17 October 2010
So we left in a smart limousine, provided by Emirates, just after 5.00 p.m., and, despite the usual roadworks on the M25, arrived at Heathrow in record time. It took a little longer than usual to unload the car and transfer into a wheelchair but once that was accomplished we swept through all the usual checkpoints, gate crashing long queues weary travellers, like royalty, and we found ourselves in business class lounge with around 2 ½. hours to spare. No problem. I’d much rather that way around than panicking about missing our flight.
.
The time when quickly enough and, before we knew it, we were being loaded on the ‘ plane,. and I do mean loaded! I was manhandled out of the main wheelchair and plonked into a narrower one that could negotiate the aisle between the seats, before being bodily transfer from that to the seat where I was destined to spend the next eight hours. The plane was 777 but fitted with the latest business class seats — very smart and reasonably comfortable.
It  now being around 11.30 a.m,. I just had a large glass of champagne and a light snack and then settled down to try to get some sleep. I had been apprehensive about my breathing before this adventure started, but by keeping the seat at around 45° I had no discomfort but I am not sure how much sleep I managed to get. Nevertheless the journey went fairly quickly and before we knew it  we were landing at Dubai.
For those readers who think that this blog is all about jet setting sybarites I make no apology for dealing with the more mundane problems that face the disabled in flying. In particular, the lavatorial ones. Once seated what you do for the next eight hours or so. Having worn kilt, ease of access, over some incontinence pants which incorporated a a small plastic pouch, under the cover of a blanket, Michael was able to attach any leg bag which overcame that particular problem and worked extremely well. As to the other end Michael had given me Codeine the night before and the following morning in order to inhibit a bowel movement as accessing the small airliner lavatory would have been absolutely impossible for me…
In the meantime Mick had been checking our itinerary and discovered that we had only 20 minutes to make our connection to Bangkok. To add to our anxiety we had to wait until the very end, until the last person to have left the aircraft, before they were able to bring on the special wheelchair and go through the whole process of transferring once again. However, very generously or, due to Emirates excellent planning, they seem to know we were on our way and within 20 minutes or so we were seated once more in another 777 but this one with the older style seats, more like armchairs and slightly wider than the modern ones. This did not matter very much as it was now a ‘ daytime’ flight and neither of us had much intention of trying to sleep. I watched a couple of videos and then napped for a little while before the six-hour journey to our destination.
Our taxi driver was as reliable as ever and met us at the Meeting Phoint at Bangkok airport however, at the very moment we were about to leave for the car park I suddenly remembered that the walking frame was missing and poor Michael had to go all the way back into the baggage area to retrieve it. The problem apparently was being a long article it appeared on a different carousel to the main baggage. Despite this unscheduled delay we were on our way within an hour or so of landing and arrived at the Anantara Resort just before 11 o’clock. Michael, characteristically unselfishly  dealt with me first, unpacking what was necessary to get into bed, before attending to his own needs. I was asleep long before he actually got his head down, smugly pleased that this part of the exercise had been achieved seamlessly.
16 October 2010
Well the day has arrived. A morning in the office tidying up and then closing down for the next fortnight. I’m taking my laptop with me in the hope that I will be able to blog from the as I did before.
In the meantime I do think the readers deserve a spate of new jokes and now I have the updated ‘ Mugs Guide’ from Graham, I should be able to add them myself. Try these:
15 October 2010
This is the day the good Dr long arrives and we check that we have all the necessary bits and pieces for a trouble-free holiday. In preparation for that we tried out, last night in bed, the special ‘ incontinence’ pants provided to us by Sue and attached a leg bag on a stand at the side of the bed. I wanted to try two things, one, to see if the plastic pipe was long enough to cope with turning over in bed and two, to test out the equipment in preparation for the flight. Sadly the bag came adrift from the pants, no doubt through the constant turning over and therefore it requires a longer plastic pipe. I cannot remember exactly how we coped when I had to sleep with bed bag attached, when I had cancer in 2000.The other, and I suppose most important, test worked and we now Know that we will have at least one workable option for the long flights which will avoid the struggling to get to the lavatory.
I rang Sue, the incontinence nurse, this morning and she’s very kindly dropped everything to pick up some more equipment and see me today, bearing in mind the imminence of my departure. Knowing how be busy she is with the large area she has to cover in her part-time. I think that it’s splendid of her to give me that sort of immediate attention. She arrived around mid day with a good supply of additional gear so we should be fine now, in that area at least.
Apart from that ‘ my lovely’ got stuck into the packing. I find it so frustrating not to be able to do it myself. however, I have been as helpful as I can by giving her a comprehensive list of what goes in the main suitcase and what goes in the hand luggage.
I usually include things that I carry on the principle that the main bag could be lost or severely delayed as it was once ion a trip to Kenya where I had none of my own  clothes -other than what I travelled in – or medicines or whatever for 7 days. So I always carry things like my pills my electric razor, my electric toothbrush, my iPod and earphones, my laptop and, of course, my swimming trunks. At least I could survive a day or two on that lot.
The good Dr arrived around five and it did not take as long before we cracked open the first bottle of champagne. We were worried about the final packing tomorrow.
14 October 2010
Today was one of those rare days when there was universal celebration about a single event. All 33 of the Chilean miners who had been incarcerated half a mile underground for 70 days were safely brought to the surface through a small cylindrical hole that had been drilled down through the solid rock. They survived 17 days, on tiny amounts of food and water,  without any indication at all that the people above knew whether they were alive and where they were located. It was somewhat of a miracle that the surface people guessed right as to their whereabouts  and achieved the drilling to accommodate the escape pod in such a relatively short time. All of the miners appear to be in good spirit and reasonable health so it is somewhat of a miracle.
Basically a day of tidying up loose ends with my secretary before flying off to Thailand.
13 October 2010
I’ve had some very nice complimentary comments about my broadcast although, as ‘my lovely’ pointed out, it is most unlikely that any of your friends would say anything other than nice things about you!
I did receive a couple of comments from strangers who had listened to the broadcast and answered them, as I always do, on the blog itself. I do hope that my readers understand that this is where they get their answer to any of their comments. One listener to the programme in America apparently was so interested in my drinking and smoking habits he’s going to send me a ‘ glass straw’ — whatever that is. Something to look forward to when I return from Thailand.
My big task today was going through the final draft of the examination paper for my Chinese students together with the marking schedule prepared by my successor. I must say he’s done a great job and what I’ve seen so far gives me a lot of confidence. So much better than the fiasco we went through this time last year.
The good Dr flew in from Australia last evening passing through Heathrow on the way to Sweden and will be with us in a couple of days time.
12 October 2010
My last day, before I go to Thailand, riding round with Griggsy watching the geriatrics play golf. I suspect by the time I get back in early November it may be too chilly for the kilt! I may have to be a little inventive with the equipment recently sent to me by the incontinence lady!! In any event, I think I shall be in trousers by then. Also, I think I will try the wheelchair next time instead of the gutter frame.. Scott has promised that the ramps will be in place shortly and I think a wheelchair in and out of the clubhouse would save a lot of lifting.
‘My lovely’ was out when I got home and Jane and Peter struggled to get me to my feet from the car so we call on the services of good old Luke, who seemed to have the same technique as Scott and made nothing of picking me up. Heaven knows who we will call on when Lucas finish building his bungalow opposite.
11 October 2010
Yesterday, son Smiler was due to come at lunch before our respective departures, overseas, next weekend. The 10th. day of the 10th. month of the 10th. year, to some people holds  some mystical or magical properties and is meant to be a lucky day. Not so for poor Miles who found the roads out from London shut-off in a number of directions. There is no obvious reason for this — a terrorist alarm or a film set -it just was not possible to find a reasonable way here so he missed lunch. To the Chinese number 8 is thought to be extremely lucky. I remember a Chinese millionaire paying millions of RMB for a number plate with a single number 8 on it. Also on 8 August in 2008, tens of thousands of Chinese couples chose that day to get married in mass weddings. as indeed they did again yesterday. It’s a great idea and certainly cuts down on me cost of staging such an event.
Today was pretty hectic. Firstly we had our OT, Sarah Moss, pay, which will sadly be her last visit before she moves on to her next job. She is determined to resolve the problem with the hoist before she finishes with us. She brought, with her, a very nice young man. Ben, who at least came up with, what he hopes will be, a workable idea for the bathroom hoist. We all agreed that the best solution would be for Sarah, to try to get us a small standing hoist, which Alice will be able to use on her own. That we can use in the bathroom and a second one for transferring me in and out of the wheelchair. It may only be a temporary measure but it’s certainly worth it for a few months.
Hot on the heels of Sarah and Ben came out two young district nurses to check that my ear, for which I have taken antibiotics and eardrops, was free from infection. So important if one is flying.
Then, at four in the afternoon, yet another call from Philadelphia to check on the sound quality of my voice and, no doubt, to make sure I had not dropped dead over the weekend. ‘ My lovely’ had come up with a brilliant idea to hold the telephone hand set by strapping it to a small stand. This should have improved the voice quality over the hands-free telephone microphone. In the event we reverted to the normal hands-free which, frankly,  was more relaxing from me. Having satisfied themselves that all was well I was told to stand by around   5.30.
The producer came on about 5.20 and suggested that I might like to listen to the programme before I was called on myself. I got in on the tail end of the professor from Stanford talking about death so I determined to make it quite clear, when I was called on, to talk about living. The people who preceded me on this program were a lady called Jenny Bicks and a renowned psychiatrist, Dr Irv Yalom, professor at Stanford University who wrote about coping with death anxiety in  Staring at the Sun. Jenny Bicks is the executive producer of a comedy drama on US television, entitled The Big C  that uses the story of a woman’s battle with cancer to point out that in the face of death we might find a greater appreciation of life enjoying it to its fullest.
Certainly there’s no time like the time when one is diagnosed with a terminal illness to sort out life with its limited future as its challenges. At least, this is what the programme was all about but I have to admit that even in the face of my diagnosis it did not change my approach to life one jot. The programme  was called Life in the Face of Death, which I only discovered after the programme and after  I had stipulated that I was not prepared to talk about death only about living.
If anyone listens to this broadcast you will see that I actually moved the subject away from its core theme not really intentionally but without full knowledge of the intent of the programme. I was a little concerned that the interviewer Dr Dan Gottlieb might have felt a little chagrined at this change of events.. Not so apparently, according to the producer,, ‘Dan had a very wide smile on his face during your talk with him. He was spellbound by your enthusiasm and zest and cigar stories and was very happy to change the subject,’ so that’s all right then. I couldn’t have been too bad as the producer wrote in thanks afterwards saying that I was a breath of fresh air on the programme, That really wasn’t very difficult on such a morbid subject,
Maybe I will have a little more to say on the subject after I’ve had a chance to listen to the programme myself.
Any reader who would like to listen to this show can do so by clicking on the following hyperlink Voices in the Family
7 October 2010
Had a wonderful day today.’ My lovely’ generously engaged the services of Barry, our driver, to take us all the way up to Church Stretton, Shropshire, to see my (almost) 94-year-old mother and her husband Richard. Obviously I cannot get up there as often as I would like so it was a great joy to see them both looking so well. Richard is an amazing guy who looks after my mother who, to put it kindly, is getting a little forgetful. In every other respect however she seems to be amazingly fit. I know that Richard makes a go for a little walk every day which is probably got something to do with it. They manage entirely on their own which is pretty amazing because Richard himself is 92. I was the only really old crock there.
I took up my usual bottle of champagne and we had a very pleasant lunch provided by ‘my lovely’. Barry was marvellous the way he transferred me from car to wheelchair and so on.
He has the advantage of having many years of experience dealing with his dear disabled daughter so we are very lucky to have him in that respect. There and back the same day, without a hitch and we arrived home in the early evening.
6 October 2010
Another milestone in my blog. It passed 800,000 hits today and now looks destined to reach the million mark around the end of this year, having steadied down to a fairly constant 2500 hits each day. I just hope it’s still reaching the right people, both patients, family and carers.
Another great excitement today, Hollys, the wheelchair people, delivered my electric wheelchair. I drove it out of the office, up the ramp at the front door and into the bedroom then reversed it and drove into the study all very comfortably with no great alarms. I think Mike and Matthew, the guys who brought it, were impressed with my driving skills. It’s certainly a brilliant chair with front wheel drive it can turn on a sixpence. The key is not to go too fast to start with anyway!
The seat rises and tilts which means that I should be able to get into a position where I can move from this chair onto my gutter frame, in the same way as I do from the UpEasy cushion. So, as long as I have enough strength in my legs and arms to use the gutter frame this is the way I will move from my office chair to the wheelchair and from the wheelchair to my study chair. When I am completely wheelchair bound and no longer able to use  the frame I suppose we will have to consider being hoisted into, and out of, the wheelchair into whatever chair I wish to sit in.
As both my hands are pretty useless, and although I can operate the chair smoothly using my almost useless right hand, in effect moving it through my arm, forwards backwards and sideways, the boys are going to set me up with a chin control unit so that when it becomes too difficult to use my hands, or my arms are too weak, I should be able to manoeuvre it, just as easily, using my chin.
This wheelchair will give me a degree of independence. For example, I will be able to go to the Cricketers, pub next door, and had lunch with my friends, without being put into a car or wheeled in a mobile wheelchair. In the summer, if I’m still around, I would be able to drive down to the village green and watch the cricket and so on. Certainly, when we have lunch in the garden and guests I would be much more mobile and be able to move around and join in instead of being stuck in one place.
I listened today to the last programme of Voices of the Family, from the Philadelphia radio station which is going to interview me by telephone next Monday. I have ascertained that the presenter of the programme is one Doctor Dan Gottlieb who recently went to Taiwan where he was awarded “The 12th. Fervent Global Love of Lives” medal. It is said that this medal has been recognised by many international media as the “The Taiwanese Nobel Prize for Love”. I assume, in Dan’s case, love of his fellow man. This medal has been awarded to 182 recipients from 37 countries in the 12 years since it was established. Listening to Dan interviewing people on his last show I found him to be sympathetic and am therefore looking  to my own interview.
5 October 2010
Another geriatric golf day and ride around in the buggy with Griggsy. Still using my gutter from the car to the clubhouse and back, thanks to the ‘hug’ lifts given to me by our splendid  club secretary. Scott. He really is the only one I trust to manoeuvre me over the steps etc However well-meaning my fellow members are they really don’t seem to understand how weak I am. I have one more Tuesday before I go to Thailand and I suspect that by the time I return, in early November. on my next visit to the club will be using a wheelchair. Even today I did not feel totally safe the whole time and realised that my legs were that much weaker, and indeed my arms too which I rely on, to take my weight, leaning on the gutter frame. Fortunately Scott has ordered a ramp to be installed which he says will be there within the next two weeks.
This afternoon the ‘ incontinence lady’, Sue, kindly fitted me, for a home visit, at the end of a very long day. She is a qualified nurse but only part-time and covering a vast area and has a very heavy work load so I felt fortunate that she was good enough to acknowledge there was some urgency over my request for a consultation. I had previously explained to her, over the telephone, that I was travelling by air within a couple of weeks or so and was worried about the lavatory side of things as I would be unable to move about the aircraft and each leg of the journey was at least 8 ½. hours.
She came with a wide range of alternatives devices, some of which were specifically designed for the incontinent, which  is not my particular problem. Nevertheless, we were able to find three or four different things that we felt would satisfy my needs. One of them is a pair of pants with a sort of plastic pouch on the front which in itself holds a certain amount of urine but would not be large enough to contain a whole bladder full. However, the clever thing about that was that it had a spout on the bottom onto which one could attach a bag that would contain up to 2 litres. So, I decided that if I wore my kilt to travel in it would be a simple enough business for the good Doctor Michael to attach a bag on the end of this plastic pouch, that could poke out under the kilt, and then, when it was full, remove it discreetly and empty it in the lavatory.
Sue also produced a marvellously simple little plastic pot with a screw top and no bottom, inside which was a large plastic balloon which, like the leg bag, when pushed out of the pot, would hold around 2 litres. I can see this being very useful on, say, a car journey when one would not want to stop, say at a service station, download the wheelchair and go to a disabled lavatory. This little pot could be discreetly used in the back seat under cover of a towel or rug and, on completion, the top screw back on, safely containing the contents until there was an opportunity to empty it at the end of the journey.
Sue has a number of gadgets which we thought might be useful in the future and I thoroughly recommend anyone with my sort of problems to consult with their own ‘ incontinence lady’ and hope that she is as helpful as was ours. Sue wrote out a prescription there and then for a couple of items that we could collect from Boots and a separate description, which she undertook to send off the following day, for a trial pair of pants which I pray are here in time for my journey to Thailand.
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D. Mark Cato
D. Mark Cato