Join the conversation.

.Roberto Matta.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta 

It is very good John is staying here with us, it is nice to hear Richie talking with him in the front room, that is when he is not in the here with me.

My physiotherapist Matilda was here this afternoon 1400 for my Monday physiotherapy session.

She left at 1430 and I've been trying ever since to get my post dictated to the voice recognition software which was not easy.

Mainly because either the Dragon voice recognition software just did not cooperate with what I was dictating and just seemed to invent words.

Or because John was in the here wanting to talk and Richie would come in as well and before I knew it was a wonderful three-way conversation.

I'm going to stop now and look for artwork by Roberto Matta I will publish this on my blog and join the conversation.

Enjoyable Moments With Good Friends

Roberto Matta.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Matta

It has been wonderful having Gareth and Paul staying with us for 3 1/2 lovely days.

The days have flown by and before we knew it they were saying goodbye to us at 13.45.

It was a shame as I was hoping to speak with them after my physiotherapy appointment with Mathilde which only lasted for 30 minutes.

Maybe I should have mentioned this when I told them that I had a physiotherapy appointment this afternoon.

Never mind we will be seeing them again briefly on Thursday afternoon so I will have a chance to talk some more with them.

I hope they have a lovely time at their good friend Steve's apartment right in the centre of Amsterdam.

It has been a truly beautiful visit with two fine men, who we are so happy to know, I'm glad they have been here, I've enjoyed every moment.

Dreamy Afternoon.

Head of Spring, 1941/1942.
Pavel Tchelitchew.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavel_Tchelitchew

Mathilde was here on time, for our physiotherapy session, we got started right away, when she lifted my right arm it triggered off an extremely painful spasm.

She massaged my shoulder, as well stretching exercises with my arms; I also inhaled THC which helped me relax and do the rest of the exercises

Now, I am feeling quite dreamy, it looks nice outside today, but having felt Richie and Mathilde’s cold hands I know that it’s freezing outside.

A day when I am happy to stay in and enjoy being warm while seeing people wearing a lot more layers of. clothes than at the beginning of the month when it was mild weather.

Noticed again just now during my Monday appointment with Mathilde, that lifting my right arm is a big effort, impossible to stretch as far as my left arm.

This week touching my nose with my right hand was quite an effort, lifting my arm was almost herculean; it felt good when I had finished.

Really good, so good afterwards, that I am sure that I have been sitting here smiling since Mathilde left.

The sunshine has started to fade away now, as its 16.00, it will be dark by 17.00, and then Richie will make pasta Carbonara for me, which is delicious.

I am looking forward to this evening; I have been sitting in our front room sine 12.00 which has been delightful.  

Not The Only One.

Ricardo Lacsamana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Lacsamana
 

My ears were rinsed by Dagma, our doctor; I had been worried about this, but was reassured by Dagma.

Now I can hear again, which is brilliant, this is the first time since May that my left ear works.

Really good to be able to hear with both ears; I am happy I do not have to constantly ask Richie to repeat himself.

Despite not much dirt being rinsed out of my ear, when Richie dried my ear by putting a piece of tissue in the ear it came out dirty.

Whatever is clogging up my ear is still there, I shall get Richie to repeat the cleaning after his driving lessons.

Mathilde, my physiotherapist will be here at 14.30, for our exercise session, I am looking forward to it.

Sadly the weather is not sunny; hopefully it will stay dry and not rain until after midnight and stop at daybreak.

Typically when Dagma was here just now I forgot to speak to her about a couple of other things, this often happens to me.

If I do not have it written down in front of me I will forget, sometimes everything, I am sure I am not the only one.

 

Sunny Monday.

Marleen and Cyril.Sunny Monday.

After my physiotherapy session with Mathilde, I had an appointment with an adviser from the council.

From an organisation called Mozaak, she was here to have a look at the apartment and me, to see whether I qualified for airco.

She left after an hour; I am none the wiser what the decision will be, as she did not give me even the tiniest clue.

Really hope that the Mozaak will let me know as soon as possible what the answer will be, hopefully before it gets hot.

I shall have to wait and see, more patience, what an expert I have become in the last years, in being patient.

I even have to be patient with my laptop, which keeps freezing every time I try to do something.

Even just opening a mail or a word document or moving between both or scrolling up and down in my mailbox or word document.

Richie had a frustrating few hours trying to see what has caused these problems; he tried to make a backup of my profile.

This did not work out as the laptop kept freezing, so no backup, which was very annoying as Richie had spent ages trying.

He discovered a couple thousand old mails of mine, which I had long deleted but for some reason were still there.

I hope that we can sort this out, and I hope that it will start again tomorrow, my nightmare is that it won’t, horrible thought no laptop, no blog.

Relaxing Day Despite The Stress.

Nightwork Is About To Commence, 1943.

Emmy Bridgewater.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Bridgwater

Today was a relaxing day, despite problems such as a stiff painful elbow and right arm.

Also problems, with the new version of Firefox web browser, the big shock was that the settings had changed.

Suddenly no refresh button, no zoom and various other annoying things, which I hope to sort out later.

First I will listen to the radio, then do some more trouble shooting, hope that I can keep calm, something that I did not manage earlier.

Saw Mathilde, my wonderful physiotherapist this afternoon, I tried my best to stretch my right arm without success.

Feeling my right arm getting so painfully stiff and getting worse every day is upsetting me.

Guess all I can do, is what I do, which is to try to keep positive, make the best of my life.

Sometimes this is extremely difficult to do, this afternoon I had a moment of despair, everything got to me.

Luckily Richie returned with dogs, from the park, we listened to the Archer’s radio program, then Richie put me back to bed at my request, after sitting for over six hours..

After some delicious food, I feel so much better now, writing my post has helped.

As it usually does, it puts everything into perspective for me and helps me carry on.

                                           

A Good Apointment With Summit.

Karen Holtsmark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Holtsmark

This morning I got woken by something, that I realised later was the alarm, once I was awake, it was fine to get up at 08.00.

In fact it was good to have an early shower and be sitting dressed and in the wheelchair by 09.00.

Ruud from Summit was here at precisely 09.30 as we agreed; he had another good look at how I was sitting.

He pulled me a little higher up in the chair, which felt better; I no longer feel like I am not sitting up properly, felt like I was sitting slumped on the small of my back.

Sitting higher feels so much better, I am looking forward to my physiotherapy session tomorrow, now I am sitting better than I have been.

Very happy that how I was sitting has been sorted out now and being in the wheelchair from now on, will not mean Richie has to adjust me all the time I am in the wheelchair.

Ruud is very good at his work, which is incredibly reassuring and it is also very safe which is good.

He is a great advert for caring, committed people working with handicapped people, meeting someone like him makes up for meeting some others.

The ones who only seem to care about their salaries, I often wonder why people who seem not to like people work with people.

  

Feeling Worse Today.

The Railway Crossing, 1919, oil on canvas.
Ferdinangd Leger.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_L%C3%A9ger

Today I am feeling a touch worse than yesterday; mind you I did manage a reasonable Physiotherapy session at lunch time today.

It is all one step forward and two steps back at the moment and this, I think will be the situation until I am totally recovered from this horrid flu.

Strange to feel so much weaker than yesterday today, but I guess it is not odd at all as recovery from this strain of influenza is very difficult fro everyone.

Hope that I will feel like eating tonight, last night I was not so keen but did manage some mashed potatoes and a poached egg.

My big favourite at the moment is bread and marmite which I have always liked but especially right now.

Marmite and bread has been a great solution for me when I did not feel to eat anything, but had eat to in order to start getting better.

I am very happy that my session with Mathilde, my physiotherapist went so well today; it has given me a huge boost.

Which I really needed, especially today because I am abit weaker and do not want to get down and depressed too.

Difficult not to get down after such a heavy bout of influenza like the one that both Richie and I had, and which we are both slowly recovering from now.

Difficult To Wait Calmly & Patiently.

Caspar David Friedrich.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich

Today has been a rather cold and sunny day, had a good physiotherapy session with Mathilde, which is always good thing.

Woke up today, after sleeping soundly and the first thought in my mind was whether my catheter was still inside me or not.

As soon as I was fully awake and could move my hands I carefully slid my left hand under my left leg.

Happy days it was still dry when I brought it back out and I could smell the rose shower gel that Richie showers me inn everyday.

What a tremendous relief that was, especially to discover that the catheter had not popped out.

Good to start the day calmly, did not fancy waking up and right away being taken to the shower by Richie with top speed.

Lovely to be able to have my legs massaged, Richie does not lift my legs anymore as that was causing the catheter to pop out.

Richie got me the table over the bed and my laptop and after taking my baclofen tablets I listened to the radio and read my mail.

A much pleasanter way of waking up, than having to be taken to the shower before I was even properly awake.

Wish that I could hurry the appointment up but will do my best to stay calm and patient, probably better than getting all worked for nothing.

Staying calm and being patient is still not my strong suit, wish it were but despite everything I still find it so very difficult to wait patiently.

                                                        

  

Brilliant Visit To The Market.

 


On The Market.

It has been a great day today, the appointment with Wilma from Wi-Care at 12 midday, went very well.

She brought one of their rain capes with her to check if it fitted me and it was a perfect fit.

Then she showed me some colour samples and I choose purple, it will be made quite soon and I should have it in three weeks time.     

              

Which will be brilliant as the rainy autumn weather seems to have started now and I do need to be well equipped.

 I do not intend to go out in a rain storm but if I am well protected then I can go out when it does not look so nice.

This afternoon the weather was not as sunny as in the morning but as it was dry Richie and I went off to the market.

Finally after two years and nearly two months there I was rolling around on my favourite neighbourhood market, the Ten Cate market.

It was great being there, had good fun rolling over the market, just before we got there we bumped into our dear friend Marianne, who was immensely surprised and pleased to see us.

She had popped round to see me at 14.15 before my physiotherapy session with Mathilde, to bring a present from her trip to Vietnam.

So Marianne had not expected to see me on the Kinkerstraat; it was a pleasure to see how delighted she was to see me there.

Not as delighted as I was to be there after so much time, it was a truly brilliant outing today with my darling Richie.

The first of many trips yet to come to the market and hopefully to other places before too long.

Hopefully one of many more very happy days yet to come.

                                                                                                        

              

                      

Being Handicapped Does Not Mean That I Have Become Stupid.

A very dreary cool, grey and rainy day, Richie just came back with two very damp dogs, from taking them down to the dog toilet by the canal at the end of our street.

Today is my physiotherapy day, Mathilde will be here at 14.00 for 30 minutes, it is always a good session and I generally benefit from the exercises and shoulder massage.

Michelle, the advisor from the local council will also come by to check my arm supports; hopefully the saga of the wheelchair table will come to a good conclusion soon.

Still can’t believe that while I was waiting for the table to be made from the lengthy measuring session which took 2 1/2 hours on 25 august nothing was happening.

To my amazement found out last Wednesday, that nothing was actually happening as my occupational therapist Johanneke had to come and check the height first.

No one, neither Harm, from Welzorg the mobility company, nor Michelle told either Richie or me this on the 25 august.

If they had have done so, I would have immediately got in touch with Johanneke right away for an appointment ASAP.

But I did not and Johanneke said nothing either, nor did she tell me she was the cause of why the whole project had stagnated.

She just told me that it was stagnated, found out that she or rather her lack of coming to check was the reason nothing was happening.

Really incredible that this has happened especially, after the whole saga of things such as the arm supports, this took months to get adjusted.

Months of painful arms and shoulders because I had to support my arms and shoulders myself.

Can’t believe that my occupational therapist seems to have let me down so badly by not coming by quickly to check the arm supports.

Know for a fact that my old occupational therapist Ludwine would have made an appointment right away, she was very supportive of us both.

Ludwine came to visit us last week Wednesday which was very nice of her, good to see her again.

Shame she is not still my therapist, she is outstanding always acted in my best interests, never adopted a different tone of voice when talking to me.

Always felt like equals which h does not happen too often most including Johanneke adopt their voices.

They talk to me in that sugary tone of voice for the hard of thinking which I hate so much.

Decided the next time that happens, instead of ignoring it I shall ask whoever it is to not patronise me, as I am an equal, being handicapped does not mean that I have become stupid, my handicap has not diminished my intellect.

Not A Bad Night.

Bolivian Art.

Not a bad night slept until early morning, when I woke up suddenly feeling all the pain again, as soon as I was conscious called out to Richie for some THC.

It worked well and I drifted back off to sleep again waking 3 hours later feeling better for the extra sleep.

Immediately felt all my pain again so Richie got me THC after two lots of THC vapour the pain started to recede into the background.

My pain is not gone, just manageable, the THC helps me to relax, these days I no longer get high like I used to, seems the THC just goes to alleviating my pain.

Yesterday there had not been enough time after my shower to do my leg exercises before my physiotherapist got here so Richie put me back to bed.

After the session noticed my legs were going mad, one horrible spasm after the other with hardly a let up, wondered if it was the effects of the hot sticky weather.

Later on Richie hoisted me into the shower chair and placed me in front of the Motomed, strapped my legs in and I did 40 minutes of leg exercises.

Four lots of 10 minutes after that got put back to bed and did not have other leg spasms, which was good.

Had got quite concerned as my spasms were very powerful, banging against the table over my bed and making my laptop move.

Every spasm got me holding onto the laptop scared it would fall off the table, really glad the Motomed stopped them.

Glad we got the Motomed it is invaluable for me, it was quite expensive but well worth every penny as I use it every day.

Wonder what today will be like hope pleasant despite feeling very floppy and having limited hand function.

Oh well could be worse, glad it is not, yesterday clarified for me once again, that living in the moment was the best way for me.

Have now totally stopped predicting and worrying about what if, doing this makes life much easier and more pleasant for my darling Richie and I.

Staying Calm.

Montmatre, Paris, France.


Day three of being in bed all the time, hate it but have to stay calm which has never been easy for me.

Ton had a long weekend and won't be at work until tomorrow, did contact a colleague who will also tell him what has happened when she sees him in the morning.

Richie said it has not got worse in fact he thinks it is looking better, hope it heals quick, wish we can work out what happened to cause this to happen.

Hate not having a clue why it occurred which is very worrying for us both, especially for Richie, makes me worried about my electric wheelchair.

Hope Ton has an idea as to how it was caused, and he may do as this is his job, today had physiotherapy in bed again which was not my favourite.

Richie and the dogs are out at the park having a good time, Spike seems to be doing better, swimming has helped.

Dreading tomorrow as it is going to be the hottest day so far and I am stuck in bed, have been growling a lot about that.

Saturday was good seeing an old friend and making a new one on my Dutch blog felt very good.

She did not know whether I would appreciate a comment from a stranger, I told her I was over the moon with her response as the Dutch blog gets very little comments.

Told her I was happy to meet someone new and my blog was open so anyone could read and comment.

Wonder if that explains why I get so few comments on my Dutch blog, at least I have an idea now.

Funny the scarcity of comments on the Dutch when the Dutch are the second biggest group of visitors after the USA.

Anyway it will not stop me writing as this blog is primarily so I can record my life since MS and so I can communicate with other bloggers.

Going to post this and ask Richie for some THC vapour and relax and enjoy the Archer’s on BBC Radio 4.

Today Spring Is On Its Way.

Another new week has started, yesterday was grey and cold, heard from my physiotherapist, Mathilda yesterday that there had been a thin layer of snow yesterday morning.

She was shocked when she drew the curtains open and saw snow, luckily an hour later when she left her house it was all but gone.

Must have worried her thinking it was icy and there was a chance she could fall off her bike again.

Mathilda fell off her bike on the ice and broke her wrist, she did not miss one session with me.

Appreciate her visits, feel that regular physiotherapy seems to be good for me and has for sure helped me.

Just had a very pleasant call from my consultant Michelle,from Arca, she rang earlier but will never leave a message.

Funny that she won't leave a message, so I can never ring her back, she was at great pains to let me know that she was ready to spring into action for me.

She is having a holiday on the 24 March and wanted to let me know, she was hoping I had good news for her.

Nice to know Michelle is all geared up to be able to respond quickly and set up mutiple appointments with all the professionals involved.

Today is a sunny day, pretty blue skies and a feeling that spring is really on its way which is wonderful.

I can see that the change in the weather is much appreciated by the dogs who have been charging around happily since they got in from their inspection of the neighbourhood.

Seems to have been a worthwhile exercise as the dogs are full of themselves, think they are so happy because Spike can run free again.
















.

A Dark Grey Cloudy Day

A total contrast to the sunny bright day yesterday, it is a dark, grey, cloudy damp day, it looks thoroughly miserable.

Classic Monday weather to cheer up all those going to work, blimey feel myself really wishing I could be one of those grumbling workers going to my job.

When I worked the weekends always disappeared in double time and we are back at work within 5 minutes it seemed after we said goodbye on the Friday.

Funnily enough time still goes by super quick, one minute it is Monday and then Mathilde, my physiotherapist is already back for our Thursday session.

And then before I know it its Monday again and Mathilda will be here soon.

Need to organise some friends to come to visit me, recently I have not been organising visits and have been relying on friends getting in touch.

Obviously need to get more active and make myself known so people can react, better to do that than say nothing and feel hurt.

Feeling hurt and not saying anything does not make sense and is not making good use of my friends.

If I value them I will call on them and let them know this, good to ask for things you need, good to be asked.

A win win situation for everyone involved.

Had a not so good night last night, after sleeping every night for over a week it was not nice to find myself not falling asleep.

It was most frustrating especially as for hours it felt like I was on the verge of sleeping but it never happened.

And when I did drift off to sleep it was only briefly, ended up being resigned to my fate and then finally drifted off to sleep.

Only to be woken minutes later it seemed, by Richie getting up and turning the heating on and playing with the dogs.

While they were playing I did my arm exercises which were very painful today, my arms were stiff.

After a lot of noise and activity suddenly Richie and the dogs were quiet and I realised they were asleep at that very moment I drifted back off to sleep.

It was good to get some sleep as I now feel able to cope with the day, shame the clouds do not look like they will go away today.

Maybe there will be sun later no who knows it could happen at any moment and I am ready to enjoy the moment.