h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Trouble is it does not get bored! Neither does it go away!

Jack may be living proof that it does

Since by the Docs estimation he should have long been gone by now

Hiya Each

You've got competition now, Doc, I'm coming up on the inside to beat ya matey - got belted into the local hospital for candlelight surgury on Monday evening (Blue lights and sirens and all that jazz) just been discharged and got home, so that's me with 4 ops under my belt to your 5 in 9 months

(And no, *I* wasn't expecting it, either. They've done a patching up job until they can begin New Investigations, including an MRI scan in the next 3 weeks)

I think Jack may *well be living proof that if you ignore it, it gets bored and goes away you know

I'm allowed to say the next about me, btw. I wouldn't say it about anyone else, honest!



For my own part, I'm living proof of the old Irish saying "Tis hard to kill a Bad Thing"

I REFUSE TO SUSCUMB TO THE WHOLE SITUATION AND I TEND TO FART ON IT




RJR

RJR - with the amount of medication Im on at the moment, I don't think I'd *dare fart on any situation! (Or *in one, either)

And besides, tain't ladylike to admit to that sort of thing, so I won't

You, from what I've read, young man, are no lady - and thank bob for it, too!

Long may your intended flatulence continue

thank you! I told this to one of my doctors!

I now have some nice sticks to walk with! and i still have slurred speech, but my left side is now more under control, so i tend to stand up better and not fall over

Nice to see space cadet.
I have not been around much.
How are you?

It is good this thread has been so helpful


_______________
I have been getting the injections the Evande Cake gets.
So far some have worked! I can onlyhave them in the lower lumbar and SI joints. The neck cannot be touched by those or surgery.

I am hoping I can sit in a chair easier.
With the lower areas getting epidurals(sp?) I think I may be able to stand some outings beyond the rare non medical ones.


***************

Just some general comments on points made since I last posted

I am hoping to aquire an electric chair soon, the paperwork has started. I look forward to the mobility and independance.

When the pain of not changing is worse than changing = you change.

I need to get out more. Being pushed by hubby is not very social and feels like I have an attendant. With the ability to move myself I can look at hubby as if we were walking as before. I can make choices about movements without either directing or just going along. Hubby will be able to hear me which was a huge problem! Never felt much like an outing when you could not converse and move at the same time.

When you have sat home enough because you cannot walk or far enough to "take a walk", you will learn that a wheelchair can mean new independance more than "stuck in a wheelchair"

*************
Thinking of magwich and others supporting a spouse through such things - Thank you! They are indeed a part of the marriage vows but ones not always honored. I am lucky to have a good hubby.
It also helped me to accept recieving help from him when I was asked if I would do the same for him. Of course! This was mentioned before, I second it as a simple but important mental health tool for couples.

It is very hard on spouses and sometimes the helper needs a little more time to catch up to the reality of changes. It is the case with other changes and disability is no different. My hubby did not want me to get an electric chair before because he had not caught up to reality and had hopes of me getting "fixed". For him it was still giving up, although as I stated in earlier posts it is giving into a reality that can help you progress in the long run.

Wish us luck getting out together moreand me maybe taking a spin on my own! WHeeeeee

Yay Jack Russell that is new since I last saw you

Good for you Abbi - an electric wheelchair will make an enormous amount of difference to the quality of your life -AND your husbands, too - fair play to you

I'd agree with the points you make about the "carers"...sometimes, it takes them a bit longer to get up to speed, and what *we may think of as a huge improvement (in Abbi's case, for example, the chariot, and in my case, a stick) they see as almost a step back, somehow.

I'll give you a f'r instrance.

I finally got a stick about 3 years ago, and I decided there and then I wasn't going to feel ashamed of it - afterall, a lot of people need to wear glasses to be able to see clearly, and there's no stigma attatched to that, so I enlarged the concept a bit, to fit my circumstances.

My lads, for a time, felt embarrassed about it - mainly because, I suppose, mum looked a bit different to others of her age group, and at their stage of life, Image and appearance Is All, but they got their heads round it eventually.

They weren't at an emotional stage in their developement then to realise all the other variables, like the pain, or my own realisation that *this* isn't going to get better; at best, it can be delayed or the pain possibly controlled; I did that mostly on my own,

(I jettisonned my then partner because his mental state was dragging me down and I couldn't cope with him not being able to cope with me!)

quietly, without emotionally over burdoning them with my fears (and frankly, my despair)

It was tough, but I found it easier than wasting energy on reassuring others - I needed that reassurance myself, so I* gave it to me, rather than anyone else.

Again, to paraphrase Abbi, when you know you can't change the outside, you grow and learn to change ones perceptions.

Perhaps that's the knack of actually "coping" with a crippling ailment?

Although, I'm sorely tempted to follow the school of RJR's thought by way of light entertainment

Oooh, Jack sighting!!! And Cal too!!!

Te he, i am 50 or is it 51 or 52, dunno, work it out, DOB Sept 1955. I don't really think about it.

Hmm; maybe "us lot" on here are living proof of "Only the good die young"; i think we've all been written off & stubbornly stick around. I do think determination & sheer bloody mindedness may have something to do with it.

I've just been "re-assessed" (i suspect too many S's in this sentence)& apparently i am officially disabled 79% for another 2 years. Jolly good, except that the idiot doctor sent the forms to the wrong place, so in reality, this month i have sod all money. Which makes life a teeny weeny bit more difficult. They really must get an smiley.

My "sort of" partner keeps saying "i never have & never could think of you as handicapped"; maybe this explains why he doesn't help me out much, or maybe he is simply making excuses...but of course he rarely sees me on a bad day 'cos i will tell him "Don't come today; it's a bad day, leave me to fester & weep"

I think maybe the thing is, we aren't actually any braver than anybody else, it's just that at some point you accept there is sod all you can do about it, things will almost certainly get worse & all you can do is find practical ways of making life easier.

In some ways it's probably worse for partners; yes, if the situation was reversed, i would be devastated to see him in pain.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3504091.stm

Anyway, abbi, hope that wheelchair comes soon, see you at the Paralimpics!!!! (that always makes me imagine skydivers on crutches .. "It's ok mate, broken ankles don't bother me!")

zdt

My dad had one of those buggies after his strokes, he used it to go around locally and just to get out of house for a while.
Buggies and electric wheel chairs are becoming more and common round here, when I sit outside Sainsbury's they are often lined up outside, one or two even go inside to shop from buggy, electric wheel chairs being a bit smaller are even easier. For some reason I often get asked to reach the top shelf from someone in one.

Ah... but when you're wheelchair height, Strangely Strange, even short people are taller than you!

And you've probably got a kind face, which is why you get asked to get stuff from shelves

Major rant: Beware!

This is bloody ludicrous. i have a letter from "maison Departmentale des handicapé des personnes" saying i am entitled to benefits for two more years, but nothing is actually in my bank, i am forking out 40 euros each time they try & take my direct debits & now my credit limit has disappeared so i will have to repay 200 euros. Plus all the 40 euros.

And on the letter it gives a number to phone, i phone (while i still have phone, it's about to be cut off of course); the number has been changed. so i phone the Maison du handicap (£££$$$) & eventually they give me another number. i phone, (£££$$$) its an automated thing "tap 1 for X, 2 for Y, 3 for Z, 4 for tea & toast, 5 if you are suicidal by now & 666 if you don't actually have any clue what they are saying". All in VERY rapid french. i've seen french people go spare & hurl the phone across the room; what chance do i have? If by some chance you get through the 1st auto thing, you have to tap in your Numero d'allocataire, & at some other point your code cnfidential.

Which? when? is there any tiny possibility of actually squeaking to a human? it seems not. so basically i just wont get any money unless i walk to the office, queue for hours (and yes, i mean hours)& possibly find a real human, who will no doubt demand a bit of paper i haven't got,go off back home or to another office.

meanwhile i have to go & beg them not to cut electric off. Given up caring if they cut water off.

I don't have a car. I can't get to the bus. i can't walk that far. i can't stand that long. This is all because i am entitled to handicap allowance. The logic escapes me. The phone thing is lunacy; what the hell do deaf people do? Or folks who have mental handicap? Or those with even less understanding of French than me? this is the bureau dealing with people who have social problems. i don't know what to do. this is utter madness. I've got 10 euros left to last 20 days, yet am entitled to 600, but can't access it. next month is too late.

It occurs to me the system may be designed to make us simply give up & die nice & quietly.

zdt

....or how about taking a deep breath and asking your sometime partner to do a bit of help/support for you, like talk to these departments, talk to your bank, explain the situation?

In short, behave like a friend, or someone who gives a damn about you? Its all very well trying to protect him from your woes Teri, but come on lass, there *are* limits.

Didn't you say you had a set of penguins(nuns) living over the road from you?

Go to them explain the situation and see what happens there.

Penguins; oh i like it, i like it! i doubt they could do much, far too many other problems to sort, refugees with kiddies being top priority, which is fair enough.

I phoned the maison du crips back & *miracle* got a nice lady who squeaks English, explained the problem, she phoned CAF (the people who actually pay the allowances) & she phoned me back. I will be paid in 8 days. So at least i have a date i can maybe fend off the other lot with. but how i survive for 8 days on 10 euros is beyond me. i've already borrowed money from a dear online friend, i can't do this again. The utility lot will just have to put up with it or cut me off; worse things happen in Lebanon, i would survive: i have candles. Yoda has food for at least that long. it's basically my "sins" i need to pay for, cigs & ....no doubt people will say "but you shouldn't be doing that anyway", but i think most of us know, when stressed, we self medicate with these poisons...i smoked 3 cigs waiting to hear what was happening.

His nibs has apparently put his money from sale of camping car into long term no access bank account & is apparently skint. that i can believe. i have honestly given up even contemplating help from that direction.

At least i have a "probable" date now; previously it was "oh maybe around the middle of the month...but of course it's holiday time"...so i have to survive till 25th (normally i get paid on 6th)

Crazy. The social worker of course is "en vacance"!

zdt

Well done to the nice lady who speaks English and minus several million to your mate. What a dead weight he sounds Certainly not worth having sympathy for, IMO

Oh...and by the way.... I'd let the penguins decide what their priorties are when it comes to giving a helping hand. You appear to have decided what they're going to do before you've given them the chance of knowing about you.

Go and make your situation known to them and see what sort of Christian Charity they can extend.

I'm no bible thumper, but I did live in Eire for a good few years, and there's nowt better for getting things done than a fierce Mother Superior or a militant priest. And no, it didn't make an iota of difference to them I was of a completely different belief system.

So it doesn't matter what your own beliefs are "to qualify".

The Christian book of rules enjoins them to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, care for the sick and visit and comfort the imprisioned.

By the sound of you, you qualify for most of those criteria.

It doesn't say any of these worthy causes have to belong to the same club as them.


Have a think about it, anyway. Its not far to walk, from what I've read, and you'll be doing THEM the service by letting them fulfil their vows and obligations.

Terri, have you tried contacting the bank and explaining the reason why there is no money in account, if they know you are awaiting a disability payement they may wave the charges, if they don't know, they won't.
Some banks are more humane than you may think!

Terri et al, you have given me a great idea for some kind of get together of the "Crippling Illness" club - with a to follow and a prize for who can do the best shuffle round the floor (means of support up to the individual) to "Stayin' Alive"

(Which is what we are all doing, basically!)

You speak for yourself Doc - I'm down to surviving at the minute - staying alive involves too much energy

Where's this going to be held then? Your place or mine?

Should we send Sick Notes (with subsection 42 duly signed and stamped officially)if we can't make it on the Day?

And more importantly... are there canned apes and plenty of alcohol involved?