A couple of day’s worth of Blog….

On Monday morning, we had the greatest pleasure of Skyping Graham and Gail. It was so lovely to ‘see’ them and to mull over what has been happening in our lives in recent times, since Christmas. They are well, despite the aches and pains of getting older and their specific ailments. And they were on top form, so we thoroughly enjoyed our chat.

As soon as we had finished nattering, we hot-footed it to Solihull for John to do his exercise class. All good there, and John did really well with some cycling, weights, and stand-ups. In fact, I can see an improvement in his strength since Paul did the little video for him to follow and, although he’s still a bit wobbly and breathless, he is firmer in his walking. Fingers crossed the improvement continues.

Naturally, when we got home, we then slumped on the sofa – and that was it then, for the rest of the day!

Great excitement, however, was that the new wheelchair arrived that John had ordered. It is an electric one, with a remote control, so John’s plan is to use it for walks and he can sit in it when he’s tired and get out and walk when he’s not. Mind you, it’s come from China and the instructions, although they are written in English, seem double-Dutch….. some translating required, I think!

The following day, Tuesday, we were back at Solihull, but this time it was the hospital and not the gym, for an appointment with the Orthopaedic consultant on John’s hip. Bless the NHS….. it was a case of good cop/bad cop….. John was referred for his arthritic hip two years ago and the appointment just came through now. But the appointment itself went swimmingly, even if the outcome wasn’t quite what we wanted to hear. Chat to the consultant: “I’ll need another X-Ray, I’m afraid,” he said apologetically. We wandered along the corridor and were more or less straight in for the x-ray. We wandered back and straight into the consultant’s room for the result. “You can see that it is bone-on-bone here, and here,” He said, pointing out the areas on the x-ray. “Are you wanting a full hip replacement? Or an injection? Or do nothing – just carry on as you are?” John said he’ll carry on for now. Can’t face more treatment.

At home, we had another afternoon of TV watching – to the extent that I started watching a series called, ‘Magpie Murders’ and went on to binge-watch the lot until nearly midnight. Tut-tut-tut…..

Some days are definitely better than others. One thing that helps John of course, is company. The chatter and banter helps takes his mind off his difficulties, so today was a ‘good’ day! We met up with Dave and Chris, and Rob and Kay, who were up from Devon, and we had a fabulous lunch and general chat that went on all afternoon. The restaurant had to kick us out in the end! We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and there wasn’t a moment when we weren’t chattering away. Lovely.

Naturally, our thoughts turned to our lengthy friendship and we agreed that for all of us it’s at least 55 years, and for some of us, it’s almost sixty years since we first met. Crumbs! How did that happen? Here we all are – looking not a day over 21!!

Tonight was Quiz Night and another cracking evening. Although John was very tired, he stayed with it and enjoyed the challenge – as did we all. A great evening of banter was just what the doctor ordered!

Take care everyone. God bless.