Rockster's Xanga

Charley October Update

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:31:41 GMT

Not that Charley will be writing this update as she is currently busy snoozing on the sofa. I am still at my mother's house (and I still go to say my parents' house as my first thought) being her main carer. I will update properly soon enough but, as I have almost caught up with all your wonderful blogs, thought it was time to show you what a big girl my Charley has become. My internet connection is provided by a dongle and at times it's as bad as having dial-up (which I suppose it is, in a modern sense) ever was before the advent of broadband.

July Update

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 06:56:07 GMT

Thanks for all your messages of sympathy. Dad's funeral went off as well as could be expected.

My mother's health concern turns out to be a new secondary cancer in her spine. She has had some treatment and is currently in hospital waiting for any resulting reduction in the swelling which had caused the loss of feeling and movement in her legs. She will then receive physiotherapy to maximise ability to move which will lead us to knowing what her chances of living at home successfully will be.

I am only home from Wednesday to Friday and the time has rushed past already. I will be going back with Charley to continue visiting and supporting my mom on a daily basis. I have managed to sort out a number of problems that had occurred in my absence including a leaking toilet, not to mention rushing round to buy replacement electrical equipment that had been trashed in a recent electrical storm. I can tell it will feel unreal that I will have been back at all and I haven't even left yet! I could have done without the additional stress, not to mention all the driving, but it has been worth it to spend some time with his majesty. We both miss each other terribly but try to talk on the phone every day.

The stress and exercise etc has meant that I have lost 10 pounds in weight in just three weeks which I could stand to lose though I'm sure it's not the ideal way to lose it.

Hope you are all well and I will try to catch up with all your exploits the next time I have internet access (though I'm not sure when that will be).

Toodles!

Arrangements

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:49:52 GMT

My dad died in the early hours of saturday morning. Charley and I will be going to stay with my mom while all the arrangements are made and she gets herself into a new routine. Her health has also taken something of a setback too so some difficult decisions and adjustments may have to be made to make her life a little easier. She wants herself, my brother and me to sit down and decide what will be done. Think of us all during this time. Think also of his majesty who will be by himself while we are away, especially when he starts his new career next week. Good luck baby!

Charley Update

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:03:07 GMT

Wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged. The purpose of this photo blog is to show you how much my little girl has grown in the last two months. The following pics are in chronological order with the exception of the last portrait which is my current favourite.

Last Saturday

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:47:04 GMT

Last Saturday we went to see Charley. So here she is at 50 days old. His majesty got lots of holds (as pictured!) but I got the lick.

We pick her up on Friday (as in tomorrow!!!!!!!!) and so are desperately trying to get everything ready for her. Expect lots of cute pictures. Oh we went to London for a few days for his majesty's belated birthday and walked loads. I took over 300 photos. I think I am becoming obsessed with pictures of the human form (no not like that you dirty minded folk!) as I took loads of snaps of statues and masks at the British Museum. Some of the Roman statues are so lifelike. It takes no effort to imagine these marble forms as real living human beings. I'll have to download the photos soon and show you all what I mean (puppy permitting).

Also, think kind thoughts for Charley as she will get her first inoculations tomorrow afternoon.

Charley

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:21:29 GMT

I finally made a decision. She will be called Charley. The last pictures were taken when she was 38 days old. On Monday, my neighbour and I went to see her again. I was happy to see how much she had grown. The breeder said that she was the leader of the pack and always first to the food bowl. As well as all this leading behaviour she was still very cuddly and lay happily in my and my neighbours arms. All the dogs have been sold now and only the other girl remains to be named. The three boys are called Jim, Humphrey and Dave so I think that Charley matches in with these choices! Here are the pictures I took (the pups are 45 days old). We also got to see their mother which was good though she barked at us continuously so she is still protective of her puppies.

We're Getting A Puppy!

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:47:17 GMT

We're Getting A Puppy!

I totally lost count of how many times I said that out loud to his majesty on Monday after I had telephoned a local lady about her Westie puppies. We went round within an hour of my phoning and got first pick of the litter! There were three boys and two girls but as our dog will be spending lots of time with our neighbours' boy dogs we were advised to get a girl. We picked this one:

Isn't she a sweetie! Our main problem though is what to name her. If she had been a boy then I was obviously going to choose Charlie but now I'm not so sure, though Charlie or Charley can be a shortening of Charlotte. As we find names we particularly like they are being written onto post-it notes and stuck to the large mirror in the living room. The list currently reads thus:

CLEO

RUBY

CHARLIE

CHARLEY

LUCY

FERN

HOPE

His majesty also wants to add LOLA and I quite fancy CASSIE too but we'll see. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly received.

We will pick her up on Friday 27th February! I also took a picture of her with her brothers and sister (she is the one wearing the red collar to show she has been chosen).

Also, for those of you capable of such things here is a (rather dark) video of all the puppies together. The barking in the background was their mum who had been shut out of the room as she is very protective of her puppies.

We had also already been shopping for dishes, leads and toys etc though we will have to look at beds soon. Can't wait!

It's A Dog's Life!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:50:38 GMT

It's A Dog's Life!

I can't believe I've been back home for over a week already - it seems like barely a day.

December and January flew by in a haze of nervous exhaustion. My mother was due to have her pre-med check-up on my first full day there and then go into hospital a week later for her operation. We got through the pre-med ok though we had thought it would take about an hour and we were there more like four! The following week we got to the hospital and settled my mom into her bed. Her operation was due the very next day. I drove to the hospital and parked in the multi-storey car park which is about a five minute walk away from the main hospital block. Whilst in the car, I received a phone call to say that her operation had been cancelled at the last minute as the person before mom in the operating theatre had been unlucky enough to have her bladder nicked and so had to be operated upon further to stem the bleeding. I can remember my attitude was one of total disbelief as we had gone through so much to make sure that I could be there for the two month period of the operation and her recovery (I had been to my doctor and made sure I had enough medication to last, I had enough of my daily disposable contact lenses to last, set up online payments for bills and another 101 other arrangements) and also because mom was nervous enough about the operation already without prolonging the agony. They suggested she could stay in hospital another night if she wanted but I just wanted to get her home as soon as possible. The nursing staff were very helpful and the consultant himself said he would try to either get her in the following week or in early January. Thankfully, she got a phone call to say that they had a bed for her the following week which still fitted into our timetable but made it unlikely that I would be able to visit home over New Year as we had originally envisioned.

Then followed two weeks of visiting mom twice daily at the hospital and also looking after my dad. There were several occasions of falling asleep in the armchair between visits but I didn't miss a visit which I know was important for my mom. She did get visited by other relatives and friends but it was something I had thought about before she had gone in. The operation itself went well and there were several comments by medical staff that she had done significantly better than people half her age (especially as she is now 81). My dad didn't leave the house and there was no question in my mind that he would visit my mom and he certainly didn't mention it though several relatives did ask me if he would. I got my mom out on the day before Xmas eve and had just about managed to rearrange the dining room furniture and put together a single bed for her to sleep in. She had thought that she would start off better without having to use the stairs too much. She has a toilet attached to the conservatory and always gets up hours before anyone else so this arrangement suited her well.

For Xmas day we all went up to my brother and sister-in-law's house though we were more than a couple of hours late. This was nothing to do with my mother feeling unwell but rather my dad taking ages to get himself ready as it took him time "to get my breath" with the use of additional oxygen. Perhaps it was cruel of me but I was determined that we would have a Christmas meal all together and it ended up being mid afternoon rather than lunchtime but none of the food was ruined. It was also good to catch up with my 3 nieces, especially to hear how my oldest niece is getting on at university. When it was time to go home, it was again my dad who took the longest to get to the car and also to get back into the house. He didn't seem to realise that the longer he took to get inside then the colder he would get and also the cold air he was breathing in would make it more difficult to move too.

After Xmas, I caught another cold (about my third or fourth in a two month period) and this time I think I was the reason why my dad started to feel worse and had all the symptoms of a mild virus. Unfortunately, after the cold symptoms had gone he felt no better and appeared to have "post viral fatigue". This meant that the night of New Year's Eve into New Year's Day was spent getting him comfortable in his armchair as he felt too weak to climb the stairs (a task it was taking up to an hour for him to complete). After I had gone to bed once, he then managed to fall out of one chair and insisted on trying to get up himself. He couldn't manage it so I ended up scooping him up together with his oxygen cylinder and placing him in another armchair. My one passing thought was how light he has become. My mother shocked observation was "Who would you think had just come out of hospital?". He spent two days and nights in the armchair before we managed to get him up to bed. He barely ate or drank. In the end we got the doctor to come out to him and he was prescribed antibiotics (which seemed to do little for him) and finally he was prescribed steroids which did seem to bring some life back (and appetite) back to him. During this period I will spare you the detail of his toilet arrangements but let me just say they were not sustainable.

Eventually, the day for my mother’s hospital appointment came around and I went with her to hear what the consultant had to say. He said that the growth on her kidney was cancerous and also that it had been larger than they anticipated but that he thought they had caught it in time. She will have another scan in March and a further appointment with him in April. I wasn’t quite sure, at first, how to take this news. It meant that my mother had definitely had cancer but it also meant that everything we had been through had been worthwhile. I was so glad she hadn’t taken my brother’s advice of leaving it alone. This also meant that the planned two months were virtually over and I could come home though my dad’s condition is still a concern. I can count the number of times he has gotten dressed properly since the New Year on less than the fingers on one hand. He has also gone back to hardly eating or drinking since he has stopped the steroids. We don’t know what to do for the best. On top of this my mother had an x-ray in November on one of her shoulders (she has artificial shoulder joints as well as artificial knee joints due to the effects of arthritis). When she went to see her GP recently he had finally received the results through (over two months later - that’s the marvel of modern technology in the health service for you!) and now one of the shoulder joints has become loose which will probably mean more surgery to correct.

Now at the same time as all of this was happening to my parents, there were other things happening here at home. His majesty learned that he is under threat of redundancy and also Mabel, our beloved guinea pig, became ill and had died. His majesty managed the burial in the garden in a place we had previously agreed upon and I made sure I said a goodbye to her when I got home.

As you can probably imagine, there was more than one tear shed over all of this. I must admit I have found it all to be quite stressful but I guess I’m doing ok.

One good thing has happened though, My brother and sister-in-law have come to the realisation that my mom does need some help even if just on a weekly basis so have made a list of things they say they will do a regular basis for her as she continued to recuperate.

Another positive was just how supportive our next door neighbours have turned out to be as they had his majesty round for a meal and coffee on numerous occasions. They have also been very good in supporting our desire to get another pet as the house is so quiet without someone to share when either of us is here alone. We are looking, as per my previous blog, for a dog though I have been somewhat shocked at the prices of puppies and dogs. Westies are over £300 each which is considerably more than I could afford to pay. We are also looking at the private rehoming of dogs and rescue dogs from organisations such as the RSPCA but these are often for very large or unsuitable dogs for our circumstances. I’m sure there is a dog out there for us.

Oh, by the way, I did celebrate my big 40^th birthday (I told you it was a big birthday) with a trip with his majesty to my home town just a week before going again for the two month carer duty. Let’s hope 2009 turns out better than 2008 but I won’t hold my breath. I’ve never felt so old but then again that‘s the nature of the aging process!

Charlie The West Highland Terrier

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:58:27 GMT

One of the problems with the cold/manflu I have had recently is that, having taken Beachams all-in-one tablets the night before, I have been sleeping very heavily in the mornings and only finally rouse at midday. (Let's not even mention the cough!) This morning, his majesty brought me a mug of tea in bed before he went to work.

As he left the room he lifted Charlie, the West Highland Terrier, onto the bed who then snuggled up beside me after giving me a quick lick on the face as a hello. I made a fuss of him as he does like to have his chest rubbed.

I woke up later to realise I was alone in bed and wondered where the dog was. It took me a few seconds to realise we don't (yet) own a dog. It had all been a dream in the period between the cup of tea and waking up at noon. I can even pinpoint what put this idea into my head. In the local weekly free paper there was a page of adverts for pets for sale and one of them was for a six month old male West Highland Terrier for £150. My dream was very real and the happiness I felt with him snuggling up was wonderful. The disappointment when the dream fades was also very real. It's like when I dream of feeling normal (no stomach or bowel problems) and feel so down when I get woken up needing to run to the loo. Oh well. Now, five weeks from my mother's operation, is not the time to be thinking about adding to our household even if I could afford it. I don't think Mabel would approve anyway. Sorry this post is such a downer but I just wanted a record of such a vivid dream.

Madame Mabel visits the spa

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:01:51 GMT

Thanks for all the comments.

For those of you interested in the history of the beach hut I would recommend looking here. The huts in Southwold were mainly all locked up ready for winter but we did see inside a couple of them, ranging from a semi fitted kitchenette at the back (remember these huts have no electricity or water) with small stoves to very bare hut kitted out only with deck chairs, games and beach toys. One of the things I enjoy is reading all the whimsical names people have given some of the huts - very British! We did see one elderly lady seated in the entrance to her hut, reading a book, facing the sun but nicely out of the breeze. Quite made one want to get a book and join her.

Yesterday, Mabel was treated to a freshen up session at her favourite spa while her apartment was refurbished.

She really is a special old girl. She is in her ninth year and I shall miss her almost as much as his majesty whilst I'm looking after my parents.

Finally.....

Love is finding romantic gestures in the most ordinary of things.