WHAT NOW...PNEUMONIA...AAAH!!!
Sunday, 6th January 2019. A new year (thank goodness).
It's a long and painful story the last seven weeks.
Since my last post, the pain and use of Janet's right arm had got worse rather than better. The injection had absolutely no effect and although Janet had attended physiotherapy four times to the middle of December, there has been little done in view of the pain she was suffering. A bit of massage six weeks ago but this only seemed to exacerbate the situation, and Janet has not been at physio since 10th December.
I'm afraid sometimes this whole situation becomes too much for me and I become too stressed and anxious about Janet, about me and really just about everything. This feeling does come and go but at the moment it's mostly coming over me in waves. Janet has suggested I attend a well-being class or just go and see the doctor! I think one or both options may be a good idea.
Anyway, back to life, back to reality. A couple of visits to the hairdresser occurred but of course the highlight of the past few weeks was the celebration of the first anniversary of Janet's 70th birthday at the start of December. Alex and Debbie and Neil and Ruth all came up on Saturday, 1st December to celebrate their mum's birthday and here we all are at Coltman's restaurant in Peebles High Street on that very evening.
A few games of golf and a satellite dish repair later, we drove down to Reading for our Christmas visit to my children and grandsons. We stayed at the Millennium Madejski Hotel (attached to the Reading Football Stadium) and very good it was too. I had a long lunch with six of my ex-colleagues on the Friday (with Janet meeting her old friend, Caroline, on that day) and we met up with my kids on the Saturday and Sunday, culminating in a splendid Sunday lunch at the Stag & Hounds near Bracknell and a present exchange back at our hotel room in Reading. Here are a few photos confirming all this.
We drove down to Neil and Ruth's in Warrington on Christmas Eve, where we also saw Janet's three granddaughters, and Alex and Debbie. We stayed there Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with us visiting Ruth's daughter, Alicia and family on this latter day, and overall ate and drank rather too much (speaking for myself). A few photos to commemorate the occasion follow.
On the drive back to Scotland last Thursday, Janet said she started to feel a bit unwell and maybe had the start of a cold. She spent most of the next few days in bed, which was most unlike Janet, and developed a deep and very sore chesty cough. She made an appointment at the doctor's on Monday (Hogmanay) and she was examined by a nurse at the GP Practice. Janet was away for about 20 minutes and came back clutching her medical notes, as the nurse had said that she may have pneumonia and should go straight to the Borders General Hospital near Melrose (where Janet had spent a few weeks after her stroke).
I drove there and arrived about 4.30pm. After 20/30 minutes wait, Janet was examined, had blood taken, had an ECG and an X-Ray. The result was that she did indeed have pneumonia and would be kept in hospital for at least two nights and put on antibiotics straight away. The consultant said it was a bad infection so I didn't hold out much hope of Janet getting out very soon.
What an end to the year!!
Anyway, on the first day of January 2019, we had good news insomuch as the Consultant was very happy with Janet's progress and would be released from hospital the following day.
Well, that was a false dawn, if ever there was one. Visiting Janet on Wednesday, the 2nd, was quite traumatic. Her temperature had risen considerably, she was trembling and shivering, having coughing fits and was just so uncomfortable and distressed. I spoke to the nurse several times about my concern and they did look in and eventually brought in a small fan to give her some cool relief. I have to say though that the nursing staff are all very good at the BGH.
Thursday, 3rd January. With some trepidation, I appeared at lunchtime, and found Janet a totally different person! She was dozing when I arrived but just generally she looked so much better. She looked more relaxed, and when lunch came round, she ate quite a bit of her main course and all her dessert. Her temperature had dropped and she was much more coherent.
She said that the doctor would consider discharging her on either Sunday or Monday, providing he was happy that the infection had totally cleared. She is still on antibiotics and getting daily blood tests. She'd had an X-ray just before I arrived. All looking good though.
And she's back home. When I visited Janet on Friday, she said that the doctor had confirmed that she was to be discharged the following day. So, yesterday, Saturday, I went to pick her up just before lunchtime.
Yes, she's very weak and has lost weight, which she can ill afford to do. Her appetite almost totally disappeared, but it is coming back slowly and she is now eating. She has another couple of days of taking antibiotics (in tablet form) and that will be the end of that medication. Only the tablets for her stroke left to carry on with!
Janet was meant to have an appointment at the Borders General Hospital tomorrow, at the Osteopathy Department, where she was to have an injection in her right shoulder and a scan taken to try and work out why she has so much pain in her right arm. Because of the pneumonia, this has had to be postponed to early February.
Anyway, A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.
It's a long and painful story the last seven weeks.
Since my last post, the pain and use of Janet's right arm had got worse rather than better. The injection had absolutely no effect and although Janet had attended physiotherapy four times to the middle of December, there has been little done in view of the pain she was suffering. A bit of massage six weeks ago but this only seemed to exacerbate the situation, and Janet has not been at physio since 10th December.
I'm afraid sometimes this whole situation becomes too much for me and I become too stressed and anxious about Janet, about me and really just about everything. This feeling does come and go but at the moment it's mostly coming over me in waves. Janet has suggested I attend a well-being class or just go and see the doctor! I think one or both options may be a good idea.
Anyway, back to life, back to reality. A couple of visits to the hairdresser occurred but of course the highlight of the past few weeks was the celebration of the first anniversary of Janet's 70th birthday at the start of December. Alex and Debbie and Neil and Ruth all came up on Saturday, 1st December to celebrate their mum's birthday and here we all are at Coltman's restaurant in Peebles High Street on that very evening.
A few games of golf and a satellite dish repair later, we drove down to Reading for our Christmas visit to my children and grandsons. We stayed at the Millennium Madejski Hotel (attached to the Reading Football Stadium) and very good it was too. I had a long lunch with six of my ex-colleagues on the Friday (with Janet meeting her old friend, Caroline, on that day) and we met up with my kids on the Saturday and Sunday, culminating in a splendid Sunday lunch at the Stag & Hounds near Bracknell and a present exchange back at our hotel room in Reading. Here are a few photos confirming all this.
We drove down to Neil and Ruth's in Warrington on Christmas Eve, where we also saw Janet's three granddaughters, and Alex and Debbie. We stayed there Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with us visiting Ruth's daughter, Alicia and family on this latter day, and overall ate and drank rather too much (speaking for myself). A few photos to commemorate the occasion follow.
On the drive back to Scotland last Thursday, Janet said she started to feel a bit unwell and maybe had the start of a cold. She spent most of the next few days in bed, which was most unlike Janet, and developed a deep and very sore chesty cough. She made an appointment at the doctor's on Monday (Hogmanay) and she was examined by a nurse at the GP Practice. Janet was away for about 20 minutes and came back clutching her medical notes, as the nurse had said that she may have pneumonia and should go straight to the Borders General Hospital near Melrose (where Janet had spent a few weeks after her stroke).
I drove there and arrived about 4.30pm. After 20/30 minutes wait, Janet was examined, had blood taken, had an ECG and an X-Ray. The result was that she did indeed have pneumonia and would be kept in hospital for at least two nights and put on antibiotics straight away. The consultant said it was a bad infection so I didn't hold out much hope of Janet getting out very soon.
What an end to the year!!
Anyway, on the first day of January 2019, we had good news insomuch as the Consultant was very happy with Janet's progress and would be released from hospital the following day.
Well, that was a false dawn, if ever there was one. Visiting Janet on Wednesday, the 2nd, was quite traumatic. Her temperature had risen considerably, she was trembling and shivering, having coughing fits and was just so uncomfortable and distressed. I spoke to the nurse several times about my concern and they did look in and eventually brought in a small fan to give her some cool relief. I have to say though that the nursing staff are all very good at the BGH.
Thursday, 3rd January. With some trepidation, I appeared at lunchtime, and found Janet a totally different person! She was dozing when I arrived but just generally she looked so much better. She looked more relaxed, and when lunch came round, she ate quite a bit of her main course and all her dessert. Her temperature had dropped and she was much more coherent.
She said that the doctor would consider discharging her on either Sunday or Monday, providing he was happy that the infection had totally cleared. She is still on antibiotics and getting daily blood tests. She'd had an X-ray just before I arrived. All looking good though.
And she's back home. When I visited Janet on Friday, she said that the doctor had confirmed that she was to be discharged the following day. So, yesterday, Saturday, I went to pick her up just before lunchtime.
Yes, she's very weak and has lost weight, which she can ill afford to do. Her appetite almost totally disappeared, but it is coming back slowly and she is now eating. She has another couple of days of taking antibiotics (in tablet form) and that will be the end of that medication. Only the tablets for her stroke left to carry on with!
Janet was meant to have an appointment at the Borders General Hospital tomorrow, at the Osteopathy Department, where she was to have an injection in her right shoulder and a scan taken to try and work out why she has so much pain in her right arm. Because of the pneumonia, this has had to be postponed to early February.
Anyway, A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.
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