Tuesday 31 March 2009

back and blue

on friday i went to Cromer hospital about my recent back problem,the orthopaedic triage was a very nice lady,who frankly................bloody hurt me,lol.gave me a thorough examination,and at the end,told me i appear to have trapped the nerve.i had one disc removed years ago,3 more crumbling,and she thinks when i stepped off kerb,the nerve got crushed,hence the awful pain i have been having.she said it didnt seem as though the disc had gone,and she thought the nerve would recover,but wanted an MRI scan to check.unfortunately,as i have a stent fitted in my heart she needs to know what that stent is made of,to check with the radiographer to see if it will affect the scan.that information is of course in my medical notes.which were at Norwich hospital for my angio yesterday.she has requested the notes be sent to her and will ring me as soon as she knows.
Yesterday Pam picked me up at 6am,and took me to the Norfolk and Norwich hospital,dropped me off,and went straight home to get some sleep as she had been working all night.i was in the ward by 7.20,a very efficient and good humoured nurse got me sorted,i got in my gown,and was taken up to the angio suite at 8.10.first one.lol.the doctor was running late getting in to work,but eventually i walked into the angio room at 8.35,my groin was the place of entry,the whole thing took 20 minutes before i was slid onto my bed and,hand pressing onto a tissue,i was taken,after a short wait,back to the ward.
Now the good news. the doctor said that,yes i do have some "furring"of 2 minor arteries,but it is NOT serious,and he feels the best way to deal with the problem is by tablets.no further surgery is needed,no stent,and thankfully,NO BYPASS. i was able to be released by 11.i rang poor pam at 9.55,a very sleepy voice said "uugh??".lol.i said,i can come home at 11.that woke her up,lol,and she picked me up at 11.10.poor love was so tired,so McDonalds,lol.big mac n fries and a thick shake helped.and i got home at 12.40,to a very relieved mother.pam went straight off home to bed.as i was home i cancelled the carer from Crossroads,i was sore,bruised,but ok.and felt it unfair to call on them when someone may have needed help more.
I had a lousy nights sleep,very sore,and today my groin is a lovely shade of black and blue,lol. but i now know i am pretty much ok,i see my Dr.at the end of the week,and he will discuss with me the tablets i will be taking.so,good news for a change.i want to thank everyone for all the lovely comments on facebook,and emails.all wishing me well,and offering prayers and good thoughts.i am deeply touched.thankyou all.
i have a fatigue physiotherapist coming thursday to see if she can give me advice on combatting the fatigue i do sometimes get when in relapse.will be interesting to meet her.
today,the weather is lovely,as it was yesterday,although there was a hell of a frost yesterday morning,very white on the ground.none today,and feels much warmer.spring is here.until it turns cold again.lol.the ducks come nearly every day on the pond,lovely to see them.soon,the garden will be really blooming,i just counted 27 different flowers out in bloom.not bad for the end of march.take care all.

Wednesday 25 March 2009

spring has not quite sprung yet

my new garden arch,made from tubular steel,it cost all of £4.99 from lidlls.lol.
the camellia is in full bloom this year,really is full of flowers


my new bird table and planter i bought mum for her birthday,birds loving it.lol

all the flowers coming out now,daffs blooming well




well,here it is,my new pride and joy,one Ford Fiesta style plus,in ocean blue metallic paint.i love driving it,its a joy to handle,and with my arthritis in ankle it is so light on the clutch.had to get a manual.(stick shift to my american friends lol) as ford dont have any available in automatic as of yet.Alex the salesman,sadly has left now,did me a great deal,managed to get the plus option for me,its got air con,and heated front screen instead of the standard.least i have no more insurance,tax,MOT,repair bills now.all i pay for is the fuel.filling it is a bit weird.theres no filler cap,you press the filler cover,it springs open,you shove the fuel nozzle into a sprung plate,and it then shuts off when you remove it.first time was very strange lol.i forgot and was looking for the cap on the roof where i always left it lol.
so,the garden is blooming,but although today was sunny,there is a bitingly cold wind,with bad weather forecast.i think spring has a way to go yet.
i woke this morning at 4am,in agony,the MS is obviously in relapse as i had the electric shock/tingling/jerking i used to get.i think because i have had so much back pain,and now on anti-biotics i had cut my baclofen back,thinking,im ok now,i dont need them so much.stupid me.thats the evilness of MS,it strikes when you think..........things are getting better,im improving,i can beat this disease.well,at 4.15 this morning i decided i was a complete and utter idiot,lol.i took half a baclofen,finally went back to bed ad 5,to get up at 5.45.so i am a bit tired.did take mum out today,we went to fakenham as i have to go to cromer hospital friday about back.also rang Linda,my MS nurse,told her about the relapse,we agreed i should stop taking pregabolin,it causes shallow breathing,and to be honest,it really doesnt seem to make any difference,i can take another half a baclofen if i need to,so i shall before i go to bed in a short while.anyway,one good bit of news,crossroad carers are going to come in from 2 til 4 monday while i am at the hospital having the heart angiogram,tracey will come back lunch time and get her her lunch,a friend will cook tea as i wont be home til after 6.just hope i have'nt got to have a bypass,but i shall cross that bridge when and if it happens.enjoy what fine weather we have,make the most of it,it's been a long hard winter.take care all.











Sunday 22 March 2009

mothers day and some flowers

















HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THOSE MOTHERS OUT THERE. its mothers day here in the UK,hope everyone remembered there mums,and for those who have sadly lost their beloved mothers,my lovely friend jaynee in particular,i am sorry for your loss,but know they live on in your hearts and minds.take care all.

Thursday 19 March 2009

assessed again

yesterday i went to Norfolk and Norwich hospital for a pre-op assessment for the angio i have to have on the 30th of march at 7.30am.drove myself as i hadnt had a decent drive in the new car.funnily enough the nurse that saw me was the same staff nurse who cared for me after the heart attack,basically it was just to explain the procedure,which as i had already had one done was rather a waste of time,but blood tests done etc,so all ready.i have been told the angio will show any problems,and that if a stent needs to be fitted it will be,but there is a chance i will need a bypass operation at Papworth hospital.we shall see. my back is still giving me hell,i have never been in so much agony in my life,just had letter and i go to Cromer hospital next friday to see an orthopaedic triage nurse.hope some relief can be found soon.
SHE IS BACK.!!!.many of you know the lovely zoe,one of my favourite journal writers,who has finally started a new blog here on blogspot, Domestic chaos: Hi all is the link to find her new blog,please welcomean old friend back,glad to see you again zoe,and not just on facebook,lol.
the ducks are coming every day,the spring flowers are all coming out,my camellia is now in full bloom,so warmer weather must be on the way,take care all.

Monday 9 March 2009

56 today.

well,look whose back.lol.those of you who have been reading my inane burblings will recall gemima here.she and her mate donald,( you lot picked their names last year lol.) come to my pond every year around this time.which means spring must be round the corner.
March 9th 1953,at Norfolk and Norwich hospital to Angela Jean,(nee Long) and Geoffrey Cecil Lake,a son.Morton Geoffrey John. 8lbs 6ozs. in other words,..............ME.its my birthday today,many of you have already sent birthday wishes on facebook,and E cards,and emails.thankyou all.my back is still agony,just back from taking mum to chiropodists.very pleased with her and how her feet are now.gout still troubles her but a lot better.take care all.

Saturday 7 March 2009

highs and lows

I have a shiny new car.!!! brand new model Ford Fiesta style+.in ocean blue,lol.and its lovely.i finally picked it up last friday from the dealers,after the first that was delivered to them was damaged,( been deliberately scratched all along the side,)and this one held up by bad weather.it was supposed to have been ready on the tuesday,and i had already sold my car,a friend bought it,rang me on the monday night and asked if she could have it the next day,unfortunately the next morning the dealer rang and said i couldnt have my new one until friday as there was a problem with motability,so i was without a car for 3 days,lol.i wasn't going to lose the sale of my car,and being fair they did offer me a courtesy car which i refused.to make up for it they did give me a full tank of fuel.i have to say i am really pleased with it.first new car i have ever owned,air con.heated screen,you name it its got it.that was the high of my month.the lows more than made up for it though i'm afraid.
Mum was taken ill 2 weeks ago on the thursday night,early friday morning,she had diarrhoeah really bad,seemed better friday though felt poorly,saturday she was in and out of toilet all day,then sunday night,she was really ill,didn't make the commode which is near her bed,rather unpleasant,poor mum.for 3 nights i was in and out of bed seeing to her,as she was really ill,so much so that i called Dr.M.out on the tuesday,he prescribed stronger tablets than the over the counter remedies i had tried her with,and thankfully it cured her,by the thursday she was finally better.whole week though for her.she is so apologetic for making a mess it hurts.you know?she can't help it,i know that she doesn't do it deliberately,and i get so upset to see her suffering.bless her,she is no trouble,just gets confused sometimes,and being so ill was nasty for her.
While the Doctor was here i asked him if he had had the results from the hospital of my heart treadmill test.those results were supposed to have been sent to him over 3 weeks ago,not a word from the hospital,so he promised to ring the hospital,again,and ask what had happened.funnily enough on the saturday i had a letter from the Cardiac dept.it said that as i had discomfort in the first 3 minutes of the test,and as i was getting angina,it had been decided by the consultant to conduct a further angiogram to see if i have another artery blocked.i have been placed on the list and to hold myself on 24 hours notice to be called in for it.you think they forgot me??yeah,me too.lol.so,another visit to hospital,whether it will be an overnight stay,or whether i can just go in and out the same day i have yet to find out.keeping fingers crossed that there is no further problems.although i do rather think i may have,still have to use the nitro spray sometimes,after exertion.don't nag lucy,lol.i am ok.
Unfortunately,going after the new car last week,i went on the bus to fakenham,and then walked to the dealers,over a mile.and i slipped.came over a bit dizzy,and went down.i didn't think i had done any damage,but i put my back out.all this last week i have been in agony,i can hardly walk,and went to the Drs.on thursday.he examined me and confirmed i had done a disc in.now,i had a disc removed,a discectomy,15 or so years ago,i have 3 more discs crumbling,so i am used to back ache.but this is something else.Dr.M.gave me some slow release opia based pain relief tablets,that had some rather unfortunate side effects. the same side effect as mum has been suffering from.bearing in mind it took me 20 minutes to get up this morning,as the pain was so severe,you can imagine the washing machine was very busy today.never felt so ill in my life.suffice to say,those tablets have joined a list of medications i never want to see again in my life.lol.after a long shower i could finally strip my bed,and tonight i had another long hot shower which has helped.the pain is bearable.
the MS doesn't help at times like that,i am seeing a physio most thursdays now,for help with balance problems i have at times,i always use my walking stick now,and i am seeing a new physio in the next few days about fatigue management.( i manage it well.i go to sleep.lol) hopefully it will be of help.i am lucky compared to many,i discovered a lovely lady called herrad,her blog tells of her struggle with MS.she puts me to shame. her blog is Access denied-living with multiple sclerosis and her partner and carer richies is also on there.link from herads blog.she deserves a look.there is a lady who knows what MS does.please do me a favour and visit her.you rock herrad. thanks for all your kind comments on facebook,any one wanting to add me on facebook,its morton lake.please feel free to add me as a friend.take care all.