Friday, January 18, 2013

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Feeling positive despite limitations.




 roberto-matta-pace-gallery-11-18-11-3
Roberto Matta

Two appointments I was dreading one yesterday and one today went very well which was a tremendous relief for Richie and I.

The appointment yesterday was with my case manager as well as my advisor, they both work for the councils mobility Department.

They are both very good women, who have to work within tight parameters nevertheless they do as much as they can for me who is admirable.

2 other people were also present and they were Percy from Welzorg and Ruud from a company called Summit, they make the custom-built wheelchair backrest.

We were both not looking forward to this meeting however as soon as Jacqueline my case manager arrived the appointment started positively.

She suggested we make a list of all the things we did not like about the wheelchair, and there were many points all of which were noted.

By the time everybody was here the list was completed, at first the four of them turned their attention on the wheelchair examining it thoroughly.

Finally Percy said that there was nothing that his company Welzorg can do to improve the wheelchair finally there were no more prevarications.

Right away Jacqueline decided that the only cause of action now was that I needed a new wheelchair.

This means a new supplier so I do not have to deal with Welzorg anymore about my wheelchair which was fantastic news this cheered me up tremendously.

On the 30th of January I have an appointment at 1400 with Annelies my advisor and somebody from the new wheelchair supplier Beenhakker to discuss the new chair.

In the meantime Ruud from Summit will temporarily adjust the backrest on the wheelchair, as soon as it known which wheelchair I will get he will make a custom built backrest for the new wheelchair.

Richie and I are very pleased with how things went yesterday this really is progress and this time we will make sure the new wheelchair is a good one.

At 1200 today I have an appointment with the doctor from the rehabilitation clinic as well as Milou the wound nurse.

This was the appointment I was dreading the most as I knew that Janneke the Dr was going to cut some hard skin off around the edges of the wound.

In order to stop myself lying awake all night thinking about it I took a sleeping tablet which worked very well.

The procedure seemed to take forever luckily I don't feel a thing nevertheless I was relieved when it was all over as it's not my favourite activity.

Janneke was very positive about the wound saying it was looking good and nearly healed up which was good news.

Hopefully trimming off the hard edges will help the wound to finally heal; it would be great if that were to happen at the same time as I get my new wheelchair.

Despite my increasing limitations I'm feeling very positive about the future and I'm looking forward to being able to get about again.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Monday, January 14, 2013

Precious moments.



    images              
Roberto Matta
After I had written Friday’s post I found a piece of artwork by Roberto Matta and tried to publish on my blog sadly everything froze which was frustrating.

Deciding there was no need to panic I closed up my laptop thinking that I would be able to put the blog post on my blog on Saturday afternoon.

As usual everything went differently on Saturday so I did not spend any time using my laptop that day nor on the Sunday, nevertheless I managed to relax and enjoy the weekend.

Slowly I am beginning to understand that there's not much I can do when things either go wrong or don't go according to plan, its better that I remain relaxed.

However it is not always easy for me to keep calm and be patient, that is not really me as I am very impatient person, despite that I have learnt how to deal with it.

The weekend despite not going according to how I wanted was extremely enjoyable, Richie and I laughed a lot and dogs were very happy too.

today I'm just enjoying the fact that I've been able to access my laptop, check my e-mails and write my blog, hopefully also my Dutch blog.

Richie took the dogs for a long run to the Amsterdam Woods, where I'm sure they are having a fine time, as I am being able to write this.

The other thing that I have learnt very clearly is that it is important to enjoy everything possible to make the most of every precious moment.

Friday, 11 January, 2013. The tipping point.



Roberto Matta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta
Writing yesterday was very enjoyable it made me feel a lot better; it is so good to have an outlet for my thoughts as well as my feelings.

I was very touched that I received so many supportive comments from blog friends, it was really lovely to see them all, and I was very moved by them.

Thank you for visiting and leaving your comments I really appreciate it so very much, probably more than I can express in words.

While I'm writing this I got the television on without the sound, it is the Antiques Roadshow on BBC two, a programme I like watching a lot these days.

It’s been a relaxed day to day, my pain as being managed well using THC, which I inhale using a vaporiser which is better for the lungs then smoking.

At the moment Richie has taken the dogs for a charge around the Rembrandt Park as well as plenty of playing with sticks and each other.

When they get home Richie is going to make us a delicious dinner of toad in the hole with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, cabbage and gravy.

Which I'm looking forward to, it's just the weather for it too as it has got a lot colder today, temperatures plunging from 10° to 5° and 3° tonight.

I have a lot of things swirling around in my mind that I want to write about, and am planning to do just that in the next days.

One of them is the death of the young promising medical student as a result of the brutal rape on the bus; there is quite rightly a lot of anger in India and elsewhere in the world.

It seems that this is the tipping point for the position of women in India and worldwide, hopefully 2013 will be the year when women stop being second class citizens.

Today I am taking it easy and just enjoying getting back into writing my blog regularly, I'm going to stop now and publish my post and enjoy the evening with my Darling Richie is tipping point

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Taking one day at a time.



 
Roberto Matta

Getting back into writing my blog every day is proving more difficult than I thought, especially when everything seemed to be going against me.

Last Thursday when I wrote my first post since I stopped blogging on the 11th of December I was very happy until I tried to post it on my blog.

I had chosen a picture by Roberto Matta, however when I went place it on my blog everything froze and nothing would cooperate with me.

After a while I tried to publish my blog post without the artwork but that did not work, in the end I was so frustrated that I decided it was better to stop and try again another time.

However everything went differently to how I planned and I did not manage to get back to using my laptop until Monday this week.

Then I was surprised to see that my blog post despite all the problems had been published on my blog just without artwork and a title and labels.

After I added the missing artwork, title and labels I realised I would have to stop as my index finger was not cooperating with me.

So I reluctantly shut down the laptop and decided to relax which is not always as easy as it should be, but I did my best.

Luckily this week I've been able to do my arm and leg exercises Motomed without the discomfort I have been experiencing in previous weeks.

Because the curvature of my spine is progressing it means that the backrest on my wheelchair does not fit me well anymore and does not support me as it should.

The result in recent weeks has been the I am sitting leaning to the left which is not a pleasant way in which to do 45 minutes of exercises.

I was getting quite downhearted thinking in due course I would not be able to do these exercises which are vital for my well-being.

Luckily Richie has been able to sit me in a wheelchair in such a way that I am able to do the exercises on the Motomed without any discomfort.

Hopefully my joy will be made complete when I can successfully publish this blog post with artwork, title and labels tonight, then I will be happy.

Monday, January 07, 2013

Taking a break.




When I decided to take a break from blogging on 11th of December I did not intend to stop for as long as I have, as it's now three weeks ago that I wrote a blog post.

On 11th of December there was a lot going on here, we had the unexpected visit from a good friend John, who we had not seen since 1993 apart from a brief visit in 1999.

It was quite incredible; it was very emotional but lovely to see him again after all these years, a very special visit from a special person who is a close friend of Richie’s.

When I decided to take a holiday from blogging I only meant to stop during John's visit which was from 8th of December until 16th of December.

On the day after John left I decided to extend my time off from blogging to enjoy the days before the winter solstice and then Christmas before writing again.

Apart from time off from blogging I wanted to see what life would be like without my laptop and my connection to the outside world via the Internet.

I discovered that I can live without my laptop and the Internet; however my conclusion is that I can live without but I'd rather not have to do so.

I still have so much that I would like to write about, during my time off there were days when I could feel that I was overflowing with ideas for my blog posts.

Last night I decided I would start blogging again from today; it's not easy as my left index finger which I rely on is not functioning well, and is becoming inactive.

I should have made more of an effort learning how to use the Seetech computer in August instead I chose to write using Dragon voice recognition.

So now I have a problem because I can not use the laptop like I used to and it is very frustrating to feel that my index finger won't work that is so frustrating.

There is nothing worse than sitting in front of my laptop unable to click on any items or to scroll down or to surf the net or do anything much.

The Seetech computer worries me, however I will not let fear rule me and I intend to learn how to use the Seetech computer so I can keep writing and communicating.

I have not only missed the writing I have also missed the communications with blog friends who have become important for me, I'm glad to be writing again today.