each day then I will not waste my time, or the readers. In dealing with any problems which might occur with that programme.
Having got through the day without mishap, I could scarcely believe my eyes when checking in the early evening I found that my site had being hacked into yet again. I got onto my Webmaster, Richard Morris, who had been made aware of this earlier in the day and spent some hours eliminating this virus. Apparently in effect all of his programmes from the same domain name place. From this I can ascertain whether the source of the trouble with my program will whether I merely scooped up with the others, one which contains a virus. Anyway, I can only hope that Richard has a matter in hand and will try to avoid it happening again.
Alice had two friends for morning coffee, invited for 11 o’clock, knowing that they will have to go at midday when the carers come in. Both Beatrice Goldie and Frances (Archer as was)
I have known for a very long time so it was quite fun chatting to them. Interestingly enough like so many people in their 70s, they both declared an interest in having and operating their own laptop but thought the whole thing was beyond them. I tried to convince really was pretty simple educated step-by-step and I was sure that I could at least get onto e-mailing and surfing the net and quickly, after which and then got confidence in these two areas they would be able to expand the scope of what they use the laptop for, for themselves. However, I don’t believe I convinced either of them and they would continue to miss out on one of the great diversions for the elderly.
Went to bed at 9.30 this evening as Ross Nursing seem to me short of staff, due to illness, and we agreed to a change for a night or two whilst they sought themselves out.
At the problem with Dragon over the last six or seven months may well be attributed to a misunderstanding as the root of the problem, click here, to see how embarrassing miscommunication can be
14 March 2012
Yesterday was meant to be my second visit this year to join the geriatrics on the Tuesday golf day and have lunch at the club. The weather forecast was for a sunny day with a temperature of around 15°. In the event, having spoken to Ollie’s wife Debbie neither of us were happy with the weather forecast so I cancelled it. Just as well I did as it turned out to be a miserable overcast day. Well, there’s always next week and with any luck from now on with the weather improving week by week I should be able to get back into my weekly visit to the golf club.
I hate whingeing on about my personal complaints but do so in the hope that any other patients suffering from the same symptoms will either benefit from my experience or vice versa.
Anyway the point of mentioning this was that I had another miserable night with a fair amount of pain in my knees, my left hip and left shoulder. As in the past the same pain has been in the other hip and shoulder I cannot help feeling that it is a problem with my joints which surely cannot be unique to me and must have commonly exhibited itself in other MND patients. I will certainly raises again and my next assessment.
While I’m having a good moan I may as well mention two other matters. The first involves a sebaceous cyst on my right shoulder. I complained about this, to the local GP, three or four weeks ago. I was given some antibiotic which appear to have had no effect in the meantime this cyst appeared to be going septic and we’ve been trying out for 10 days or so to get the Dr to come and deal with it but without success. Now Alice is on the war path and is determined to get someone here today or tomorrow who can take some positive action. I have had these sebaceous cysts before, usually on my back, and unless they are regularly squeezed to expel the trapped oil, they usually grow too big and the only solution then is to cut them out.
The other problem I have, which will resonate with most MND patients, is the pressure cushion on my NHS lounger chair. The one I have at present is not too bad except for the last couple of hours of the day by which time, sitting on two bones, as I do, it becomes very uncomfortable. I have asked my occupational therapist, for at least a month now, to provide me with something better , for example, something like Roho cushion I have on my wheelchair.
Talking of sharing experiences when the ‘miracle’ of my Artificial Urinary Sphincter occurred (see yesterday’s entry) I contacted the college (or society) of urologists offering to submit a short paper on my experience which I thought would be of great interest to them. My thinking went this way. If one could have the valve partially open by accident then would it not be possible to fix it in that position deliberately and thus fit the device to patients who were incontinent. What a relief it would be to them no longer having to wear an external leg bag but none of them seemed at all interested but were unable to offer me any reasonable explanation, why no. I would have thought it was a wonderful option to offer elderly people who were becoming incontinent. I even tried the American Institute of urologists that met and blank wall the too.
This afternoon, presumably after analysis early-morning phone call, Dr Lord appeared with a practice nurse and proceeded to cut into the sebaceous cyst and evacuate all that had accumulated in it by squeezing. It was not a very comfortable experience but hopefully that will cure the problem although, my experience in the past has been the only way to get live such a large cyst is to literally cut out the flesh. After she had finished the Dr dressed the wound and said it should be kept dry for five days and that the district nurse would drop in next Monday to have a look at it.
Do you remember, as a child, you adding being particularly naughty and wanting to get back into your parents good books by doing something that was show them that you are contrite
I certainly remember the odd occasion when I have down some job rather like tidying my room, wash ing the car or done something quite out of the ordinary for me ,in the hope that I will be forgiven my previous transgression. Click here to see an example of this entitled The Perfect Daughter.
13 March 2012
I had a bit of a shock yesterday when I thought that my artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) had finally gone wrong. I should perhaps explain, for those readers who were not with me in the earlier days when I recounted the history behind the AUS.
What happened is this. In 2000 I misdiagnosed with prostate cancer. I discussed the various treatments with my urologist and we agreed on a radical prostatectomy operation. Following this operation I was almost 100% incontinent but by dint of daily exercises I managed, over several months, to get this back to 95% continent and was able to dispense with the horrible leg bags (and bed bags) which I had to have strapped to me to collect my urine through a catheter inserted in my willy. My urologist was so pleased with me that he suggested that we with one more operation he could probably clear up the last 5%. Accordingly I submitted myself to what he described as a bio plastique insert to the urinary sphincter.
To cut a long story short, that operation did not work and, in fact, had the adverse effect and I was once more 100% incontinent. I was referred to an urologist in Harley Street who in turn referred me to Prof Mundy, at London Bridge Hospital, who some weeks later, carried out an operation to insert an AUS. Mundy was acknowledged as one of the leading surgeons who carried out this particular operation and, in my case, it went without mishap. The resultant effects was that I no longer had any external devices but could pee, ostensibly like everyone else, except in my case it meant grasping a small pump in my scrotum and with the other hand squeezing the end of it to allow the bladder to be evacuated. It was a very clever device that as I peed, a little reservoir filled up and when the bladder was empty would shut off the flow down the urethra.
This worked wonderfully well for several months and I felt like normal person again. That is until I managed somehow to damage this piece of equipment. It came about because pre-empting the day when my hands would not allow me to operate it, I designed a battery driven device, strapped onto my thigh, that would do the squeezing for me. I spent the day with technicians at Addenbrookes Hospital trying various alternatives and I believe it was during one of these sessions that I knocked out this equipment..
When I got home the evening after spending the day at Addenbrookes I told ‘my lovely’ that I thought I had ruined the device and now it was permanently open, in which case it would have the same affect as me being 100% incontinent. As a precaution that night I slept in a sort of nappy for adults, having protected the bedding by placing a rubber sheet under the cotton one.
I was amazed the following morning to discover that I was completely dry and was able to empty my bladder like any other man but as a precaution I wore a pad all day expecting to leak but to my delight I got through that day, and the following night, perfectly dry. I have been so ever since and been able to pee as if I had nothing wrong with me. It has changed my life.
In the post-mortem which followed the consensus of opinion was that I had somehow managed to jam open the valve, which allowed the flow from the bladder, you
That must have been at least three/four years ago and I have come to take it for granted but live with the fear in the background that one day the valve would move either to the completely shut position, or completely open. Either way with a miserable prognosis. If it was completely shut it would not be until my bladder was full that I would realise that it was no longer working and would have to be rushed to hospital to have a catheter inserted in order to empty the bladder. From then on, as it would still be impossible for me to operate the device myself I would need someone to help me every time I needed to have a pee – and I cannot imagine anyone else being able (all willing!) to grasp my scrotum and operate the pump for me, after all there is a limit to friendship! alternatively to revert to leg bags. If it was completely open it would mean back to a catheter and leg bags . It is bad enough as it is relying on others to help me without adding the horror of leg and bed bags..
Back to the fright I had yesterday. My carers come in at midday and six o’clock. As I can only last those six hours without a pee, with some discomfort, ‘my lovely’ has always insisted that I empty my bladder, as best I can, around four o’clock. Yesterday, although I felt the urgency, when it came to it, I sat with the bottle in place for at least 15 min, without being able to pass a single drop of urine. I panicked somewhat, convinced that the dreaded day had come at last when the device would have moved from its half open stuck position. In the event, I’m happy to say, that when the six o’clock nurse arrived, I peed as normal. So the panic was over but the fear always remains.
I only recount this rather personal experience in case there are other patients out there with an AUS and no use of their hands. Of course, it’s quite possible, that I’m the only one!
The good Dr arrived back in Australia to be met by son Tom, who was in the best of spirits, so we can only hope that it was a scare that came to nothing, although it is possible, that the results of various tests and still not come through.
Click here to see some repartee worthy of and Australian Oscar Wilde. Frankly, I cannot recall having met anyone male-female, during my five years there then demonstrated such wit.
12 March 2012
Another broken night with a painful foot. I couldn’t say exactly where the pain was coming from but it was fairly excruciating at times, although once I was up and dressed it was fine, no further pain.. I think the medical profession are just as foxed as I am as to the cause but I will raise it once more with the pain consultant at Addenbrookes when I next see him.
In a landmark decision, reported yesterday, the High Court decided a patient suffering from ‘locked in syndrome’ who wants the ‘right to die’ may have a full hearing, where medical evidence can be heard.
Tony Nicholson, who is paralysed, and wants a Dr to be able to lawfully end his life, will now be able to proceed to have his case heard. This 58-year-old man from Wiltshire suffers from what is known as ‘locked in syndrome’ following a stroke in 2005, and is unable to carry out his own suicide.,
He has been seeking legal protection for any Dr who helps him to end his life. The Ministry of Justice argued that making such a ruling would change the murder laws
Following the judges ruling, that his case can proceed, Mr Nicholson’s wife Jane, read out a statement from her husband on a BBC radio programme. It said
“I’m delighted that the issues surrounding assisted dying are to be aired in court. Politicians and others can hardly complain with the courts providing a forum for debate if the politicians continue to ignore one of the most important topics facing our society today. It’s no longer acceptable for the 21st-century medicine to be governed by the 20th century attitudes to death”.
Mr Nicholson who communicates through the use of an electronic board or special computer, said before the ruling that his life was “dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable” he went on to say that “he just wants to know that, when the time comes, he has away out”.
(Locked in syndrome is a condition in which the patient is mute and totally paralysed except for eye movements but remains conscious.) This condition is something that I have long since feared might happen to me, i.e.. having a massive stroke and being left ‘locked in’, totally incapable of doing anything for myself but with my brain as sharp as ever, screaming to get out! Mr Nicholson says that if he cannot be handed the necessary liquid , without risking action against the person does , then is any option is to starve himself today , which apparently is not a nice way to go
Mr Nicholson claims that to deny him the right to choose is an infringement of his human rights under the Human Rights Act which protect his right to live and therefore, by implication, the right to choose when to die.
All this must strike a chord for those patients with MND. We all have a pretty good idea how we will end up, in effect, physically paralysed, maybe breathing through a tube in the neck (a tracheotomy) and fed through a pipe in the stomach. With differently in swallowing and bringing the patient’s speech becomes almost indecipherable except for his loved ones who care for him every day. Although this is not strictly’ locked in syndrome’ the endgame is not so very different. It is for that reason that the outcome of this case may well have implications for MND patients.
Jane ‘the sheep’ came to babysit me for the early part of the afternoon and then Paul’ the computer’ turned up to check on the menu system is running. I had to admit the Dragon was going pretty well certainly 100% better than it was in its final state on the last laptop. There are still some minor problems with the commands and a correction box with which I can certainly live in the Dragon people themselves cannot come up with a solution.
I heard from Richard yesterday, by e-mail, that he has sorted out the problem Google and hopefully my blog is up and running normally. He has also asked Google to remove they warning on each of the sites and hopes this will be achieved shortly. The only outcome for me is that I might me slightly restricted on what videos I can include at the end of each entry but this is a small price to pay for a more secure site.
I have just checked my sights on Google and I’m pleased to say that the warning that’ this site may contain a virus’, has now been removed.
Finally, to show that we do not take ourselves too seriously, click here to see a little joke entitled Paddy died.
11 March 2012
The good Dr Michael is now well on the way back to Australia but he is a worried man and certainly came see the results of the tests carried out on son Tom who was recently diagnosed recently was multiple myeloma (see 7 March entry). I must admit that I also am very interested in the results of these tests as Tom is a dear boy, not yet 50, and I’ve got to know him over the years and grown fond of him.
On the home front our government are preparing to enact legislation which will allow mixed race adoption which to date has been illegal. We have the craziest situation in this country at present with thousands of young couples willing and able to adopt a small child, or baby and have been unable to do so because they were not the same ethnic group as a child. In today’s society a coloured child in a white family, or vice versa, does not cause a stir than it once might have done. Since we have become more multicultural there have inevitably been a lot of mixed marriages where the resultant children bear the signs.
Under the current legislation when such couples break up or are unable to support these children, or they have been removed for other reasons, it has been impossible for a white couple to adopt them. Fortunately that now appears to be changing and bringing some sense into the adoption laws.
On the international front, the problems over a possible Greek default on payment of their debts, seem to have subsided pro tem. As a result the stock markets around the world have virtually recovered all of their losses which occurred when the possible default was first mentioned. I still think we are in for a bumpy ride for the rest of this year so we’ll just hang on and hope for the best. In any event our state pensions, which include me and my darling wife, will enjoy’ a leap’ of £5 a week, from next April. As we are both pensioners this generous increase, after tax, will be sufficient to pay for one credit crunch lunch at The Cricketers next door, so we are not getting too excited about the prospect.
Reverting to the international news, England had a magnificent win over France in the Six Nations Rugby International 24-22. It was a fine fast moving game that England well-deserved to win.
‘ My lovely’ and I had a quiet day catching up on things that had accumulated in her absence.
Today’s joke illustrates a problem that all of us with week hands and arms might face from time to time. Even If we have hopefully we have learned to laugh at ourselves Click here to see if you have ever been in this position and if not then thank your lucky stars!
10 March 2012
The good Dr Michael left early this morning to meet his ex-wife Elizabeth at Stansted airport. They were both going on to London where Mick was seeing Elizabeth off on the Eurostar to Paris before catching his own plane back to Australia.
I heard from three of my regular readers yesterday morning that a warning has appeared on my site to the effect that it might be infected with virus..
This is a repeat of what happened three days ago .Fortunately none of them had the button to remove the virus which would have had the effect of letting me hack into their computer. Instead, they sensibly switched off their computer and informed me. The first time this had happened two or three weeks ago I had contacted my Webmaster, Richard Morris and he had dealt with it, I thought once and for all, but it seems that the same people had a second attempt. Richard is now once more on the case and when he gets back to the office on Monday morning will sort out the problem and hopefully get Google to remove the warnings from all references to my site. The downside is that Richard will have to impose some tighter virus proof walls on my side which will restrict me from video is and U tube extracts which have proved to be very fine and popular in the past. I will still be able to add jokes and photographs. It is a great pity that we are now limited in the material I can add to the site, merely as a precautionary tactic, but better safe than sorry. I do hope that none of my readers were inconvenienced too much by this unfortunate episode. Sadly I have probably lost several hundred or even thousands of my regular readers who quite reasonably did not wish to run the risk of picking up a virus from my site but I am assured that once Richard has dealt with it, again, on Monday morning, there should be no longer a threat.
Gone then are the days of the U Tube or other amusing items. Instead the readers will have to put up with the jokes and photographs. I suppose we have been lucky so far as we have a feast of good material already on the blog.
9 March 2012
Had a reasonable night so far as the pain is concerned but had problems with the respirator. For some reason, which we couldn’t fathom out, the alarm kept going off on the machine, sometimes for 30 seconds or so. That would normally only happen if the was a severe leak between the machine and the patient’s mask . I had reverted to the ‘nose only’ mask and at one stage wondered whether I would be able to breathe properly through it as I had a snuffly nurse which and not yet turned into a full-blown cold. However, I stuck to my guns and we got through the night with the good Dr Michael coming down two or three times, roughly the same times as’ my lovely’. During the day we switched the respirator machines as we had a spare one in the study for emergencies. As I’m going to Papworth within the next couple of weeks I will take both machines with me and have them checked over.
The big excitement of the day was lunch at The Cricketers with Dr. Michael and my good son, Smiler, who come down especially to meet the Dr. and show his gratitude for the kindness in relieving Alice from time to time. Although they had met briefly before it was a good opportunity for them to have a good chat over lunch and get to know each other a little better. I made the mistake of having the small steak and kidney pie with the suet pastry. Absolutely delicious but I could scarcely managed to read half of it. Fortunately Michael, who always exhibits a healthy appetite, managed to polish off half a pot of muscles, which I had left from my starter, plus the rest of my pie, so nothing is wasted.
We then went back to the house and into the breakfast room where we had coffee and I was able to smoke a small cigar. By this time, to be honest, I was feeling a little weary. Just socialising for three hours takes its toll on me. Smiler had another appointment on the way home and so left around 3.00.
l the rest of the day I spent either watching me Six Nations Rugby Championship, reading or listening to music. We did watch some television. But I nodded off and cannot recall what it was.
8 March 2012
‘ My lovely’ was up bright and early this morning and after attending to me, giving me my breakfast etc handed me over to the girls – Louise and Paula. -to shower and dress me before depositing me in my study chair. The good Doctor, Michael, appeared whilst all this was going on, and having assured himself that all was well ,went back to his room and continued his battle with the various authorities over travel arrangements for Chloe Tom’s partner – and Elizabeth, Michaels ex-wife.
It was a beautiful day, wall-to-wall sunshine and an almost cloudless blue sky. The temperature, at around 15°C, was unseasonably warm. I just hope it’s like this tomorrow for our lunch at the Cricketers, so I can sit outside, at least part of the time, and smoke a small cigar.
Mick spent a good time in the early morning and late evening, Skypeing Tom, in Australia, giving him the reassurance that a good father gives to his son in times of adversity, except in these circumstances Tom knows that the medical advice being given to him comes from a very experienced Doctor. The next couple of weeks will be critical and that following the treatment he is receiving a fairly accurate prognosis should be possible. Tom’s partner Chloe (I prefer the old-fashioned girlfriend’) is fortunate as the play that she was in in Brussels has just come to an end and so she has no impediment to joining Tom in Australia and giving him the adding prop of loving support that he needs at this time.
I’ve scarcely like to mention my minor complaints after that but Dr Lort, my GP, called in to have a look at the progress of my sebaceous cyst following the course of antibiotics. It is still inflamed and she feels that the best option would be to cut it out and is prepared to do so here, in my own home, rather than having to arrange transport them either to the surgery or to the hospital. While she was here she observed the two moles on my back which had become itchy and therefore concerned me as to whether they were malignant as a result of too much sun I which have taken practically all my life. She did not seem concerned about them but did say she would burn them off while she was here.
The other thing I was slightly concerned about was a small lump in my stomach which three of the carers have mentioned when massaging my stomach as part of the aromatherapy prescribed by Dr Margaret Saunders of the Rank Hospice. Again, Dr Lort did not seem concerned that it was anything to worry about but will have a further look at it when she comes to do with the shoulder..
Properly Mick and I finished off, what turned out to be a fairly busy day by treating ourselves to a bottle of champagne in the breakfast room which is the only room in the house in which Alice tolerates the odd cigar. Fortunately, I am clearly not addicted, either to smoking or two alcohol, as several weeks go by between having either or not. I was also very pleased to find that the champagne did not inflame my sinuses and make it difficult to breathe, although I was a little snuffly when it came to bedtime. Both Mick and I had observed this before a drop of champagne passed my lips so we knew it wasn’t that. I was keen not to damage the skin on my cheeks or my nose any more than necessary so started off with the ‘nose only’ mask hoping I could get by with that one Mick put me down and made the bed over me whilst I struggled to get calm and breathes evenly. At one stage I thought I would have to ask him to get me up and start again, this time with the full facial mask which also covered the mouth. Fortunately, this did not happen and I fell asleep before I was able to get to alarmed about it. Considering Mick only comes here every 6 to 8 weeks, he did a pretty good job in remembering all the little nuances has developed and built into the various things with which she has to help me. Mick was pretty much on the button and I think has done a great job of caring for me under the circumstances.
Paul ‘the computer’ dropped in whilst we were indulging ourselves in the breakfast room, smoking and drinking and made us feel a bit like naughty boys who have been caught behind the changing rooms at school. He only wanted to check and see how the computer was performing. I was able to reassure him that as far as dictation was concerned it was still fast and 100% accurate. There are still one or two wrinkles he needs to iron out, most particularly in the Commands section, but we are in a significantly improved state than we were in before Paul stripped down the laptop and reloaded all the programmes.
This morning I received a U Tube video from my eldest grandson, Fred. He asked me to share it with as many people as I can through my blog. As my readers will know I assiduously avoid any political commentary or criticism, so as not to give offence but, on this one occasion, I am prepared to make an exception. It was a heartfelt plea from my grandson to spread this message as widely as I can and having the facility at my fingertips I can share Fred’s message with 30/50,000 people. Do watch this compelling video and send it to your friends. It seems perfectly genuine to me and, if so, we should all do what they can to assist the organisation behind the idea to spread the word as widely as possible in the hope that the blanket publicity will stop this man and his followers from the atrocities, it is claimed, that they carry out. When young people like Fred become aware of people like KONY and are determined to do something about it, the least we can do is to support them .This was Fred’s message to me:
Dear Grandpa,
This is a very important message that should be shared with as many people as possible. I was wondering if you could help try and get the message out and put this on your blog etc.
Please watch this video and you will see why it is so important that as many people as possible support KONY 2012:
Lots of love,
Fred xx.