Sherrys Aortic Dissection

Evening all

OK, everyone calm down… Evening Glynis and Alwyn!

Firstly, Sherry is still feeling FUZZY – her words not mine. I rang the Neuro dude on Monday and his view was to keep a close eye on Sherry and if anything happened he would see her again PDQ, he wanted us to see Sherry’s GP but as per bastarding usual he is booked up solid for the next 2 weeks – HOW! I mean, I go to the doctor when I am ill, I do not think to myself "Oh I am going to be ill next week so I will book an appointment for 2 weeks time so I can see my GP"… Do you??

We got an appointment with one of the other doctors in the practice but Sherry decided she didn’t want to go… I know, I should have made her but she was of the opinion that she was feeling better and that she would rather sleep than go see someone who has never treated her before and would not have read her notes…So we are going to see her own GP next Tuesday instead as he has a cancellation.

Doctor H thinks Sherry had a TIA (Look it up) and the magic Internet says that the symptoms last less than 24 hours (Which was the case)… I will keep a close eye on Sherry and if she goes again I will take her to Winchester without argument…

The MRI went off okay, nothing to report yet as the results get sent to the Neuro chappie and he then either panicks and we get to see him real real quick, or we sit crapping ourselves until Sherry’s appointment in October – guess which outcome my money is on?

So what else is new? Nici started as a Drama teacher/Year 7 form tutor/English teacher today… well done Miggins, I is prouder than you could know! Rob tried out for the college rugby team and seems to have got in, Chris is still running the world of Enterprise rent a car and Jack the aptly named Jack Russell has got over his last stone eating episode and is now being as bloody annoying as ever… As for Tessa, she remains curled at my feet and is about the only person in the house that finds me good company. .. Oh and as for Matt?? He’s lovely – I want to keep him and get rid of the rest of them!!

We have also got Harold…

Harold is a socially retarded guinea pig… He belongs to Nici and Matt and is a pink –eyed, ginger-haired ADHD mammal with all the social graces of Charles Manson on crack… he squeaks if you talk to him and runs away, only to squeal at you from a safe distance in his cage as if you where doing a Kenny Everett and reaching for the selotape and cardboard tube for a forced trip to Buttsville…I hate guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, mice, goldfish, hamsters and especially cats… they are loathsome un-loving little balls of non functioning social retardation… anyone who tells you that their little Monty or Tiddles or Bucky is a true pet should think on the thoughts of my old neighbour from Yorkshire who informed me one afternoon over the fence that separated our two gardens that "The reason pet rabbits have a hump on their backs is to keep the pie crust up in the oven"…. After two months of this squeaking little ball of poohing, peeing, Ammonia based life form, Albert, I truly agree…

Must go now as I want to eat ice cream and try to remember what way is up… ever get the feeling you’re being watched??

H

Oh… finally, thanks to Hampshire county council for refusing to pay for Roberts bus pass to go to college, real big of you you bunch of loathsome overpaid bastards, … no don’t worry, I will go fucking begging to the college to see if they can help, you miserable bunch of grey suited shit-sucking wasters, maybe if you didn’t spend soooo much money on all those silly bloody pedestrian precincts in Winchester you might have enough in the coffers to put one real hard working kid into the college he wants to go to rather than trying to say that he should go to the local shit hole college that has to keep re-inventing itself every two years as only the local knuckle draggers go there, where he could learn grass cutting or fucking typing – you wankers!… you know who you are PENNY!!!!

Evening all

Something’s not right – Sherry has had a real real funny turn this evening and is in bed already, two hours earlier than usual. She got up as usual about two this afternoon and we went out like usual for tea in town at our favourite Blue onion café. Did a bit of shopping bought winter boots etc, came home.

About five Sherry started asking the same question about three times, said she felt dizzy and went to sleep for about half an hour. Woke up and couldn’t remember anything about this afternoon. Struggled with simple questions and went back to sleep.

About half six or so woke up and was brighter. I called the RDU at Winchester and they said to watch her and if she got worse to bring her in, if not to call the Neuro team in the morning.

Sherry is due this spinal MRI in the morning. We will have to see how she is.

Fuck

H

P.S got the DLA agreed this weekend and whats more they made it indefinate rather than having to reapply in two years time... thanks to Tim Jackson for the form filling exercise - don't know what you put but it seems to have worked! in some ways it is heartbreaking to be told that you are not expected to get better, but it is also "Nice" to know that the battle with the DWP is over - for now...

Evening all

First things first, welcome back Helen, long time no read, etc, etc…

Well the results are in!! Stuff Barrack Obama (How close to Osam Obama is he?) Roberts GCSE results landed yesterday – he did well, lots of A’s, a handful of B’s and C’s… and one U…. Which means he didn’t even spell his name right at the top of the paper… he is a tad miffed, if miffed is the stage you go through just prior to mounting the metal gantry at the top of the water tower armed with an assault rifle with night vision scopes…. It appears that the whole group of students that where entered for the higher paper in "Human physiology and behaviour" got a U grade… methinks something is rotten in the state of Denmark, or wherever Ed Excel sent the papers to be marked this time! I hope the school gets to the bottom of this one as it has kicked the shine off what is a real spunky set of results.

Nici and boyfriend are at Leeds festival this weekend, mud mud glorious mud, and Chris has gone north to see his true love for the long weekend, so it will just be myself, Rob and Sherry – place will feel deserted! Anyhoo I have a hot date with a belt sander and the porch woodwork… as long as the rain stays off (Go on, rain, please!)

Sherry has her next MRI on Monday week to see if they can get any nearer to finding out why she can no longer feel her legs… A fun packed trip to Southampton on the first Monday morning after the kids go back to school, whoopdie – bloody- doo Basil… We also had the fun fun fun packed job of reapplying for Sherry’s Disability Living Allowance today – I have already sent back the second copy of the 50 page questionnaire but today we went to see our friendly GP to fill in his 12 page questionnaire with him about Sherry’s specific needs – Now I know this sounds like a lot of work having only been through this exercise initially less than two years ago, and even Sherry’s GP questioned the sanity of this bi annual ritual, however when you have three Welsh referees all claiming the same benefit as Sherry and then going out on a weekend and refereeing football matches, the department of work and pensions have every right to be sceptical… and those three welsh tossers deserve to spend a day in Sherry’s shoes the malingering thieving two-faced shitbags… The only worry is that Sherry’s GP seems to think that the claim will be inevitably delayed due to what he described as "Brinkmanship" within the DWP, in other words they expect you to fight them to prove Sherry is deserving of this money as opposed to them taking what they are told at face value… whatever happens we would not survive without it (Note I say survive… you do not live on DLA, you survive) So whatever the men in grey suits decide, we will have to appeal against any changes. Ironically when you look at Sherry’s actual disabilities, nothing much has changed in the past two years, physically, she remains as was if not worse, sure she has more confidence than she had, but the physical side has not changed, and probably never will… Shit happens when you party naked, as JT would say.

So Rob wants Pizza for tea, Sherry is tired from having to go to the Doctors at 9.30 this morning and therefore missing out on 4 hours sleep in bed (Never the same on the sofa) so I must away…

Remember to be nice to each other and if you see an old man with grey hair walking a dog in Lichfield, his name is Colin and he is a banker.

xxxxxH

Evening all

Another day another Euro….

It is a miserable day here… being August it is raining constantly with occasional bursts of microwave quality sunshine… still can’t complain, I mean, we’re British so we should be used to crap weather during the Summers really shouldn’t we?

So what have you missed? Well we managed a trip away, a week of sun and wandering around the island of Menorca which must have been lovely before the British turned up and turned it into Blackpool on crack – our bit was quite nice, the villa was lovely and we all got some sun, but the island obviously built it’s tourist industry around lowest common denominator British tourists and therefore this jewel of limestone set in the top left corner of the med has a distinct air of fish and chips… but there are few Brits travelling there at the moment as the Euro is screwing the life out of the tourist industry to the Balearics.

Sherry’s bit – we have just had a letter from the Neurologists saying that he wants Sherry to have another MRI scan on her mid and lower back as the reflex tests did not give him conclusive proof of what was going on causing the numbness of the legs… he has intimated that something is restricting the main nerves from the spine to the legs but it is not restricting the blood flow… fucking frustrating when a set of tests show something is wrong but not what – it means that the speculation of last week as to the whole "Is it cancer is it MS?" starts again… Sherry is ok in that she is relaxed and enjoyed her holiday, she has started to worry about me for some reason, not helped by my thyroid gland finally giving up the ghost and the vet upping my thyroxine again… stuff it, what’s a gland or two between friends?

Sherry’s renal function is as solid as ever, helped in part by her inability to eat more than about 1000 calories a day, but then she sleeps for sixteen hours plus a day still, so it’s not like she needs a tonne of carbs to keep the home fires burning.

As for the rest of us, we are all still here, we squeak a little when we forget to take turns breathing and it is a task to keep the place in some semblance of order, but I have decided to move into the loft for storage so if anyone wants a significant heap of old books, toys and computers, please let me know.

Boring entry this one, I am tired and the will is weak… I shall improve.

Be nice

H

Evening all

I would like to take this opportunity (Again again again ad infernitum) to thank the surgical team at Southampton University hospital (…And all the support teams, CICU, Stroke and renal rehab, the list is endless) for the past two years…. Sherry passed through the two year marker on Thursday night watching football (Now that is a change!) and drinking orange juice and lemonade. .. So it was somewhat ironic that precisely two years after Sherry went into Southampton Uni. Hospital we were back there yesterday for some neurophysiolgical testing… which was a real giggle…

Having found a parking space (Sorry to the young lady in the Ford Focus but I am a total git when it comes to parking spaces in hospitals and my Vauxhall Zafira is a darn sight bigger than your Ford so … I win!) We walked at a sedate pace through to the Neuro unit (Sod writing neurophysiology every time!) showing Sherry the sites on the way – the window she occupied in the CICU, the Burger King and Upper crust sandwich shop, Stockshop for all those size 22 needs, etc, etc – When we arrived it was a little concerning that we were the only people there (It wouldn’t be the first time I had got the dates wrong for an appointment). Sherry and I were ushered into a room which contained one really huge, really knackered Parker knoll recliner (Laziboy for our American and Canadian cousins) and a P.C with wires hanging from it.

The tests involved having a stimulation pulse being applied to the ankles then the wrists one at a time, and the stimuli being monitored by a bank of electrodes on Sherry’s scalp. Results in 14 working days or so to the Neuro guru in Winchester… so the wait continues – anyway, we then managed lunch at a big garden centre (Nice place, waitress service, rare these days) followed by a spot of plant browsing which is always a shame as we have no room for anymore plants.

This weekend is going to be a real doozy – Chris is moving home tomorrow lunchtime and we are off to Chester to pick up Nici’s kit for her to move back in Sunday – taking turns breathing will become a new sport… Chris and Nici have both been home recently to celebrate my birthday – lots of smellies and the same pair of socks that has passed between us over and over again for years (it’s an in-jokette – one pair of thick woollen brown socks that has been passed as a present for several years… tee hee!)

Love to all, gotta go and help Robert fill in application forms for a students job at Sainsbury – when I worked there I went into the manager and asked nicely and got the job, now you have a twenty e-page application form and have to supply referees… back later.

Love to all; be nice to each other…

H

Evening all

I, sorry, we, have three kids – they have all been through the same year eleven trauma of the GCSE, which as we all know stands for Generally competent some excuses… or General certificate of secondary education…

Child one, (names have been changed to protect the innocent) worked like a demon to achieve her passes in all subjects, no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of the illusive piece of revision that might have added that single mark that turns the average C into a much sexier B.

Child Two (Same drill) two years later seemed to take a different path, much more relaxed he cruised through revision from our perspective and again came up with a fine cluster of the right alphabetical Viagra at the end off his secondary education to put a semi into the shorts of his college lecturers.

Child three has just spoken to me saying that he is looking forward to tomorrows exam as it is only half an hour long… right… so subject not withstanding, timescales for examinations are the key criteria to success? MY word is that the looming presence of the retake fairy I see hovering like a spectre before me? Have we missed the boat on this one? Did we not see this coming (NO?)?

Time will tell… what is the promotion scale within KFC?

As for Sherry’s numb bum et al, no news is no news… in comparison the little old lady who we still regularly visit (Entry number one, two years ago!) had a fun packed day at the hospital to be told that she is going blind in her left eye and her right eye could follow suit and that she has a really advanced skin carcinoma on her nose that will have to be removed…. At 89 having re-constructive surgery on the tip of your nose is not something she is ready for or really understands…put the kettle on…

Keep warm and friendly

H

Evening all

Stuff me sideways – sometimes you should really take your own advice – for those of you who have read the Blog from the beginning you may remember my advice about what not to do when visiting people in intensive care? One/ don’t listen to the supposition of the medical teams – it is 95% guess work, two/ Never, but never look up the aforementioned suppositions on the internet when you get home as the resultant panic attack might put you in an adjoining bed to your spouse and finally three/ never watch the monitors as they occasionally go tits up and you immediately think that the patient you are visiting has taken that final step and walked towards the light (Which I have to say is a supposition on its own… eh?)

SO, I digress (again).. Why do I not take my own advice? This is a hypothetical question to which I do not expect answers (Apart from Jeff and Martin that always have an opinion on my ramblings)

We (sherry and I) went to see the Neurologist that I mentioned the other day… getting a call back under the NHS is not always a good thing when it comes through that quickly… both of us had had the same thoughts though we hadn’t discussed our fears as we are British and we wear socks with sandals in the summer…

The consultation was a little scary in that we neither had any idea what was coming up, but we where there on time and were not kept waiting too long – nice consultant type, young, good looking in a non homosexual way, and generally very forthcoming.

What put the willies up me was the big screen entertainment of Sherry’s latest CT scan results – in full Technicolor on a real big flat screen as well. With a modern scan you get these cross sections of whatever bit of the anatomy they have fed through the washing machine scanner – 5mm slices of head without the whole Tesco meat counter thing – So as the consultant flicked through the slices of sherry’s head and therefore her brain we got a front row picture of the damage caused by her stroke nearly two years ago…

Define "Small stroke" for me again?

As these images popped up, the right hand side of Sherry’s brain suddenly changed colour from a rather natty pink hue (Who chose the colour pallet, I thought that brains where grey?) To a rather murky purple… it was not the colour, it was the size, that all encompassing slate of damage that stretched from the centre of the brain to the side of her skull, the whole right lobe was, for many many images, totally gone… And she is still here….then the images changed back to the "Normal" brain shape and colour…

SO I now have a new picture to fall asleep with at the back of my mind, that is of the total miracle (There is no God, you can have miracles without a deity) that is the human ability to survive trauma and carry on – how can you survive with half your brain turned to black pudding? Remarkable, truly remarkable…

Anyhoo, the long and the short of the consultation is that the Neurologist couldn’t see what was causing the numbness so he has referred the scan result to a Neuro-radiologist – so the search continues – he agreed that something was definitely not good but that it was not a head thing and that his money was on it being spinal…. Oh joy unbounded – with the option of a spinal Tap (Not the rock group, the needle) or, to use the correct term, a lumbar puncture (WATCH OUT FOR THE NERVES MISTER REEVES!) In order to assess for infected spinal tissue (Sh’ite!… this can get no better (Famous last words fat lad))

So we await the Neuro radiologists report and are now up for some Neuro physio (How do you give a brain physiotherapy?)

…So, how’s your week been?

Gotta go, time to feed the clan

Xx

H