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

been having his Scandishakes made with) and a Sudoko book.

??? won't the book (though shredded well) clog him up somewhat ???

Read him this thread - it will cheer him up.

Ah, Jersey cows - they're the best. My granddad had them.

Love, as always, Ann

Our hearts go out to both of you, and all of the families. If only there was something my wife and I could do to help, except for prayers and hope for a miracle, we can only offer hope comfort and strength.

F S

Thank you everyone, I do appreciate your support, thoughts and prayers.

Ian had a bad night, had 2 lots of morphine. We'll be going up to see him this afternoon. This morning I have been to St Andrew's Hospice to request some literature to take up with us later. Had an interview with a nurse who apologised but they are being rebranded (to "Andy's") and are awaiting new fliers and pamphlets, and aren't allowed to give out the old paperwork. She did say the website is up to date, but he can only look at that on Carrie's mobile (I don't have internet access on my phone, neither does he) not the same as having physical information at your fingertips! It's an impressive new building - completely different to when my father was in there 11 years ago. http://www.standrewshospice.com/st-andrews/about-us/

That is an impressive facility, GB. We have nothing like that.

And I'm sorry to hear about the bad night. Hope today goes better.

Not really much better, he kept being sick he was told he'd be going down for an x-ray at 2pm. Which came and went. At 3pm we enquired if it had been forgotten? 3.15. 3.30 came and went. At 3.45 someone came and said it will be Friday... but Ian is having an endoscopy tomorrow, wouldn't it be better to have the x-ray first? "I'll check"

...

Meanwhile, on the Amethyst Ward, Ian had his usual picc line flush booked for 1pm. It was postponed for the x-ray...



We left at 5pm. Nothing had been done at all.

Aw, heck. That's frustrating.

Ah, Jersey cows - they're the best. My granddad had them.

my next door neighbour has just had gallstones and they were painful, so cows WOW!!!

and

Eejit.

owt to bring smiles

oni thing I'm good at and it don't pay

I do smile even if it's hard work sometimes. Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of the last time I was in London, and this photo came up as a memory. That was a weekend to smile about, my #1 daughter treated me to a show (Thriller Live) and here's me treating her to a milkshake in Soho: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153095466286185&set=a.440065171184.209269.655656184

Your comment about filing the day in your memory as a good day reminded me about how, when my husband was ill, I'd end each diary entry with Today's Special Memory (TSM). I can now look back and smile at silly little things, like jokes he made, or simple stuff like stopping at the top of the hill to admire the view whilst walking the dog. Those are the really special memories, the ones that make up everyday life rather than the special occasions.

I don't need diary entries to remember the frustration I sometimes felt at how frustratingly unhurried hospital progress is. Sometimes I just wanted to scream "You might have all the time in the world but he doesn't, he's on a fairly limited deadline here!". I did once actually shout at a nurse when Jeff had been asking for indigestion medication for half an hour then we suddenly realised his morphine drip had run out an hour ago. That was only 8 days before he died so he must have been in a lot of pain - and all he was complaining about was indigestion .

I felt pretty bad about shouting afterwards - but it did seem to get us special service after that!

Deb

Jersey milk is fantastic stuff.... - bnit that I can drink it now, thanks to being on this struggle against the steroid weight gain... but way way way back in the day, after a dredful infection in my brain and massive weight loss (I was like less than 6 stone, and although only 17 years old I was just the same height and build I am now), and things like Jersey milk eventually built me up (yeh, OK so a little bit too wel built up... but...)

So saddened to hear that with all these struggles, the hospital itself is putting in effort to not help along the way in organising itself as it should (a very familiar story for me over the past twenty or more years at various times) Just wish there was something that could help make it all better for you, both...

So many sad stories coming out here thank you all, it's such balm for me to read that I am not alone

Yesterday was horrendous. We arrived at 1pm and Ian was burning up, there was only one electric fan on the ward - being used by a man with breathing difficulties. We tried to find another fan to no avail so Carrie ended up phoning her daughter (who was at work) to go to B&M and buy one, she delivered it to the hospital entrance in her break, and I set it up.

... still no sign of Ian's other daughter...

We were told Ian was going for an endoscopy that morning but he hadn't gone down, even though he had been Nil-By-Mouth since 4.30am. (Yes, they had woken him to give him a drink of water.) The time crawled and crept to 2.30pm, when we were told he would be going down soon. In the meantime we kept fetching him ice water from the cooler to at least allow him to dip the mouth sponges and get relief from them

They finally came to fetch him at 4.30pm - a full 12 hours without a drink - so we went with him to wave him off as far as we could. We'd have been kicked out at 5pm anyway due to the dedicated mealtimes.

Carrie has rung me to say she had spoken to Ian about 7pm, he was happy to have had a drink of water (which he'd thrown up) but that Mr Tilston who performed the endoscopy had said his oesophagus was the worst he'd seen in 10 years.

Bracing myself for today when I'll be going up alone as Carrie works all day. So, petrol, Mum's - get her up, bathed, hair washed, lunch then to Ian's for fresh undies & socks, then to the hospital, thank goodness I have the cancer privilege pass because I couldn't afford the daily parking fees! I'll stay until 5pm then I'll meet Carrie at mine to give her the pass back. One day I'll meet myself coming back, is how I feel right now, autopilot - wish I had a

I wish you had a too, love.

You're in the prayers of some church people over here - although the assistant pastor misheard Elektra and thinks you live in Ukraine. (Don't worry, angels have GPS.)

thank you very much

Ian has had his x-ray and a botched picc line flush and they have ordered banana custard for his tea tonight

for banana custard!

for GB I think.. you must be just living by autopilot by now with everything going on - and if it feels this helpless just being a bistander to it all from afar... I can't imagine how you must be feeling... just so so sorry for you, and Ian of course...

Thanks everyone

Carrie and I went to St Andrew's Hospice yesterday on the way to Diana hospital and had a tour with the head nurse Liz. From our description of Ian and his condition now she said he sounds way beyond the daily respite and they have a room for him as soon as he has been assessed (hopefully today)

The rooms are awesome. I have never been in a 5* hotelroom but I can't imagine it can be any better. Each room has patio doors giving access to the internal private garden and next time I go I will be armed with my camera. Carrie and I were overcome. His own tv so he can watch the tennis and he won't have to pay £5 for a few hours. No charge for parking. Family can even stay overnight.

When we got to the ward Ian was on oxygen and fast asleep, so I popped up to Coronary Care to see what was going on with my best friend Lynda's husband Steve (there was an answermachine message for me Monday night) - he has been diagnosed with an undetected heart attack several years ago, and at least one blocked artery and my friend Lynda has a bad shoulder, so she can't drive (Carrie and I bumped into her at Diana last week, she was heading for physiotherapy) so we may be giving her a lift there and back today, if she needs one (she had managed to get a lift yesterday)

When I got back to Ian and Carrie, she said he had woken up and told her that he had another endoscopy that morning (he had fallen asleep again). We spoke to the next nurse to come in the bay and we told her that a representative would be coming later (didn't happen, it will be today) and would someone be able to chat to them (if we were gone by then) as we didn't think Ian would be with it enough. She told the head nurse, who told us that she didn't think Hospice intervention was necessary as Ian was not end-of-life and he had a lot of life left in him yet*. I wanted to thump her. She's known him, what, 4 days? Even Carrie got upset and said, No, he's dying. The last thing we need is a jobsworth putting Hospice staff off. On the way home I told Carrie that she was probably miffed that we complained about the botched picc line flush? (and we had to go find a nurse from the Amethyst Ward ourselves to get the job done)

*It's a year ago next week that Ian and I had that wonderful coach week in Devon, thank God we had that and I have the memories. If you were to compare the photos of him there, to now, your heart would break.
http://www.facebook.com/ann.croft.73/media_set?set=a.10153890318751185.1073741831.655656184&type=3 (I think that album is public, if anyone can't see the photos please let me know)