Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 6 December 2020

OG Good for you, suggesting that J does his own mending.

And so it progresses here, a bit of chaos, a lot of laughter and a shopping list that is thankfully getting shorter by the day! Katie decorated the tree while her Mum made smoked salmon pate for our lunch. I laid the table and that was my sole involvement !

HEATHER - pleased you were allowed to do something useful! I am sure you will have done other things, like running round tidying up before they arrived! Our tree will not be down from the loft any sooner than I allow it - looks like next Saturday. Until today, cards have been coming in a steady trickle - two per day. Today we had five, but two were local hand deliveries. Thankfully, none yet from any we took off our list,

This morning, E-E moved some gone-over plants from front to back, and this afternoon he has been cleaning kitchen and dining room. I have typed all the handwritten magazine contributions and hope for some by email soon. Tomorrow's zoom service includes Communion - not my scene, I must say!

Just read two reports in local online bulletin:

1 - Fire service appeals for people to stay safe and avoid fires this Christmas.

2 - Art organisation is lighting up the old windmill tower high above the town with thousands of candles.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry!

I laughed, OG!
Shop did very well today. Sam has been roped in on Saturdays - he gets a remuneration of course. I spoke with him just now, he has spent most of today in the basement lining up all the whiskies in alphabetic order. That is so very Sam....

I laughed as well. Left hand ... right hand. Wonder what the fire chief thought - probably unrepeatable!

HEATHER - so glad Sam can help in the shop. Good that his particular attributes are put to use!

Good evening everyone,

Thank you all for news, pics and quotes etc over the last few weeks. Lovely to hear of normal (or what passes for normal these days) goings on.
Glad to read that things are going reasonably well for you AQ.

I have had a difficult few weeks since OH's operation. The op itself went well, but the aftercare left much to be desired, with some commendable exceptions. Fortunately, there always are some.
He needed to go to A&E twice. He is still in hospital from the last time
The big problem was, that I was not allowed to go into hospital with him, and he was not coherent, so no one knew what was wrong. The A&E doc phoned me twice to ask if he was normally confused and needed help to walk, and if he normally had a carer. No, no and no. My son who is a medic in the US, eventually got it across that his father regularly went for walks by himself, and had a sharp brain.
It turned out that his blood sodium levels were dangerously low. Heather will probably understand this.
He had been taking his prescribed salt tablets. My OH always follows instructions.
I am not allowed to visit him, but managed to take him a few essentials today. The kind receptionist who delivered them to OH, said he had just eaten his lunch, but had left the vegetables. How naughty!
I appreciate that Covid has made things very difficult for medical staff, but also for people with other illnesses.

Rosy, I'm so sorry to hear of all your difficulties. Your story highlights just some of the problems of not allowing patients to have visitors. I would have thought that at the very least you would be allowed to see someone on the staff to explain his situation and mental state, plus any particular problems.

I once read my mother's medical notes (with some of the nurses looking askance at my nerve!) and found that they had written that she had sworn at a nurse when having a shower. I was able to explain that actually, she hardly ever swore in her entire life, but that it would not be surprising if they lifted up her arms when washing as it was extremely painful for her because of arthritic shoulders. She was in our local hospital at the time, recovering from a bad stroke. and had difficulty in speaking at all. Because of the incident she had been marked down as a "difficult and abusive patient!" There was never anyone ever less like that, than my sainted mother....

I hope he soon recovers enough to come home and enjoy the comforts and your company.