Smudger Snippets: Lifestyles
Created | Updated Dec 13, 2009
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Lifestyles
One of my wife's sisters was here recently, just popped in to see how D is keeping, as she has not been feeling well for the past few weeks. I like it when she visits as she really seems to cheer D up with all her funny stories. Despite the amount of brothers and sisters she has, there are only a couple of her sisters that we could call regular visitors, yet they all seem to make the effort and visit D when she is in hospital, which I find strange. It's good to hear them having a laugh when I go through to the kitchen to make them a cuppa, she really does make a difference to D's morale.
Ever since D was diagnosed with emphysema a few years ago, our life together has changed, and then again a year later when I was signed off work on a permanent basis, due to an earlier back injury, which eventually progressed until the point I cold not work any more. It was hard to take that news in at first when the doctor told me, but in a way it turned out not all that bad as it meant that I would be able to stay at home and look after her all the time, instead of just when I got home from work.
Just as we were settling down to some kind of a routine over the years, D was told that she had blood clots in both her legs, so this increased the amount of medication that she was already taking. Then a few months ago we all got a shock when she was rushed into hospital with a cerebral haemorrhage, which almost killed her, as she had a slight stroke while she was in hospital. One day while I was visiting, I saw the doctor who was looking after my wife, and he told me all about her condition and how it happened. It seems that they lost control of the thickness of her blood by not monitoring the amount of the medication she was taking to keep her blood thin.
So over the weeks her blood got thinner until the point where it was so thin that her brain started to bleed inside her skull. In fact, when they did the CT scan they discovered that it was old blood that had congealed over time, which made it even more difficult to treat, and it still causes her to have severe headaches, even to the present day. So you can imagine how it makes me feel to hear her laughing during her sister's visit.
One time when I came in with our coffees, they were talking about lifestyles and how much they had changed for both of us over the past few years. It was a subject that I had never really thought about, but when I sat down and thought about it, there were indeed a lot of changes. They were talking about employment and how easy it was to be able to change jobs back in the old days. There were plenty of opportunities for work as well back then, even it meant you had to travel, which I did a lot of in those days.
The price of fuel was a lot cheaper, so travelling a long distance to and from work was quite viable. I told them about the time when I was working on a site near my home town, as a subcontracted welding inspector, but as the job we were on was almost finished, I was looking for another job, and asked my firm if I could have one night shift off so as I could attend an interview in London.
They refused point blank, so I had to come up with a scheme so that I could attend the interview without being missed on the site. I was lucky in a way, as there was an early morning flight to London, called the 'red eye' due to its 06.30 take-off time, and a return flight back at 17.30, which would mean I could still be on site for my normal shift.
Upon my arrival, I crossed London by the tube, had the interview, and caught the return flight. Of course I was totally shattered due to going without sleep, yet I was feeling really pleased with myself, as they told me there and then I had got the job, (after they photocopied my qualification certificates) and was due to start in two weeks.
Of course, when I did start that new job, it did mean a big change in our lifestyles, as it meant I would have to work away from home, and get every other weekend off. The journey was a round trip of 360 miles, and because it meant driving over the mountains, the trip was more difficult during the winter months, but it was the only way I could get to see my family.
My lifestyle has changed a few times over the years, but I think the one that meant the most to me, was when the doctor told me that I had to stop work at the age of 50, due to my back injury, which was progressive, restricting my mobility. I suppose it was for the better really, as my wife's health was also worsening, and she needed more looking after, so it was no bad thing that I would be home all the time to look after her. I suppose we all go through changes in our lifestyles, it's just the amount of them that differs.
