Two blogs in one day! Things must be bad ....

It’s been a hell of a week since we got back from holiday!

While we were away, we got a phone call from Daughter One, an unusual enough event in itself. “Mum”, she wailed 2000 miles down the line to Crete, “I’ve broken my leg”.

Resisting the temptation to say “Well, what do you want me to do about it?”, I exhibited suitable motherly sympathy and asked all the right questions.

When we got back, I escorted her to East Surrey Hospital where she spent five hours of her life getting x-rays, a new plaster cast and seeing an orthopaedic consultant with no bedside manner whatsoever. She has broken the bottom end of her tibia, and is likely to be off work until Christmas. She cannot drive, which means that both she and the Granddaughter need to be ferried around to school, appointments etc. She will also go stir crazy not being able to do anything for twelve weeks.

Last weekend, Daughter Two went out clubbing with her friend Rosanna, who she is meant to be going on holiday with next Monday. Unfortunately, whilst getting cash out of a machine opposite said club at 1am on Sunday morning, they got mugged. Stereotypical situation – two young white women assaulted by two young black lads in hoodies, but fortunately no threatening behaviour with knives or anything. Daughter Two is OK apart from losing her stuff, a bit of a headache and a few bruises plus a fair dose of shock, but her friend is still in hospital and very poorly. She was assaulted quite hard and fell with a whack onto the pavement, hitting the back of her head. Apparently they cannot stop it bleeding, and she still cannot answer a full set of basic questions (ie what day is it?). It doesn’t look likely that they’ll be going away and we have to hope that this incident doesn’t have very sad repercussions. Poor Daughter Two!

Sister-In-Law has now also had some bad health news and has to go and see an oncologist. It may not be anything dreadful, but it’s worrying.

Work has deteriorated even further whilst I was away, and now I have to curb my working at home time to one day a week at least for a while to get a bunch of whinging, permanently dissatisfied staff back on track. Working at home two days each week has made the hideous commute bearable, and I am seriously concerned that I will have increased incidences of back and knee pain commuting four days a week. There’s no way I want to return to the days of daily Tramadol and ice packs.

So at the moment, as far as I can see it, the only way is up. Despite having come back from Crete for the third time this year only ten days ago, I feel like I’ve never been away. My stress levels are through the roof and God knows what my blood pressure reading is; I suppose I ought to take it as the next time I go along for my tablets I know Dr Williams will ask for it.

There is, of course, a lot to look forward to in the remaining months of 2013. Chris’s birthday, our tenth anniversary with a couple of great concerts in December and two nights away to celebrate, plus another trip to Crete.

The way things are here, this time I seriously might not come back.

Aches and pains!

Aches and pains!

We all get them, and as we get old they seem to get more severe and more frequent.

Regular readers will know that I have suffered from a prolapsed disk in my lumbar spine for about three years now. I have no idea what caused it, and I suspect it is linked to an old injury I got in my twenties starting a pull start lawn mower. I have had three lots of steroid injections directly into the disk and the spinal column to try and treat it, to no avail. Back in February I had laser treatment, which basically kills the trapped nerve endings where the disk has collapsed and therefore kills the pain. It has been pretty effective, but whether it lasts long term is anyone’s guess.

I have also, in the past year, had an arthroscopy on both my knees, where the cartilage was shot to pieces. It has obviously been deteriorating for some time, exacerbated by a fall two years ago catching a stray dog in the garden. They both still ache when it rains or it is cold, and I am stiff as a board when I get out of bed in the morning, which takes about ten minutes to wear off.

You will also know that I have bizarrely developed tennis elbow in my right arm, no doubt due to all the computer work and typing I do. With an ambition to do freelance writing, that isn’t going to get better any time soon. All these problems with joints and cartilage are now worrying me that I will develop arthritis when I get even more decrepit than I am at the moment.

The latest thing, as I blogged the other day, is my blood pressure which is now sky high as are my cholesterol levels. Honestly, if I make retirement at all it will be a miracle.

The Hubby is now complaining about back pain, which he first experienced when we were on holiday. A small, easy movement one day turned him into a cripple with pain shooting up his spine into his neck. I gave him a couple of my Tramadol and some Ibuprofen which he took and which helped, and after a day or so the pain wore off, but it has returned and he now needs to go and see the doc.

I blame my hormones for most of my daily aches, but I don’t know what his excuse is. Men do have a menopause, don’t they? No doubt weight and fitness could improve and that would help us overcome some of it, but not all.

We will just have to focus on ourselves for a change, and not spend all our time running around after other people. How many time shave we said that we need to diet, get fit and try to have a healthier lifestyle with more relaxed weekends and down time?  More than I can count, and so far we haven’t achieved it. Having both a last found a partner that we do want to spend the rest of our lives with, it would be nice if that life was long and healthy.

Oh, hello Doctor Williams……