Ian R. Stewart Family Blog
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!
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Exeter weekend
It's been a busy week since we came back from Exeter - more of that in later blogs - but here's some of the photos from a lovely weekend.
Our hotel was well situated - right on the City Wall. However, when I got up on Saturday morning, I decided to walk out and buy a paper, but managed to walk in totally the wrong direction. Still, I did spot these unusual porch covers on some of the houses:
This is our hotel - on Iron Bridge - which you can just see beyond the hotel:
and here's the reason why Jo has no photos on her blog - we walked to Cathedral Square and she tried to take a photo of me, but realised her camera had no battery power!:
We took the short train trip down to Topsham to visit the Bridge Inn, which had come highly recommended to us by Bill Miller, whose Auntie Pam stayed in Topsham before moving to Banchory a few years ago. It's a quirky little pub which only serves its beer gravity fed from casks through a serving hatch out to the car park - you can see it behind me, but it's still shut as it wasn't even noon when we arrived there:
We had a few beers there and then walked round Topsham and even managed 40 winks in the sun overlooking the estuary! In the evening, back at the hotel, Jo posed in front of the fish pond in the walled garden at our hotel:
We came across one of Exeter's tourist attractions - "The House That Moved" - but we were both left distinctly unimpressed, but I managed to get this shot - in twilight with the flash off - of the houses across the street:
On Sunday we went on a guided walking tour which took us round the City Wall to Rougemont Castle and this spooky sign:
Next we headed towards Custom Quay, and, on the way, we came across some old buildings and bridges, so I set up the camera - a little low down as it happens - but trust Jo to overdo things in bending down to get in shot!:
Our hotel was well situated - right on the City Wall. However, when I got up on Saturday morning, I decided to walk out and buy a paper, but managed to walk in totally the wrong direction. Still, I did spot these unusual porch covers on some of the houses:
This is our hotel - on Iron Bridge - which you can just see beyond the hotel:
and here's the reason why Jo has no photos on her blog - we walked to Cathedral Square and she tried to take a photo of me, but realised her camera had no battery power!:
We took the short train trip down to Topsham to visit the Bridge Inn, which had come highly recommended to us by Bill Miller, whose Auntie Pam stayed in Topsham before moving to Banchory a few years ago. It's a quirky little pub which only serves its beer gravity fed from casks through a serving hatch out to the car park - you can see it behind me, but it's still shut as it wasn't even noon when we arrived there:
We had a few beers there and then walked round Topsham and even managed 40 winks in the sun overlooking the estuary! In the evening, back at the hotel, Jo posed in front of the fish pond in the walled garden at our hotel:
We came across one of Exeter's tourist attractions - "The House That Moved" - but we were both left distinctly unimpressed, but I managed to get this shot - in twilight with the flash off - of the houses across the street:
On Sunday we went on a guided walking tour which took us round the City Wall to Rougemont Castle and this spooky sign:
Next we headed towards Custom Quay, and, on the way, we came across some old buildings and bridges, so I set up the camera - a little low down as it happens - but trust Jo to overdo things in bending down to get in shot!:
We made it to the very attractive Custom Quay area - and there seemed to be a Morris dancing competition going on - and, surprise, surprise, there were women taking part too!:
We went on one of the tourist walking trails - round the distinctly downmarket St Thomas' area of Exeter. Frankly, it was pretty cruddy, but we discovered a few interesting things about Exeter - including the great flood of 1960. The brightest point of the tour came almost at the very end when we stumbled upon the Royal Oak, situated on a lovely spot on the Exe - and I managed to finally get a pint of the local Otter Ale - served in a special Otter glass - can you make it out?:
The end of our trail - and what an exciting finish. We could hardly contain ourselves in hunting out the copper sheep's head described in our brochure:
and here it is - the sheep's head carved in copper in to a paving stone:
We went on one of the tourist walking trails - round the distinctly downmarket St Thomas' area of Exeter. Frankly, it was pretty cruddy, but we discovered a few interesting things about Exeter - including the great flood of 1960. The brightest point of the tour came almost at the very end when we stumbled upon the Royal Oak, situated on a lovely spot on the Exe - and I managed to finally get a pint of the local Otter Ale - served in a special Otter glass - can you make it out?:
The end of our trail - and what an exciting finish. We could hardly contain ourselves in hunting out the copper sheep's head described in our brochure:
and here it is - the sheep's head carved in copper in to a paving stone:
On Sunday evening we headed back to Cathedral Square to seek out somewhere to eat. On the way we heard music coming from the Well Tavern - the Old Porch Band were playing and they had the most unusual form of percussion - Appalachian clog dancing!:
We had a nice meal afterwards in Michael Caine's restaurant - no, not the actor, but the (apparently one-armed) celebrity chef.
On Monday morning we had planned to vist the Tudor House - but it was shut! Jo liked this property on the way back - Snayle House it was called:
Finally, lunch on Monday was at our hotel and we sat in the conservatory area and enjoyed a beer whilst waiting for our taxi to the airport:
Finally, lunch on Monday was at our hotel and we sat in the conservatory area and enjoyed a beer whilst waiting for our taxi to the airport:
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