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Saturday 22 February 2014

Landwade, Nr Exning

Today, in the sunshine, Lis and I did our annual walk at Landwade, near Exning.

Plenty of snowdrops, aconites and daffodils around and NO people apart from us.

Because of my stroke we took a slightly different route to avoid climbing stiles and gates.  My walking stick is behind the tree trunk.

This is the view outside the little church,which is sadly locked these days.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Stroke ( continued)

The after effects of my stroke continue.

My walking is definitely getting better and I no longer need a Zimmer frame. Outside of home I carry a stick more for reassurance as I can get around just about without. Inside home I can manage without even the stick. My main problem is balance which is still impaired. It is slowly getting better but still far from OK.

Swallow also seems to be improving  with a better tolerance of foods by mouth.  Touch wood, I have not suffered any problems with food going down the wrong way (aspiration).

Other issues are fatigue and clumsiness:  simple things tire me very easily, including talking. I am still awaiting news from the DVLA about my driving licence, but I am likely to be banned (because of the head injury) for 12 months.

I also suffer from a degree of sickness and nausea during the day which is helped with Domperidone pills (20mg x 3 times a day).I am on 8 hrs a day liquid feed but manage a Weetabix and banana for breakfast and soft foods by mouth lunch and teatime. I drink tea or coffee with thickener several times in the day.

I already have a blue disabled badge.

Physio takes place as an out-patient in Ely Hospital most weeks with the speech and language lady visiting me at home every few weeks. The physio man at Ely is excellent (Sam Yovan).

Mentally and physically, apart from the issues above I am in good shape.

In 6 months I hope to be back to full health. This is my definite aim and, based on progress to date, a real possibility.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Our windmill (next door)

Our local Burwell windmill is being fully restored thanks to a National Lottery grant. The video shows the 4 new sails in action and being tested today. The view is from our lounge window.

Saturday 25 January 2014

NHS Communications

As a person at the "receiving end" I am appalled by the poorness of NHS communications. It would appear that the UK NHS communicates, occasionally, by flags, bonfires and pigeons.

When will the NHS communicate between people inside and outside hospitals in MODERN ways e.g. scan barcodes into tablet PCs and databases shared throughout the healthcare industry? Others can do it. Wake up NHS or you DESERVE to fail. Clinical care has been good,but communications is a joke. Except it is no joke if you are not seen,miss scans or worse. I dread to think what it must be like to be 85 and with Altzeimers.

Friday 17 January 2014

Living with a stroke

After 3.5 months in hospital I have now been home for 2 weeks. My walking is slowly improving, my swallow maybe a little better but the worst aspect is still feeling very giddy and unsteady when  moving.  Although I feel I am "on the mend" I must learn to take things a step at a time and not expect overnight miracles


UPDATE Jan 25th:  It is now 3 weeks since I have been home.The promised visits from the Community Stroke Team have NOT happened and I'm unable to contact them as their lines go unanswered or get disconnected. Do they even know about me? Yet again poor  NHS communication is the issue. They need to fix this fast.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Living beyond our means?

On the BBC website they report record UK new car sales in 2013. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25632668 .  Cheap credit? We will only get out of our current financial mess when we truly live within our means.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

Stroke

For those who don't know, I have been in hospital since mid-September suffering with a bleed on my brain, in  effect a stroke. I hope to be home by Jan 6th. I continue to improve and may be  back to near normal later in 2014.

Never take "normality" for granted. I finally made it home, hopefully for good, on Friday Jan 3rd, although swallow, walking, speech and writing all still have a long way to go. I have to keep doing my exercises.