General Chat

Hello all.
We went shopping this afternoon and when we got back I found I had a stinking headache, but a couple of panadol seem to have 'knocked it on the head.' However I just dont feel all that bright, hope I havent picked anything up in town. Had a simple dinner.

This evening my husband was saying he should remember a lot of phone numbers, such as his Aunty Vi's. I asked what for as she would be long dead and anyway she was in England and we are in New Zealand. He then started talking about his mother and I told him she and his father were both dead as they would be over 100 yrs old if they werent. He then said that there should be somebody to advise us of our responsibilities for the funerals! I sent him off to bed early. I will be going soon, hope I feel brighter tomorrow, perhaps it is just tiredness. I might take a sleeping pill to knock me out quickly before he starts getting up for the loo etc.

See you all tomorrow.

Huia.

Hi all

It is a nice sunny winters day here in NZ. It sounds as though the weather in the UK has been a bit too hot for those "English Rose" complexions.

I hope all carers are well and talking of "well" hope also, that they can draw from the depths of those tranquil waters so that they can generate the composure and strength to handle their daily trying situations.

Keep reminding yourself that you are doing a great job and that it is appreciated even if you have difficulty in understanding that.

Hi Huia

That's a great help with the dishes particularly if there are any very dirty pots and pans and drying was always the best end of the stick anyway. I must admit to occasionally rinsing and leaving them for several meals and then putting them in the dishwasher but generally wash and dry them as each plate is finished. The microwave certainly helps.

We're past the shortest day and even though winter is still with us I always think it is nice when the days get longer and I am sure that spring and summer will be with us (well here anyway) before we know it.

Not such a good night last night. I have 'restless legs' but am getting low on the pills the doc prescribed for them and am not keen on taking pills all the time anyway, so decided to try to do some leg-stretching exercises before bed to see if that helped. It did slightly, but legs still a bit uncomfy and my feet were sore on the edges and my big toe decided to hurt. I got up at midnight and took one of the docs pills but when I went back to bed I was frozen to the core and didnt get to sleep for ages. I cant blame OH for all my tiredness. This morning he seemed confused when he got up. He wanted to know how he got here and didnt recognise the place. It is not the first time he has been like that, but he seems to be ok now, he is doing the breakfast dishes. He always insists on washing the dishes since he retired about 15 yrs ago. I had better go to dry them or they will all be put away in the wrong places.

Huia.

Huia, sounds as if a few more notes about might help the situation. I leave myself notes all the time or a lot would get forgotten as OH has a habit of interupting my concentration.

Hi Jean and other.

I had been wondering that last night but was too tired to ask. We went out on Monday, a long drive up north to visit OHs sister. They went for a long walk on the beach while I lay on her spare bed and had a sleep. That night I fell asleep quickly and soundly for just over an hour then woke up and couldnt get back to sleep for several hours until about 4am, then OH brought me a cuppa at 6 and I told him it was too early. Tried to get back to sleep and he came in and said it was 7 but my clock said 6.35. He just cant read time properly any more. I got up grudgingly and spent the day doing very little and at 4pm I lay on the settee to have a snooze but he kept asking if he could cut up the carrots or he would tell me it was 5.30 (wrong, 4.30). I had intended to sleep to 5.30 and get a simple dinner of mince and tinned spagghetti on toast but with so many disturbances I gave up at 5 and we had the mince but I cooked carrots and peas and dry spag. I took a sleeping pill last night and fell asleep briefly while having a last minute look at the computer. I slept soundly (in bed) for the night, much longer than usual. I had left a note on the kitchen bench saying 'No tea for me, please let me sleep' so I wasnt woken early with a cuppa.

After that long spiel I really must get on with my sorting of junk.

Huia.

NUDGE. Where is everyone?

Last night my OH went to bed at 7.45. I went a couple of hours later. The room was in darkness and I didnt turn the light on as I didnt want to disturb him. When I went to turn down the bedclothes to climb in I struck a large object, which objected. I turned the light on, and there was OH on my side of the bed. I cant call anything my own. I have to hide my glasses when I am not using them, and I have a new hidey hole for my toothbrush, face cloth and towel.

Huia.

Have seen the GP today, he had heard from the hospital but information was not helpful. Has decided we need to experiment with dropping his dosage of Perindopril to bring his blood pressure up, hopefully without increasing the angina. He is itching to get moving again. When I was not able to do things while I waited for triple bypass I was able to work slowly and find alternative ways of doing things, but he has no patience for that!

This heat isnt helping OH, giving him angina and palpitations. He's getting stiff from so much sitting, too! Weather is supposed to break tomorrow.
We have a very niosy portable air conditioner, draws air over water and fans it out. As an experiment tried the greenhouse thermometer in the room we were using it in, and it brought the temperature down from 88F to 76F, so i will put up with the noise until we want the television on.

Bob, did they really have boy scouts in the days of Confucious? But then perhaps he is like Methusalah, lives forever.

Huia.

Jean

I agree! For some reason solicitors, accountants and many others think the world was as it was those years ago when they could call all the shots on how they communicated. If it is good enough for wrinklies like me (but of course not you) to use a computer then it is good enought for the professionals to do the same. Unless the message was of a sensitive or sympathetic nature who would bother to send a letter these days when email is so efficient and quick. Hope things settle down for OH but these incidents are quite scary on top of the usual routine and although the hospital is the right place the time there does seem to drag.

Huia
I do feel my own migraine coming on after reading your jaunts over mountains and tracks over the years and the problems you have had keeping up. You sound as though you had the same problems Boy Scouts have, for Confucius say, "Boys Scouts not fast walkers, always have short strides!"

I have to add that I have walked from Bayleys Beach to Opononi up the beach and over Mangonui Bluff in 5 days one summer. And took 5 days to do the 'Ring Track' around the Hunua Hills. There is still a groove on the track where my tongue was hanging out all the way. Also the round Ruapehu track. In the South Island we did the Milford Track the 'easy' way (guided, didnt need to take sleeping bag or food, but cost more) for our Silver Wedding 25 yrs ago. Have also done the Routeburn, Hollyford, Greenstone/Caples, and Kepler tracks. That is when I decided to give up tramping. My husband kept telling me to 'rattle your dags' and I said through clenched teeth 'I am going to go at my speed and I am going to enjoy myself if I am allowed to and when we get home I am going to give up tramping'. I had found if I tried to keep up with the others (who looked as if they were just ambling along) I was going at a fast trot and needed to stop for a breath. The others would realise I had dropped behind so would wait for me to catch up with them and then they were off again before I had time to catch my breath. Not my idea of fun.

We have also climbed Ruapehu but it was the 'easy' way in
summer, a guided group, taking a chairlift part way up. I was struggling to keep up - I hate hills - but made it, and coming down we could slide on the snow in our pvc trousers - at least till the snow ran out. Husband, son and our friend went up Ngauruhoe next day. I would have like to have done it but I had spent the night with a horrid migraine and decided discretion was the better part of valour. When our children were young we went up Tongariro a couple of times, finishing the second one by walking across and back to the Chateau. These days I prefer to sit and play with my computer.

Huia.

Jean, that sounds bad. Best of luck and treatment to you and your husband for the future.

Bob, you kill me! I love a guy with a sense of humour. I hope that when my husband dies it will be when he is tramping with his girlfriends. That would be his ideal I think, dying with his boots on. He just lives for walking. I just wish my feet were up to it. I used to go with them (husband and girlfriends, as well as my feet of course) but they (the feet) are so painful now if I do too much and with my shorter legs I used to have trouble keeping up with them anyway. Maybe that is part of the problem, shorter legs = more steps = sore feet. Well I think that is as good an excuse as any. Not that my husband believes any of it.

Jean, that's very upsetting for you both. Hopefully your GP will order up tests ASAP, or change OH's meds.
Take care.

Down to earth with a bump! OH had to have an ambulance to take him in to hospital on Sunday. He said the room was going round and he couldnt stand. His bloodpressure was very low. Spent the day in hospital. Acc and em was fine but the assessment ward was out of a horror movie! Never again!. Gave him all his tablets at once, a normal diet instead of a diabetic version, and fed him Fortisips which is loaded in sugar. Sent him home in the end at past 10pm, with no advice, just said they would be writing to his GP., and take things easy. Have spoken to GP and he has heard nothing, What happened to fax and e-mail? He is still unwell but has no faith now that anything will be done for him. It will or I will be making a hullabaloo about it.

Don't fancy it at all! Besides it's my golf day again tomorrow and I would rather be killed by a golf ball, fall into the water hazard and drown. If I had my club in my hand my playing partners would add a penalty for grounding my club in the hazard. They don't give anything away and if I had a stroke as well they would even want to add that to my score. But they could not get away with that one if I had a heart attack for that is not an extra stroke. MMMM....I think I will take up bowls.

You could be 'run over by a bus' tomorrow anyway, Bob and DET, so why worry?

Huia.

But on the other hand....just think of the hundreds of thousands of hours 'flown' yearly with NO accidents!

Huia

Gee whiz! After reading your stories, do I feel much better for giving off my earlier negative vibes. I was feeling a bit like a party pooper for a time.

Jean

After reading Huia's note, please stick to DET's recommendation of the Great Wall of China but do not look too far over the side for it's still a long way down.