4 October 2010

It’s amazing to think it’s only 11 days now until the good Dr comes to pick me up to go to Thailand. I think I will still be able to manage struggling along on my gutter frame the short distances although even this morning I noticed it was becoming a real struggle getting up the wrapped in my office. I have undoubtedly worsened even in the short period since Mick was here last. In particular, he will notice that I am beginning to have difficulty breathing particularly when I’m lying flat in bed, or even trying to turn over. In any event, whatever the situation, I could not be in better hands.

I’m still battling with the hoist a problem and then not convinced that the single horizontal track at ceiling level in the bathroom would not work. It’s a question of whether they would allow me to get an engineer to put some sort of a frame either bolted or glued to the floor at each end. It may be that being NHS equipment they will not allow us to alter it in which case I may have to consider buying my own from this company.

Having dealt with my e-mails and brought my blog up to date I then allowed myself to watch the final day of the Ryder Cup with a fascinating prospect in view. What a thrilling days golf it turned out to be. As one commentator said you couldn’t write a better Hollywood script. In the end it came down to a nail-biting finish on the last but one hole, of the last match. Europe won by the slenderest of margins 14 ½. to 13 ½.  Undoubtedly, one of the finest Rider Cup matches since its inception in 1927.

Following on from my complaint to the General Dental Association, my erstwhile private dentist very kindly came and took some photographs of my teeth before they are de-scaled on 13 October. Presumably, these will be offered in evidence.

3 October 2010

I spent the best part of yesterday watching the Ryder Cup which was terribly exciting. There’s something special about two nations battling it out together, in a sporting event, played purely for the honour of the country they represent. This is particularly so when you have the quality of sportsmanship and skill that is brought to an event like the Ryder Cup. We, the Europeans that is, started the day at 6 matches to 4 down to America needing 14 ½. pints to win the cup. However of the unfinished matches, both the two foursomes and the four four balls, England started up in all of them. Sadly and, not untypically, the Welsh weather defeated the organisers and overnight rain delayed the start until 1.30. This meant that the 12 singles would not be able to be completed today and for, the first time ever and may all have to be played tomorrow, Monday. There is the fascinating prospect that any  unfinished matches on Monday, no matter what the score,  will be counted as a half, so we must pray for fine weather as this would be a very sad way to end such an engrossing sporting event.

In fact, in the event, the remaining two foursomes and four balls suffered from a late start and the team captains decided that all 12 singles would be played on the Monday.

The European team had a great day today, they started off, as I said 6 matches to 4 down and finish the day 9 ½. against the Americans 6 ½., having won five of the six matches and halved last. Even poor old Tiger Woods had a thrashing losing 6 and 5, the worst defeat he had never suffered in match play.

1 October 2010

Apart from catching up on my e-mails, dealing with the draft of my statement before the General Dental Association; checking over the examination papers for this year’s lectures in China and writing up my blog, I happily spent part of the day watching the opening of the Ryder Cup. Typical Welsh weather, bucketing down with rain. So much so that they only got two hours play in the early morning before the matches had to be abandoned for five hours. They did manage to get some play in the late afternoon and early evening but the opening four ball matches were deferred until tomorrow.

I forgot to mention yesterday the disastrous news there we are going to lose our wonderful OT, Sarah Moss. Apparently she has been given another job, something to do with brains, not hers, of course, but the patients. She doesn’t know yet when is she going to  move, but it appears to be imminent. I just pray she holds on long enough to set us up with the right of sorts of hoists. In any event, we will certainly miss her.

Late afternoon I received a call from Philadelphia, from Jennifer Lynn, the producer of the live radio show, in Philadelphia, that has invited me to participate on 13 October. We ranged over a great number of subjects in the hour and a half or so that we spent on the telephone, presumably to give Jennifer some idea of the sort of questions that the presenter of the show Dan (?), a famous American quadriplegic for the last 30 years, is going to put to me. She has promised to send me details of an earlier show that I can look at, so I should be able to get some reasonable idea of the style and title of questions I will need to answer. Unfortunately as I have to use my hands-free telephone the reception the other end is not that brilliant but there is no way that I could ask ‘ my lovely’ to hold the telephone to my ear during the interview. Apart from anything else I would find that intimidating and I’m sure that my answers would not flow as easily as they would speaking on my hands-free telephone. Jennifer is going to ring me at four o’clock on the day of the live show just to make sure I’m still alive and well!

30 September 2010

 

This turned out to be a crunch day for considering the future. The problem being that we do not know precisely how long that future is and when changes to our present routine will be necessary. The two matters that we gave some considerable consideration to today, were how we would cope when I was no longer able to stand, and how to improve my voice control of the computer.

Our wonderful OT, Sarah Moss, came to discuss the hoist problems in the bathroom  and although she brought some brochures with her none of them would work without me having some strength in my lower limbs. Of course, the main problem always comes down to a lavatory one. Yes, we will be able to use the main hoist to get me out of bed onto a commode or a wheelchair. BUT

Will Alice be able to do that on her own or, as recommended, will she need a second person?

If a second person is necessary for getting me out of bed, to lavatory  me, shower me, and dress me, then what time will they come in and how long will they need to stay?

What happens if I am unable to ‘go’ to the lavatory in the brief period when the helpers are here and the urge comes on me an hour or so later? Incontinence pants?

Having got me to the point of sitting in the wheelchair fully dressed will we be able to move the hoist into the study and transfer me from the wheelchair into the main chair in front of my laptop and will Alice be able to perform this exercise alone?

Alternatively, if I am put into the electric wheelchair and drive out to the office, how will I  move from that chair to my office chair and back, or will I need to sit in the wheelchair all day?

What happens if I need to move from that chair during the day before the evening helpers, if we need them, come in? Will we need to arrange a short lunchtime visit?

Of course, ideally one should have a permanent helper to be on call when required. Wouldn’t it be great to have some sort of robot that you could call on from time to time when needed but life just isn’t like that. Full-time carers are out of the question in terms of cost.  We will have to work in with whatever arrangements we make with either social services helpers or private helpers.

All of this may appear to be premature whilst I am still able to move about using the gutter frame but my arms and legs are both weakening by the day, so it is best to plan ahead the two or three months, or hopefully more, and therefore be prepared. If we wait for the day when my legs give out altogether and we do not have something in place, I could see myself being carted off to hospital, or a care home, whilst things are worked out, and that I will not countenance,

The second problem involves the computer. A very nice young man called Charlie, who is a consultant to AbilityNet came for a two-hour session with me today. Charlie is a specialist occupational therapist who has worked extensively with MND patients, helping them to get the best out of their PC or laptop, so could not have been a better person for me. 

This visit was in answer to my request to AbilityNet as to what I would do when my hands no longer functioned and he showed me a number of devices that can be used such as a chin, hand or foot switch which can be operated with the gentlest of touch. However, he recognised that I am not yet at that stage and he says when I am, something can be arranged very quickly.

Basically, we spent much time on considering a greater and more effective use of voice activation which fortunately I have been using for the last 15/20 years stop. I explained that I get rather impatient I tend to use my one finger rather than voice commands for correcting documents.. There is, no doubt, that I could do almost everything by voice and I have committed to attempting more and more in the near future. Even so, Charlie is recommending another two-hour training session to improve that aspect. He is also recommending I have two armrests whilst I can still use my finger to hover my weak arms, above the laptop keyboard.

I suppose what I got most out of this session was that nothing is impossible. As Charlie pointed out, Prof Hawkins uses an eye blink switch to move letters about on the screen to spell out words. Basically a slow and painstaking process and one  that one can achieve given the patience, which I wonder if I possess?

The most disastrous piece of news we heard was that Sarah will be moving jobs, sometime possibly in the near future, and therefore will no longer be our OT..We have come to rely on her so much and she has been brilliant in everything we have needed.

So not a great day, all in all, but at least we are facing up to the future, whenever that comes, and hopefully I will be well enabled to continue to lead some sort of active life. Althoughh, I have not mentioned ‘ my lovely’ in all of this, of course, she is a pivotal part of all of these possible changes, except perhaps for the laptop.

29 September 2010

My complaint to the General Dental Association is being dealt with swiftly. I received a call from an administrator from the complaints department who took an oral statement from me over the telephone which he will send in word form so that I can make any necessary amendments in order to satisfy myself that it is an accurate statenent.

I received an e-mail today from Jennifer Lynn who is the producer of a live radio programme  on NPR affiliate WHYY -FM, in Philadelphia, entitled Voices of the Family. She has invited me to take part in a live broadcast dealing with the subject of  ‘how one sorts out  their lives with a limited future’ I have agreed subject to the interview taking place at a reasonable hour (UK time!) and that the discussion concentrates on living not dying. I suggested perhaps a Skype video call would be helpful. Her response was that she will give me a telephone call.

My great excitement today was Althea’s visit to cut my toe and fingernails.

28 September 2010

A chaotic day. First of all the hoist men arrived to fit a horizontal hoist at ceiling level in our bathroom, which I had hoped would overcome the problem of lifting me off the loo. Sadly the construction of our bathroom was such that it was not possible to fit that particular hoist. So is back to square one except that our OT and Alice are cooking up another idea to resolve the problem.

Hot on the heels of the hoist men came the ramp men. They fitted ramps to the front door and the bedroom door leading to the downstairs bathroom. Every single time I approached these two particular steps and had to step down, a flush of adrenaline surged through me  for fear of falling, as almost all the falls I’ve had have been stepping down causing one or other of my legs to collapse.. For that reason I am delighted to have these ramps and feel much safer with them.

In the middle of all of this activity I was online and with one of the AbilityNet technicians attempting to resolve a problem on my computer. Somehow it got locked into an Arabic mode and all of the arrow keys were in reverse making it extremely difficult to make any corrections. However, by allowing the technician to control my laptop remotely, through a software program called Team Viewer, we resolved the problem.

Early this morning I had to telephone Mike, at Social Services, concerning a replacement gutter frame as one of the two I have has developed a nasty bend on one leg, no doubt, through me leaning heavily on it moving down from steps. I mention this trivial matter as, together with the hoist and ramp men, it typifies the wonderful measure of support being offered to me and hopefully other people like me.

Following through with my resolve to protect other elderly dental patients I made a formal complaint today to the General Dental Council concerning the dental treatment I received at the Saffron Walden Community Hospital. Next Monday my erstwhile private dentist is coming to take some photographs on my teeth which no doubt will be put into evidence against the dentist about whom I am complaining. I have also been told not to cance lthe  domiciliary visit, scheduled for October 13, but ask the traveling dentist to make a special note of the state of my teeth.

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27 September 2010

Although it is  Monday I am supposed to be at the (Tuesday) geriatric golf day, it being switched due to a society playing tomorrow. However, both Griggsy and I decided that the weather was too miserable to make the effort so no riding round the golf course this week.

Yesterday, my darling daughter Chloe came to lunch leaving her brood to be cared for by, son-in-law, Karl. It was good of her make a special effort to see her old dad as she leads a very full life running from one child’s activity to another.

I am having a very frustrating time trying to download e-books from Waterstone’s. I got four of the six books that I purchased but two of them refuse to be downloaded. The error message telling me that the book is restricted.

One of the two outstanding books is,  Sister, the one written by my friend’s daughter, Rosamund Lupton, and is rising fast up the best sellers list only having been published on 2 September. It is also be read as ‘Book at Bedtime’ on the radio and is apparently one of the fastest selling books ever handled by WH Smith. I want a copy on my laptop to take with me when I go to Thailand. For some extraordinary reason, even after four lengthy telephone calls, Waterstone’s have been unable to resolve the issue. Next time I will go to Amazon, except that I have gift cards for a considerable sum from Waterstone’s that must be used up first.

Readers may recall the problem I had over my visit to the dentist at Saffron Walden Community Hospital. (See  12 July and 1,6  September    entries). Last Friday I received a letter from the Complaints Manager of West Essex NHS saying that the dentist concerned answered my complaint by stating that he had carried out a thorough examination of my teeth; had carried out a scale and addressed my dental needs, adding that tartar  can build up very quickly. In effect a whitewash.

I do not intend to leave the matter there. This dentist claims to have carried out work ,which in my opinion, he did not. I believe that opinion to be shared by my erstwhile private dentist who examined my teeth when I first made the complaint. The only reason I am pursuing this matter is, if I am correct in my assumption, to protect other old people from similar treatment. Obviously I must be careful what I say and must rely on the evidence of others to justify my complaint.

25 September 2010

 

Yesterday turned out be what, I suspect, the last reasonably warm day of the summer, or should I say the autumn, which came in a couple of days ago. We went to a ‘drinks and eats’ party put on by David and Madeline Young, who, like our friends the Curtis’ were downsizing, in fact they did a swap in their village. So sensible not to move away from their friends. I wonder, when the time comes, whether we, or Alice alone, will be fortunate enough to effect such a convenient move. After all we will shortly have been in the same house for half a century.

The eats were scrummy. Specifically not described as lunch but were such that one’s wife could well have ssid, ‘tuck in and we will need nl lunch when we get home’.I sat outside in the weakening sunshine and met some very interesting people at the party. As with the Drapers Hall event, we stuck to the wheelchair, which worked very well. Seated sideways against a table I can drink from my two handled cup, through a long straw and smoke my cigar happily with my smoking stick, on this occasion raised up on a couple of telephone directories.

Not surprisingly there were a number of Worlington members present, our host being a fairly regular member of the Tuesday geriatric club, What was particularly interesting was that the father of the wife of one of them was born in the same year as Alice’s father and indeed, it turned out, went to the same little school in Towyn, in North Wales, presumably at the same time. What an extraordinary coincidence.

23 September 2010

The big day has arrived. Tonight saw the  20th anniversary dinner of the Arbitration Club at Drapers Hall, in the city of London. Keith Kirkwood, despite his fortnight away in New Zealand (returning three days ago to especially to tidy up the details) did a splendid job. His ‘running order’ as he calls it, had an air of military precision about it. I can imagine something similar being prepared for the Trooping of the Colours! I immediately put the cat amongst the pigeons by informing Keith that I intended to speak for 15 minutes not the miserable 10 that he had allocated to me

Unfortunately I lost my club guests, the Robuck’s due to Derek’s indisposition. Also there were a number of other competing events on this evening which reduced our numbers down to around 90, still not a bad turnout but no glitterati. Never mind it made it more of a family affair

I was delighted that one of my former pupils from Cyprus, Anna Styliano , who is secretary of the Cyprus branch of The Arbitration Club, was able to drop in for a drink, with her husband, on her way to the airport but, unfortunately due to their departure time from Heathrow  was unable to stop for dinner.

The full title of the Drapers’ Company is “The Master and Wardens and Brethren and Sisters of the Guild of Fraternity of the Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Mystery of Drapers of the City of London”. The word Mystery comes from the Latin “misterium” meaning professional skill.

The first Royal charter was granted to the Drapers in 1364 and is ranked third in precedence of the Great Twelve Livery Companies.

The present Livery Hall, I imagine, was built at the height of Victorian opulence. It is a truly magnificent building with at least four beautiful rooms — The Livery Hall itself where we held our dinner; the Court Room where I held audience in my wheelchair whilst the bulk of our guests were served drinks in the Court Dining Room opposite. In order to access the livery hall (dining area) itself we had to pass  through the equally beautiful Court Dining Room. Each of these rooms were adorned with magnificent portraits and exquisite furnishings with the most beautiful white marble statues dotted about here and there. I can thoroughly recommend readers to go on to the Drapers’ Hall website and see the beauty for themselves.

Christine Hanscomb very kindly made a film of the event which I hope shortly will be turned into the DVD and included on this blog.

For those gastronome’s amongst you I will tell you what we had to eat and drink. Pre-dinner there was a very respectable house champagne on offer. Then, once we were seated a Pinot Grigio 2008 Altana Di Vico Botter was served with the first course of smoked pink trout pate served with dill and mustard dressing. Then, with the main course of canon of lamb with a mustard and herb crust and a selection of vegetables . we were given a  deliciously smooth Chateau La Fleur 2005 Montagne St. Emilion. The pudding was individual lemon tarts served with seasonal berries after which we were treated to an excellent port, Fonseca Bin 27 and  Ch Lacaze Early Landed 1985 Armagnac. Finally with a coffee we had a selection of petit fours.

After that little feast came the speeches. Fortunately I was reasonably sober so that I managed to get through my speech without too much trouble, assisted by ‘my lovely’ who turned the pages for me. The other speakers were extremely generous in their praise for the work I had put into founding the club and generously gave me a standing ovation at the end of it. No doubt, they sensed, as indeed I did myself, that this was my swan song, at least for functions such as that. Even more pleasing was the acknowledgment of the partnership between me and ‘my lovely’, which enables me to attend such functions and who was presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers — no less than she deserved, she was truly touched by their kindness and recognition of the indispensable role. A truly memorable evening.

I spent the evening in a wheelchair fed by ‘my lovely’, which avoided much of the eating paraphernalia and therefore seemed to be the most sensible option. At least however much one has to drink it’s pretty impossible to fall out of a wheelchair!, Barry, our driver, was his usual efficient self, lifting me effortlessly from car to wheelchair and back into the car at the end of the evening

I heard, with great sadness, two days ago that someone who had been very kind to me in the past, had died – the Rt. Hon. Lord Bingham of Cornhill, the only judge to have held all three senior posts, Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and senior Law Lord.  Accordingly I included the following in my speech . 

Tom (Bingham) having generously written the foreword to one of my books The Sanctuary House Case, came to a black-tie dinner  launch at Simpsons in the Strand.  He arrived that evening as Master the Rolls -the most senior civil judge  – and left later  the same evening as Lord Chief Justice -the most senior criminal judge.  A kinder more gentle man one would never wish to meet.  With all the affairs of state hanging heavily on his shoulders he insisted on seeing out the evening and speaking to most of the guests.  He characteristically listened to me offering him some advice from middle England – a little tongue-in-cheek I admit (well, when would I ever get another opportunity to say something about which I truly believed .

I also suggested that he should consider three things.   Bringing back the stock’s in every city, town, village and hamlet, in England, for those people whose misdemeanours did not warrant jail, at the taxpayers expense, and thus would save the country a great deal of money.

 Possibly the humiliation suffered from a spell in these stocks might be sufficient to deter these miscreants from further offending. Secondly, I suggested bringing back the birch for those people who commit unspeakable crimes against the young and the elderly. Finally I suggested bringing back the rope for the most heinous of crimes. Tom smiled, and said, “I hear what you say”. Not surprisingly he did not heed any of my advice! (About which, incidentally, I feel the same way today. 

Tom came to a number of Arbitration Dinners at Drapers Hall and, indeed, would have been  invited tonight had he not been so ill..   He will be sorely missed.

22 September 2010

 

For those readers who are not cricket lovers they will be delighted to learn that today is the last of the international cricket season, at least so far as the UK is concerned -the fifth, and deciding game in the One-Day Internationals against Pakistan.

England won the toss and decided to bat however they started disastrously. Losing Strauss (27) Davis (a 17) and Trott (3) and found themselves 47 for 3. 12 runs later Collingwood retired ill with a migraine, so things were looking pretty bleak for England. A spirited partnership between Morgan and Bell of just under 100 and then with the recovered Collingwood. the star of the show, Morgan, took England to a respectable score of 256 for 6 with Morgan on an unbeaten 107. Certainly not an ungettable target for Pakistan.

Pakistan started well enough losing their first wicket at 63 to Wright. After that it was all down hill with Broad and Swann taking three apiece and tumbling Pakistan out for 135 in only 37 overs. A sad end to what has been a very controversial series exacerbated by ridiculous allegations of spot fixing by the English players, made by the Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman countering the allegations made against the Pakistan team. Relief all round this series is ever that we now can look forward to the Ashes in Australia. 

On the homefront as I have been suffering from a dead ear for the last four or five days which refused to clear, I called him the Dr. and he put me on antibiotics and eardrops for a suspected infection. I must get it cleared up the before going to Thailand as there is nothing more painful than an infected ear in a pressurized cabin.