Stroke - lack of progress

At the moment I feel worse than I have done for months. Although on some fronts I must be making real progress, I am still very giddy when walking and feel as if my stomach is upset ALL of my waking time. Both are making me feel very low.

I am still far from well and really feel it.

I just want to feel/be my old self again. In the last few months I feel as if I am going backwards. Curing my stomach would make me feel so much better.

Football World Cup and England

Yet again England have been knocked out of the Football World Cup. This is the first time since 1958 they have been eliminated in the early stages.

One of the reasons may be because the number of foreigners in Premier League clubs is now so high. We lost the Uruguay match partly because the goal scorer plays for Liverpool!

We need far more ENGLISH players in English teams. Of course, football is now big business and there would be a reluctance to move in this direction. There must be a huge untapped talent pool of ENGLISH players in schools and youth clubs. These should be far less expensive than the silly wages and fees payed to foreign players.

Perhaps there should be a (low) upper limit on wages and transfer fees? That might encourage big clubs to go scouting for local talent instead?

Tea and tortoises

Time to say, "bye tortoise"

With Amandine at our home.

When my granddaughter came yesterday with her dad they went out with my wife to the local garden centre. Saying "bye bye" to all the animals took a while!

Looking at the tortoise

Dizziness following cerebellum bleed

Most people who see me on the street make comments like, " you do look well". Indeed I do. Compared with just after my operation I have regained weight and colour. I look "better". However, inside it is a different story: I suffer from constant dizziness when walking and stomach discomfort all my waking hours. Both are getting me down. All the time I am not my old cheerful self. I am desperate to cure both.

Looking at what could have happened to me - I had no idea how poorly I was last September - perhaps I should be extremely grateful not to be paralysed or left deaf/blind. There is so much more living I want to do still. Please make me fit again soon.

There are other issues too. More on these another time.

Stroke "progress"

For the last few months, progress getting better has been slow.

I am particularly frustrated by my inability to drink liquids without thickeners. Even with thickeners drinks are not easy. Foods by mouth usually go down well. In the coming months I am having a further MRI brain scan, another video x-ray of my throat and an ENT examination to check my vocal cords.

My walking is much better and I can now eat a wide variety of foods by mouth. I tend to forget the real progresss I am making.

Tim and Amandine's visit

Today is a Wednesday. As usual, our son Tim and granddaughter Amandine came to visit us. Usually he cuts the lawns but as these were cut by our other son on Monday, he was able to just relax. They all went to the garden centre for some seeds and a cup of tea.

At 4pm the speech therapist called to see me. Progress is very slow on the stroke recovery front.

Visit by Chris

Chris and I in our front garden

Our son Chris drove all the way from Canterbury to be with us Monday afternoon. He works Saturdays (and many Sundays) but has Monday afternoons off.

He kindly cut both our lawns for us whilst he was here. We are very grateful.

This is a photo of Chris and I taken in our front garden with Burwell Windmill and Museum in the background, just over our garden wall.

Both our sons have been SO kind to me during my illness, bless them.