Author: anniesleath@hotmail.co.uk

Since I last blogged, the ol’ man is out of hospital and clambering through treacle as best he can. Only a couple of fainting fits since he came home and he managed a walk the other day, so things might be on the up.

However, the hospital weren’t quite sure what was wrong with him other than diagnosing a chest infection and possibly a norovirus to account for the sickness and diarrhoea – or was it an adverse reaction to the antibiotics that he was taking? If it was, they haven’t worried about it as they’ve sent him home with the same ones to take, which he finished today.

He is still rather weak and wobbly and totters about the house as best he can, chairs and stools strategically placed for him to sink into if need be!

John came home on Sunday afternoon, to an empty house. I had actually made it to Ragdale Hall for my long weekend away with the College Crew, and Andrew had not yet arrived home, having mislaid the keys to the car (again). However, all was well and John managed OK before youngest son arrived to look after him – although, according to Andrew here he is, looking for his marbles……. hehehe. Cheeky!!

Meanwhile, I had been having a very nice time with the girls at Ragdale and they were incredibly supportive in my hour of need.

Here we all are, looking as happy as Larry as if we haven’t a care in the world….. I wonder if it’s the wine wot did it?

Sue P had a bit of bad luck/good luck though while we were there, though. We wandered about in the spa, heating ourselves up and then cooling ourselves down, when she suddenly noticed that the diamond from her engagement ring was missing. Oh, my! We were all gutted for her and spent a good few hours puzzling over where it might have come out.

The next day, on her own in her room, she emerged from the bathroom, only to look down and see something glinting on the carpet in the doorway. It was the diamond from her ring!! Phew!! What luck!!!

It was a good job that she and Lizzie had decided not to have their room tidied but to have the glass of Prosecco that had been offered instead, otherwise it might well have been swept away. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief, as you can imagine.

The relief was clearly too much for Sue though, as she succumbed to a horrible cold on the last but one night, and spent it in bed from 5 o’clock in the afternoon.

Despite me worrying about John in hospital, Diamond-Gate and the possibility of a Spring cold being shared, we all had a lovely time. It was very special this year as well because, for the first time in all the years we have been going, our dear friend, Linda, joined us for the day on the Friday. It was so lovely to all be together for once. Yay! Here’s to next year!

This week has been a slow one. I have felt very flat since I got home and John has been keen to belong to the sofa for some R & R after the hectic hospital stay. However, the ol’ man is determined to improve, so he’s bought a book. Just got to read it now……

Take care everyone. God bless.

So, we had a Midnight Dash last night! John became increasingly unwell as the evening wore on and was sickly just as he went to bed. I had gone into the computer room to do my Blog when I heard a thump! on the floor. When I went into the bedroom, there was John in the ensuite, on the long white telephone….. poor man. He felt terribly unwell.

The service from 111 was not too bad. Everyone was kindness itself. There was only one issue and that was when the Out-of-Hours doctor from the Badger service tried to phone. What a crazy system that is! They phone you but there is zero sound when you pick up. The first couple of times, I missed the call and it went to my answer machine and I couldn’t hear a word that was being said.

Eventually, the 111 operator advised me just to hold on when the call came in. Which I did, of course, to no avail and text messages arrived severally: ‘Hello, We’ve tried to reach you but you weren’t available. Unfortunately your appointment with Badger has been cancelled.’ When I was available the messages pinged in as the call cut off after 12 minutes of holding on. Grr….. just what you don’t want when you’re tired and anxious!

Anyway, eventually one of the doctors did get through and, having listened patiently to all the symptoms and listened to John being sick for about ten minutes, he advised that John go to hospital. “Dial 999 and get an ambulance,” he said. Ha! As if I was going to do that! We know where that takes us. Over to Walsgrave. And, although they are very good over there, they don’t know John’s history.

On asking the question, the doctor agreed that it would be OK for me to take John across to Heartlands, if I felt confident enough to do so. Well, I did. So I did.

Poor John. I made him get out of bed, get dressed and trundle out to the car at half past midnight. Bless him. By then he was a bit muddled and really felt bemused at being transported across to Birmingham at that time of night.

Nevertheless, we made it and I dropped him off outside A&E and went to park the car. The only trouble is, it’s been a long time since we attended A&E and the entrance I’d dropped him off at, wasn’t an entrance at all. It was the holding bay for all the patients who’d arrived by ambulance and were being attended by the crew.

Rammed, it was. Not an inch spare. And John nowhere to be seen. “You’ve come to the wrong door, love,” said one of the paramedics, when I finally got up there. He ushered me out and gestured that I should go down a steep hill, up a lot of steps to the new A&E reception area. Oh, my heart broke. I imagined poor John trying to make that journey feeling so ill and I wept for him.

He wasn’t there though, was he? The receptionist was doing something else when I arrived and didn’t leap up to attend to me. I hovered, and then paced about, searching for John among the hordes of people in the waiting room. He definitely wasn’t there. Finally, she looked on the computer and told me that John was over the other side. Yep! That’s right. From whence I had come.

When I finally caught up with my errant husband, he was entertaining a very nice young lady at his bedside. And they seemed to be getting on like a house on fire. I was definitely de trop. Mostly. It transpired that some of the things John was telling the doctor were not quite accurate. “Have you been off your food?” she asked. “Oh, no,” said John. I coughed. “That’s not exactly right though, is it?” I said. “You haven’t been hungry for several days and haven’t been able to finish your dinner?” Oh… that! Well, that was nothing.

Anyway, the upshot is that the ol’ man has been admitted to hospital for intravenous antibiotics and rehydration. The fainting will have been due to the infection apparently, and the sickness may have been due to a reaction to the oral antibiotics.

John spent all night and all day in A&E because there were no beds, and is exhausted. Finally, this evening just before nine o’clock they transferred him to the respiratory ward, so fingers crossed that he starts to improve now. He’s still a bit muddled and very, very weary.

I am due to go to Ragdale Hall tomorrow for a lovely, long, relaxing weekend….. now there’s another story, but it’ll have to wait.

Take care everyone. God bless. Prayers appreciated……

I didn’t blog yesterday because a) we hadn’t done anything of note; b) I was tired; and c) the computer had no internet for some reason. Sorted that out today though, and we’re now back up and running!

That’s a bit more than I can say for John. Although he isn’t fainting, he’s definitely not up and running and still feeling under the weather. I am not sure what to do with him next, but we’ll see how we go on.

However, we had a lovely afternoon which cheered us up no end. Pete and Dawn came round and we had a good laugh together. Mostly at all our misfortunes but still, we made the most of the stories in the telling! At one point, we were all belly laughing so much that our sides ached. Well, mine did, anyway.

John had stayed in bed until lunch-time and shook a leg to get downstairs in time for our guests. I had got up earlier and pottered about with one thing and another. There is always something to do, isn’t there?

I had booked a mobile valeting service to come and wash the cars this morning, so he came just before mid-day and beavered away making both cars sparkling clean. Lovely jubbly!

I took on an additional job however, when I suspected that the drainage for the car-washing water might be clogged and I thought I ought to clear it out. So I got out a bucket, brush and trowel to do the deed. The drainage channel was full of bits from where we’d had the flood last year and also extra bits from when the roof tiles were repaired. Easy and satisfying job. All in all, I was pleased I’d sorted it out, and the water from the car washing flowed away quite nicely.

We just watched a bit of TV this evening, but I noticed that John seemed to be not feeling so well as the evening wore on. He was feeling a bit sickly and couldn’t quite face taking his painkillers let alone his evening tablets. “I think I’ll go to bed,” he said.

When I finally caught up with him he was being sick. Oh, dear! A call to 111 and we’ll see what they say. More news tomorrow folks…….

Take care everyone. God bless.

We chose to spend Sunday at home as John recuperates from his chest infection and fainting fits. And…… breaking news! No fainting today!

John had a cuppa and breakfast in bed this morning and afterwards thought he’d have a bit more sleep. I left him to rest on and pottered about with a bit of washing and a bit more tidying. The house hasn’t quite recovered from nearly six weeks of neglect when I felt too weary to be bothered – and there’s more than enough jobs to keep an army of cleaners occupied for a few more weeks yet.

John got up at lunchtime and sat watching TV for much of the afternoon. The sun was shining so brightly and it looked warm outside, so I suggested we sit out and take in some Vitamin D for half an hour. He agreed, even though he was still in his PJs, and wrapped himself in a blanket to keep warm. It was lovely.

And that’s been more or less it for today! A bit more TV watching this evening and the day has gone by in a flash, just like that! No wonder we keep wondering where it’s all going. We’re snoozing it away!

Take care everyone. God bless.

First thing, yesterday morning, I was on the phone to the Doctor’s Surgery to make an appointment for John to be checked out. I was 8th in the queue and waited patiently. When I got through, I provided all John’s details to make the appointment but, just as I was congratulating myself on being successful, she asked what was the matter with him. I told her he’d been fainting and he had a jippy tummy. “Oh,” she laughed, “I’ve just done an appointment for John!” I laughed too. Clearly, in our household, left hand doesn’t know what right hand is doing and it turns out that, from different rooms, we’d both more or less phoned the surgery at the same time!

Anyway, before the appointment at 11.20, we called across to the Kenilworth Newbies to return the washing we’d done. We only stayed for about half an hour because we didn’t want to be late to see the doctor. We were just saying our goodbyes and I was giving Danielle a big hug because we won’t see them for a week, when there was a bit of kerfuffle between John and and Michael. John had stood up and was giving Michael a hug when he clearly fainted again and Michael had to hang onto him and lower him back into the chair.

“I don’t know what happened there,” said John. “I mean, I was already standing up when all I heard was Michael saying, ‘I’ve got you,’ and I found myself sitting back down.” We didn’t know either, but we were glad to be en route to the Doc next.

John normally sees Dr Horsley. However, he was having a day off so it as A. N. Other instead. Unfortunately, the doctor assigned to John was running at least 45 minutes late, having had to deal with an emergency earlier on. Anticipating that the delay might be extended as there were at least five patients before us, I went back to Reception. “Is there anything you can do to get John in sooner?” I asked. “I don’t think he can wait for nearly an hour. He’s not feeling well.”

There was some shuffling of appointments and John was quickly called in to see Dr Carlile instead. What a relief. She was, of course, brilliant, as she always is, and she explained that John has a chest infection and developing pneumonia. His blood pressure was low but she thought the fainting may be to do with the infection. A course of antibiotics and some steroids were prescribed and we are hoping for the best.

Ha! So much for ‘the best’! John got up to go the bathroom this morning and, just as he was emerging from it, he found himself on the floor between the bed and the wardrobe, with no idea how he’d got there. Not only that, but he’d had an intimate encounter with the bedstead and seems to have cracked a rib or two as he fell backwards against the edge. Co-codamol called for……..

I suggested John stay in bed this morning and that he must phone me if he was going to get up. I mean, if he fell in the bathroom there’d be a few more injuries from a hard-tiled floor and plenty of obstacles in the way to bang his head on, wouldn’t there?

The ol’ man stayed in bed until just after lunch and then we made our way downstairs where he sat on the sofa for the rest of the day, alternating between resting his eyes and watching TV. And, bless him, also huffing and puffing a bit because he is so fed up of being ill!

We had planned to celebrate with our friends from church, Margaret and Chris, this evening and had invited them round or drinks. It’s Chris’s 70th birthday next week, so we thought we might open a bottle of champagne and have a few nibbles. Instead, Margaret called in with lots of sympathy, a bunch of tulips (my favourite) and a bar of chocolate to cheer John up. Honestly, we are so very lucky to have wonderful friends.

Recuperating? Yes, we’re still recuperating from the aftermath of Covid and I’m hoping this latest episode John is experiencing is nothing to do with that and he will bounce back in no time at all. Fingers crossed anyway. And a few prayers might not go amiss.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We spent the day at home today and didn’t venture out at all. We pottered about, chilling, doing a few chores and watching a bit of catch-up TV.

I was up at a reasonable time to get cracking on the bit of washing I’d brought back from Michael and Danielle’s yesterday, and spent much of the day faffing about with that, on and off.

John was up and, having exhausted himself taking a shower, he was downstairs by about 11.30. He was still feeling a bit light-headed and, on occasion, found he needed to put his head lower than his feet….. I wondered whether I should phone the doctor for advice but, by the time we’d discussed it, the surgery was closed for the afternoon. Maybe tomorrow?

John chatted to a friend on the phone for about a hour just before lunch, and then put his feet up and snoozed a bit this afternoon, while I watched the TV and titivated with folding clothes. Very therapeutic.

A bit later on, John felt well enough to work on the computer, and busied himself with sorting out the accounts for the rental properties. He then had another chat to the same friend on the phone just before tea.

I was still thinking about John’s situation, when he admitted he still had a bit of an upset digestive system, which he’d had for the last week. I am hoping that the low blood pressure is just dehydration and it’ll all be solved with plenty of water. Fingers crossed anyway!! Just got to investigate the cause of the jippy tummy now….

And that was us today.

Meanwhile, however, I have been thinking of all those who are sick or struggling today. There are one or two that I know of and I shall hold them in my prayers.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We planned to see Pete and Dawn this morning, for coffee. We both snoozed on and whiled away a fair bit of the morning before we needed to get out of bed. Just after half past nine, I yawned and lazily reached out for my phone to find out what was happening in the world.

Well, in our world, Jack, and then Dawn, were texting to say that coffee was cancelled as Peter had put his back out. Oh dear. Not what you need at all when life expects you to be fit and healthy. Not sure what the problem is, but no bending or lifting – which means that family members are rallying round to help out. I’ve offered Red Cross food parcels of course and to do any bits of shopping they might need, but there’s not much else I can help with that I can think of. Maybe make them a cup of tea?

The cancellation naturally changed our plans, and it meant that John and I whiled away a bit more time hugging our beds before we finally got downstairs about 10.30.

Danielle had texted this morning too, and she was wondering whether our washing machine might have some availability. Off to Jersey for a few days and children’s clothes are needed……. Of course we can offer the washing machine and tumble dryer to get a few clothes ready for them!

So instead of a nice leisurely coffee with friends, we trundled over to Kenilworth to collect the clothes, where we had a lovely three-quarters of an hour with the little ones and supped a cuppa with Michael and Danielle before gathering up the washing to bring home.

Once home, we grabbed a bite to eat and I set on with the washing and a spot of ironing. John had a lovely long snooze. He’s very tired right now, but it’s not surprising is it, really? He’s having such a social whirl at the moment that I am sure he needs every scrap of sleep he can capture.

Hopefully, he’ll improve again when he knows the results of a sample he sent off to the doctor’s yesterday and he has some antibiotics for his chest. It’s causing a a bit of a cough and some breathlessness at the moment.

After he’d had a long sleep and his evening meal, John was refreshed enough to join in with the Quiz Night tonight. It was a great quiz and we really enjoyed it. It always helps when we know some of the answers……hehe.

Take care everyone. God bless.

We had a busy weekend – of course, can’t quite remember it all now, but still!

On Saturday we had an easy start to the day, John having a bit of a lie-in while I did a writing workshop until mid-day. It was great fun to be ‘writing for well-being’ again and I enjoyed it. At the mid-morning break, I went down to make a cuppa and John said Paul and Freddie were going to be calling in. How lovely!

I was still upstairs when they arrived and I went down about twenty minutes later. John was on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket with a blood pressure monitor on his arm. “What’s going on?” I said. “Dad fainted,” Paul replied. Freddie chipped in, “I thought he was playing dead.” Oh. Ah.

Apparently, John had got up a bit too fast when he answered the door to let them in and he was just giving Freddie a cuddle, when the next thing he knew – he was on the floor, eating carpet.

Low blood pressure. He has suffered from that for a while and the advice everyone gives is: ‘drink more water’. So we plied him with water and all manner of things that we could think of that might increase his blood pressure.

He did improve as the day wore on but he felt a little bit unsteady. He heroically did as he was told all day because he was looking forward to a trip to London the next day to watch the rugby.

After the shocking episode of John passing out, we enjoyed the family’s visit. It was particularly nice because I was feeling sufficiently better to be able to play with Freddie and it was an absolute delight. Harriet joined us after she’d played hockey (and won 4-1!) and so we had a nice relaxing time for a good few hours.

Once I was reassured that the ol’ man wasn’t going to do any more passing out, I took myself off to the Kenilworth Newbies’ to babysit for the evening. They were having their Valentines celebration early – going out for cocktails and a meal. They had a wonderful time and I was so pleased they did. It’s not always all sunshine and roses when you’re looking after three boys, is it?

The babysitting stint wasn’t arduous though. The boys are lovely and they all settled down for bed very well – although Daddy did have to settle Thomas who was being a little monkey – and I sang lullabies to William. Smashing.

Oliver woke up at nine o’clock and wasn’t going to be pacified by any shushing, patting, stroking, hugging, a sip of water or a sip of milk. Nor was he particularly ready to be pacified being rocked in my arms. After fifteen minutes or so, I popped him into the buggy and walked him round and round the kitchen, whereupon he soon fell back to sleep. I think Chester, the dog, thought I’d gone mad as he watched me doing the rounds……..hehehe.

We were up early on Sunday to get John ready to set off for Twickenham. He was in a high state of anxiety after his ‘episode’ on Saturday, but he got all the kit together that he was going to need, and Paul was a really strong, reassuring presence.

Paul arrived not long after ten o’clock, stowed the wheelchair in the boot of the car, tucked John into the front seat and, after anxious check of said ‘kit’, they set off. One minute later, they were back. “What is it?” I wondered. “My disabled badge. I haven’t got it.” John said. “I don’t know where it is.” We had very carefully removed it from our car the day before and I thought John had popped it into his coat pocket. He wasn’t so sure. Anyway, Paul, checked the coat pockets and yes, sure enough, there it was. Phew!! On your way, boys! Enjoy!

I then got ready to go out with Harriet and Freddie to go to the cinema to see an early showing of ‘Puss in Boots’. Great fun but what a scary film…… The cinema was almost empty so I didn’t adopt my persistent habit of worrying too much about crowds.

We then met up with the Kenilworth Newbies for a roast dinner at The Green Man – all very enjoyable and quite relaxed!

Great excitement when we got home to know that John and Paul were on the telly as the rugby whizzed past they were sitting. We could even see John applauding so we were delighted that they had such good seats.

Today, of course, is Valentine’s Day and we have done the lovely things that are expected: we exchanged loving wishes and had a romantic meal for two. In fact John surpassed all expectations and wrote me the best poem ever. I shall treasure it – it’s fabulous.

Take care everyone. God bless. Here’s to Life and Love.

Although we have had people and family call in this year, today was the first day of 2023 that we entertained visitors!! And how lovely it was that Dave and Chris, and George and Sue came for a fish ‘n chip lunch and a bit of cream tea.

We had a really nice time. When it was first suggested, I wasn’t sure how we’d be, but George had said ‘no catering’, so he treated us all to the fish and chips at lunchtime, which meant that all we had to do was serve cups of tea and coffee, glasses of wine and prosecco, and conjure up some scones and clotted cream for tea. Lush, eh?

The Halls and Waterfalls: here they are enjoying the attentions of the cat-of-many-lives……

It is so wonderful to be among dear and long-standing friends. The conversation turned to when we’d first met and our weddings. Dave and Chris are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year. Yikes!! Who’d a thought it?

Naturally, we spent all afternoon chattering our heads off and when it was time for the guests to go home, we were still debating this or that subject, even as they went out of the door! We had a smashing time. Tired now though.

Our day had started early with a trip to the hospital to get a check up on my eye. I was marginally disappointed in that it actually turned out to be simply a scan. Apparently, they are so busy with referrals that they’ve started a new system of the patient coming in and being scanned, before the scan is then reviewed by the consultant. At that point, s/he makes a decision as to the priorities and who will be seen soonest. I’m not holding my breath.

John dropped me off at the door of the ophthalmology unit and went off to get his blood tests. I was in and out in no time and so wandered along the corridor in the direction of Phlebotomy about a quarter of an hour later. I happened upon a handsome man in the corridor, having finished with his medical treatment, and thought I’d pick him up and take him home…..

As we drove out of the hospital grounds we thought we’d just pop into Boots to look for a new pair of glasses for John. He’s keen to get a new pair with prisms in the lenses, so that he can actually see. We were in luck and found a lovely pair that we both liked. Unfortunately, we couldn’t order them as we’d forgotten to take the prescription with us…… Ah well, that’ll be another trip into town then, won’t it?

We pootled off home but had plenty of time before our guests were due to arrive, so we decided to stop off at Oakes’ for a cup of coffee. And d’you know what? We felt almost civilised.

The plumber called to service the boiler at lunchtime today, but as we were entertaining, it was all very painless and he worked quietly and efficiently in the background, only attracting my attention when he wanted to flag to me that the bill would be in my Inbox. Yay!

And that was our day. Quite an exciting one really and one by the end of which we thought we might go to bed early. Ha! Ha! You think?

We’ve had to wait up for the delivery of John’s eye serum. The courier was due to arrive between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. “Hi, John?” came the phone call, “I’m running fifteen minutes late. Should be with you about 9.15 – is that OK?” Well, what can you say? Of course it’s OK. The serum is a life saver – well, sight saver, at least – so we’d wait until midnight if necessary.! All delivered now, though, so we can go to bed whenever we like!!

Take care everyone. God bless.

For the first time since Christmas I went over to visit Mum this morning. John and I had had a bit of a discussion about who would need the car and when, but we agreed I’d use it to go over to Coleshill this morning, and he would use it this afternoon to go to Solihull for blood tests.

Mum was on top form. I had been expecting less than that because, a couple of weeks ago, the home had phoned me in the middle of the night to say she’d had a fall and they were getting the paramedics in to have a look at her. The paramedics trundled her off to hospital at 3 in the morning for the doctors to check her over, but by 6.30 a.m. she was back in bed at the home, a bit bruised but no lasting damage, where she spent the day sleeping it off.

She was so delighted to see me that she couldn’t stop hugging me and telling me that I was lovely. I’ll take that, thank you very much. Mind you, she didn’t really want me to leave and was rather sad when I said goodbye. “I’ll see you next time,” I said, hoping that would be a catch-all for whenever the next time might be. But she was canny and replied, “When will that next time be?” Oh. I was caught out. Next week maybe? Fingers crossed anyway.

Here she is as we said the long goodbye……

I was home again in good time to enable John to go to Solihull but, before he was due to set off, I told him that I had news. “The hospital rang this morning,” I said, “and they’ve offered me an eye appointment at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.” Ah-ha! John saw his chance. Kill two birds with one stone. He might as well do blood tests while I’m having my eyes checked over…..no need for the Solihull trip this afternoon then.

The hospital had offered me 9, 10 or 11 o’clock, but I opted for an early appointment because tomorrow…..fanfare……we have guests! Dave and Chris and George and Sue are coming over for a fish ‘n chip lunch. Fingers crossed we’ll be home in time.

I intended to spend the afternoon cleaning and tidying up a bit, but the home had given me a letter in a brown envelope. It was from the State Pension people addressed to Mum, at the Care Home. ‘We’re stopping your pension because we don’t know where you live. And if you don’t reply by 6 March you’ll have all sorts of hoops to jump through.’

You’ve got to be kidding me!!! Anyway, spent all afternoon dealing with that one….. and it’s yet to be resolved. Ha!

I still did a bit of tidying up though. Honestly, our house is very grubby, as I haven’t done any cleaning at all in the last six weeks or so. Felt sufficiently better today though, to tackle a bit of it. Onwards and upwards as they say…….

Take care everyone. God bless.