We Skyped Kelly last night and were gobsmacked with her news about breaking up with Craig - we never saw that coming - not in a million years.
Big decision for her next week - she's due to fly out to Oz, and if she has to do it alone, she's going to have to find a way of getting from Sydney to Adelaide (flying probably), then find suitable accommodation. She's a brave girl and I'm sure she'll cope whatever she decides, but most of all, we hope she is happy and content.
Until we spoke with Kelly last night, my only concern was for my Dad. He's not taking food or drink, nor medication for his heart, arthritis, anaemia or any of the other conditions he's got. Barry got a call from Erskine yesterday to say that they are going to double his morphine patches to two - the pain must be coming from his stomach if he's not eating at all. Meghan went in to see him yesterday, and Dawn was in last night - they both said that, although he looks terrible, he was actually quite lucid and they were able to have a fairly reasonable chat with him - the best for years, according to Meghan.
This morning, Barry and Dawn are meeting with the Doctor at Erskine. What's inevitable is that Dad is going to dehydrate again - and normally they would take him in to hospital, hydrate him and send him back - but it's just a vicious circle now, and I'm not sure what the Doctor will say about it today.
Then there's Ross - still no work prospects - nor motivation it seems. I'm now trying to get him to help me draft an advert in the Piper to sell his services as IT support. He did some work for Anne last week - although he still hasn't invoiced her for it - and he could probably at least earn some money from this - and eventually get some of the cars removed from our drive too!
Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Incompetence - it does make me angry!
I was back at the dentist yesterday to have another impression made for the replacement crown - I hope she gives the lab a row about their cock-up with the first one. Anyway, she wasn't having that good a day herself - she's normally very good, but when she took out my (3rd) temporary crown it fell down my throat and I almost swallowed it! She had to quickly push me up from the horizontal position so that I could cough it out!
I was home early as a result of this, but Jo (bad back) had surprisingly gone off to her Monday swimming group, so it was only me and Ross in the house. We took the opportunity to move a few bits and bobs that have been lying around - the new music cabinet is now upstairs in the living room - I now have to figure out how much of the back I have to take out to get the hi-fi stuff inside it - there's no aperture for this in the cabinet.
We also took the yellow room headboard down to the garage - Jo had it removed when the painter was in - although it looks nice, it leaves a mark on the wall. The 2 old TV's were also removed from the computer room down to the garage - now there's a problem that we need to tackle soon - there's so much junk in the garage and we need to get rid of it before we can begin to tidy up in there.
Then I walked up to the Legion to have a chat with the guys who are coming on the golfing trip to Marrakech in February. There's been a bit of a debate about whether to stay in the resort hotel or just down the road in apartments/villas. The latter is more sociable but there were a few who fancied the hotel instead and when I managed to get a much improved price from one of the agents, we all agreed that it was such a good deal that we should go to the hotel. I went home content that we at last had a resolution and went ahead and booked the flights.
This morning the agent comes on the phone and gives me some waffle about the hotel not having enough rooms available that week - despite the fact that I had asked him yesterday and he told me it would be no problem. Very soon, however, I sussed out that the real problem is he had cocked up his quotation and it was now going to be 50% dearer! Words were exchanged.
So, today, it's start all over again - how frustrating!
I forgot to say that we had a nice day on Sunday at the golf club at our annual end of season match between Scotland & the Rest of the World, which is followed by lunch in the clubhouse. It's always a nice occasion - and the buffet was very good.
Incidentally, after many years of putting off, I'm finally getting round to completing wills for the two of us - but don't hold your breath - we intend to be around for a while yet!
I was home early as a result of this, but Jo (bad back) had surprisingly gone off to her Monday swimming group, so it was only me and Ross in the house. We took the opportunity to move a few bits and bobs that have been lying around - the new music cabinet is now upstairs in the living room - I now have to figure out how much of the back I have to take out to get the hi-fi stuff inside it - there's no aperture for this in the cabinet.
We also took the yellow room headboard down to the garage - Jo had it removed when the painter was in - although it looks nice, it leaves a mark on the wall. The 2 old TV's were also removed from the computer room down to the garage - now there's a problem that we need to tackle soon - there's so much junk in the garage and we need to get rid of it before we can begin to tidy up in there.
Then I walked up to the Legion to have a chat with the guys who are coming on the golfing trip to Marrakech in February. There's been a bit of a debate about whether to stay in the resort hotel or just down the road in apartments/villas. The latter is more sociable but there were a few who fancied the hotel instead and when I managed to get a much improved price from one of the agents, we all agreed that it was such a good deal that we should go to the hotel. I went home content that we at last had a resolution and went ahead and booked the flights.
This morning the agent comes on the phone and gives me some waffle about the hotel not having enough rooms available that week - despite the fact that I had asked him yesterday and he told me it would be no problem. Very soon, however, I sussed out that the real problem is he had cocked up his quotation and it was now going to be 50% dearer! Words were exchanged.
So, today, it's start all over again - how frustrating!
I forgot to say that we had a nice day on Sunday at the golf club at our annual end of season match between Scotland & the Rest of the World, which is followed by lunch in the clubhouse. It's always a nice occasion - and the buffet was very good.
Incidentally, after many years of putting off, I'm finally getting round to completing wills for the two of us - but don't hold your breath - we intend to be around for a while yet!
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Dad's assessment
Barry updated me with how it went yesterday afternoon - Dawn was too upset to talk about it. Palliative care is what it's all about now, and Dawn and Barry yesterday signed the DNR forms. It's just a question of time now.
Friday, 2 October 2009
Busy week - but blogs back up to date now
It's been all go since we got back from Exeter on Monday. Tuesday morning was meetings in Fraserburgh, then dash back to Aberdeen for more meetings. Wednesday was Aberdeen in the morning then down to Glasgow in the afternoon. I met Dawn at Bridge of Allan (where she now works) and we went for a short stroll and sat on a park bench for an hour or two.
Dawn headed home and I made my way past the horrible roadworks round Cumbernauld through to Erskine Glasgow to see Dad. I thought my 6:15 pm arrival would be early enough to see Dad, but, blow me, he was already fast asleep in bed! I did waken him and he acknowledged me but he was dead tired and was in some pain. I discovered that he had fallen out of bed again on Sunday night and was still complaining about the pain. The staff had examined what he'd done and had apparently put a plaster or two on - Dad won't take any medication. The doctor is scheduled to examine him again this morning.
I sat in silence and half light with Dad for an hour or so - it felt a bit like a death bed scene. His sleep was fitful and was punctuated with small cries of pain. I told the staff I would be back about the same time tomorrow and it would be good if I could see him awake this time.
I spent the night at Barry and Helen's and then headed off to Glasgow airport on Thursday morning - I had been invited to a corporate golf day out at Macrihanish (http://www.machrihanishdunes.com/) so we were catching a plane to Campbeltown. If you're wondering why we didn't drive, you obviously don't know the geography of the West of Scotland - and the Mull of Kintyre in particular - check http://www.mapquest.co.uk/mq/maps/mapAddress.do?cboCountry=GB&txtCity=campbeltown.
We boarded the aircraft but were then told we had to get off again - technical fault, which the engineers would try to fix. We waited for a while but were then told that they couldn't fix it quickly, so they had had to order another plane which would be in shortly. Again another wait until the plane arrived and the crew then got back on board and they were just about to tell us to join them when we heard the same announcement - technical fault again! By the time they would have been able to get a 3rd plane in, it would have been too late to get there, play golf and still make the return flight, so we had no option but to abort mission.
What to do now? We had all written the day off already, so we decided to go and play golf locally at Ranfurly Castle GC, Bridge of Weir (http://www.ranfurlycastlegolfclub.co.uk/), where 3 of the guys were members anyway. It was actually very enjoyable, but we couldn't help feeling we'd missed a great weather window for travelling down to Macrihanish. We've been promised a return visit next year, but, with our luck, it'll be blowing a hoolie and p.....g it down then! This was me yesterday in front of the clubhouse at Ranfurly Castle:
As promised, I went back to Erskine to see Dad - and we was up and awake this time. He has regressed considerably, however - he's but a shell of the man he used to be - hardly surprising, considering he hardly eats, drinks or take his medication. See for yourself:
He hasn't been walking since he went in to hospital - and I don't know if he'll be capable any more either. Dawn and I tried to get him up to at least support him back to his room, but each time we tried, he was in pain and so we gave up - perhaps he has cracked a rib or something. We had to get the staff to bring in the hoist to get him up and into a wheelchair to get him back to his room. How sad - his time is coming soon, I fear. We both noticed how much everyone in Flanders House - not just Dad - had deteriorated over the last year.
The physiotherapist, as well as the doctor, will see Dad today and we'll know more then.
Dawn and I went back to Barry's for a cup of tea - and I caught Dawn and Helen unawares with this shot:
This morning, I headed in to Glasgow city centre for my 7:30 am meeting. I had to be on the road quickly after this as my crown had finally arrived (from Switzerland) and the dentist was going to fit it at 11:15 am. This meant I would have to miss out on Dad's 2nd six-monthly assessment at Erskine - but Dawn and Barry were there anyway.
I got to the dentist's in good time - but the crown didn't fit!!!! Now I have to go back again on Monday to get another impression made of my jaw and then they send off for another one - here we go again! And I missed out on Dad's assessment because of this! Grrr!
I've been called in to play football again tonight, but Jo reckons I shouldn't play, what with my run of luck!
Dawn headed home and I made my way past the horrible roadworks round Cumbernauld through to Erskine Glasgow to see Dad. I thought my 6:15 pm arrival would be early enough to see Dad, but, blow me, he was already fast asleep in bed! I did waken him and he acknowledged me but he was dead tired and was in some pain. I discovered that he had fallen out of bed again on Sunday night and was still complaining about the pain. The staff had examined what he'd done and had apparently put a plaster or two on - Dad won't take any medication. The doctor is scheduled to examine him again this morning.
I sat in silence and half light with Dad for an hour or so - it felt a bit like a death bed scene. His sleep was fitful and was punctuated with small cries of pain. I told the staff I would be back about the same time tomorrow and it would be good if I could see him awake this time.
I spent the night at Barry and Helen's and then headed off to Glasgow airport on Thursday morning - I had been invited to a corporate golf day out at Macrihanish (http://www.machrihanishdunes.com/) so we were catching a plane to Campbeltown. If you're wondering why we didn't drive, you obviously don't know the geography of the West of Scotland - and the Mull of Kintyre in particular - check http://www.mapquest.co.uk/mq/maps/mapAddress.do?cboCountry=GB&txtCity=campbeltown.
We boarded the aircraft but were then told we had to get off again - technical fault, which the engineers would try to fix. We waited for a while but were then told that they couldn't fix it quickly, so they had had to order another plane which would be in shortly. Again another wait until the plane arrived and the crew then got back on board and they were just about to tell us to join them when we heard the same announcement - technical fault again! By the time they would have been able to get a 3rd plane in, it would have been too late to get there, play golf and still make the return flight, so we had no option but to abort mission.
What to do now? We had all written the day off already, so we decided to go and play golf locally at Ranfurly Castle GC, Bridge of Weir (http://www.ranfurlycastlegolfclub.co.uk/), where 3 of the guys were members anyway. It was actually very enjoyable, but we couldn't help feeling we'd missed a great weather window for travelling down to Macrihanish. We've been promised a return visit next year, but, with our luck, it'll be blowing a hoolie and p.....g it down then! This was me yesterday in front of the clubhouse at Ranfurly Castle:
As promised, I went back to Erskine to see Dad - and we was up and awake this time. He has regressed considerably, however - he's but a shell of the man he used to be - hardly surprising, considering he hardly eats, drinks or take his medication. See for yourself:
He hasn't been walking since he went in to hospital - and I don't know if he'll be capable any more either. Dawn and I tried to get him up to at least support him back to his room, but each time we tried, he was in pain and so we gave up - perhaps he has cracked a rib or something. We had to get the staff to bring in the hoist to get him up and into a wheelchair to get him back to his room. How sad - his time is coming soon, I fear. We both noticed how much everyone in Flanders House - not just Dad - had deteriorated over the last year.
The physiotherapist, as well as the doctor, will see Dad today and we'll know more then.
Dawn and I went back to Barry's for a cup of tea - and I caught Dawn and Helen unawares with this shot:
This morning, I headed in to Glasgow city centre for my 7:30 am meeting. I had to be on the road quickly after this as my crown had finally arrived (from Switzerland) and the dentist was going to fit it at 11:15 am. This meant I would have to miss out on Dad's 2nd six-monthly assessment at Erskine - but Dawn and Barry were there anyway.
I got to the dentist's in good time - but the crown didn't fit!!!! Now I have to go back again on Monday to get another impression made of my jaw and then they send off for another one - here we go again! And I missed out on Dad's assessment because of this! Grrr!
I've been called in to play football again tonight, but Jo reckons I shouldn't play, what with my run of luck!
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