Posted by DMC on Jan 23, 2010 in
Diary Despite slightly panic stricken telephone calls from my sister-in-law in Cornwall concerning my dear mother-in-law’s deteriorating state of health – she will be 99 years old at her next birthday, after all – we decided to go ahead with another arranged social event and had Jill and Tony Griggs, wincing each time the telephone rang, thankfully usually spam call but fortunately no dramas. Again, the house provided a welcoming glow and more Bollinger was consumed.
Tags: family, Health
Posted by DMC on Jan 26, 2010 in
Diary My first walk round the golf course for over seven weeks – Christmas, New Year and the severe winter weather intervening. I was curious to see how I would manage as I really felt that I had weakened over this period. In the event I managed 13 holes and believed I could certainly have completed the round.
Thank goodness my legs are holding up better than my hands and arms. I am finding it increasingly difficult to do my morning exercises; to manipulate my electric toothbrush and to shave with my electric shaver — even with the purpose made pouch which I have had made to clamp it to my right hand. In fact, I am beginning to dread all of these early morning activities as they have become stressful but I’m determined to continue to do them on my own as long as I possibly can.
The thatchers arrived today with all their paraphernalia. This is the full Monty this year, a completely re-thatch of the house and the office – horrendous expense, but we have no choice. This has to be done every 25 years or so with a re-ridging in between. In no time at all they had stripped off half the roof and remove tons of old straw, exposing a fairly fresh layer, before they started to apply the new long straw, something in the region of 16 to 18 inches thick. This job is meant to take three weeks.
Tags: golf, thatching, weakness
Posted by DMC on Jan 27, 2010 in
Diary I had my lycra gloves fitted at Addenbrookes Hospital today. My initial impression is that whilst giving a certain amount of support to the wrist, at least, the downside is that they restricts what little grasp I have left. In other words, it is more difficult for me to curl my fingers towards the palm. However, what the gloves do is to straighten out the fingers and I will probably sleep in them for a week or two rather than trying to wear them during the day. I believe it is a well-known medical fact that the more fingers are curled the less likely it is that one can straighten them. So it seems logical to me that if I can stretch them, say over night, in a virtually horizontal position, that could give them a slightly longer useful life, although no one seems to know whether that will actually be the case.
This week has seen two landmark cases in the ‘assisted suicide’ debate. Kay Gilderdale, who was by all accounts, a devoted mother, assisted her daughter to end her life with tablets and morphine. This, after the sick daughter had attempted suicide and failed. This loving parent could not bear to see her daughter suffer any longer and she walked free from the court with a suspended sentence after being charged with, not just attempted assisted suicide but also attempted murder.
Compare this with the case of the woman who injected her brain-damaged son with a lethal dose of heroine as she could not bear to think of her son suffering any longer, this despite some encouraging medical prognosis. This devoted mother was sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison for murder.
These cases have opened up the whole issue of the ‘right to die’ and ‘assisted suicide’.
The reason for the seemingly harsh sentence, handed down by the court for the mother of the brain-damaged son, was that he was not in a position to indicate that he had an intention to die. These cases together with the more recent cases in the High Court on assisted suicide make it even more imperative for the government to consider a change in the law.
Tags: Addenbrookes, assisted suicide, gloves
Posted by DMC on Jan 28, 2010 in
Diary I fitted the lycra gloves this evening whilst I was watching television, intending to wear them overnight but I abandoned the right-hand glove before retiring. After wearing it for a couple of hours the muscles in the palm of my hand and on the back, both ached rather painfully. I am clearly going to have to take it slowly and build up the length of time that I wear these gloves.
Tags: gloves
Posted by DMC on Jan 29, 2010 in
Diary Richard, my web designer, came to lunch today to instruct me on making my own entries on the blog. It all looks quite complicated but provided he gives me a line by line ‘mugs guide’ which he has kindly agreed to produce for me, I should be able to manage.
As Richard was about to leave, I slipped in the garden and had a nasty fall, smacking my head on the wall of a house and splitting my lip. I think it was more to do with MUD than from weak legs from MND!
Fortunately, I don’t think I have done any permanent damage, despite having a very painful neck. I will know better tomorrow morning when I wake up.
A belated Christmas card arrived today with a very welcome £25 M and S voucher from the local MND Association – how very generous of them.
Tags: accident, blog
Posted by DMC on Jan 30, 2010 in
Diary I didn’t have a bad night’s sleep having taken a couple of painkillers at 2.00 a.m. I can now assess the damage from yesterday’s fall. Apart from a large piece of skin scraped off the skull; a sprained left wrist and a stiff neck which I hope is no more serious than that, I clearly got off lightly.
Overnight more snow and the garden was transformed into a magic fairyland once again, set off by a beautiful sunny day with blue skies. This ‘good to be alive’ sort of day prompts me to add some more inspirational material and a few more jokes, first of all the jokes.
Posted by DMC on Jan 31, 2010 in
Diary British hopes were shattered today when Andy Murray lost, in three sets, in the final of the Australian Open Tennis Championship against an invincible World Number1, Federer. Murray’s record against Federer is good, 6 wins out of 10 matches but never when it comes to a grand slam Not since 1936 has a Britain won a tennis grand slam but Murray is getting closer all the time.
A BBC survey of over 1000 people found that 73% of them were in favour of assisted suicide in a case where a relative or friend was terminally ill and suffering. However, only 48%, of those surveyed, thought that assisted suicide was acceptable in cases where the patient was not fatally ill even if that person is in severe pain. This survey was a prelude to the BBC Panorama programme, scheduled for Monday night, which will highlight the case of the Kay Gilderdale who assisted her daughter to commit suicide by injected her but who was cleared of a murder charge. (see 27 January entry).
This was followed up by a radio interview with a mother who had assisted her son, who was suffering from Hodgkinson’s disease, to commit suicide and was not charged. The point being that the son had witnessed his father die of the same disease when he reached the point when he could not swallow. The son was determined that he would not suffer the same fate and, it appears, from the leniency of the sentence, that the court was sympathetic with the mother’s act of assistance.
I have made my own position clear on this issue. If, and when, my throat is affected, before I reached the point where swallowing, breathing and speaking become difficult, I intend to slip away quietly, hopefully with a decent bottle of Bollinger, a log fire and a good cigar surrounded by my immediate family. With the rate of deterioration in my hands and arms it is also clear that I might need some assistance from a member of the family. I am fairly confident that by that time the law will have changed to permit such assistance without the threat of prosecution.
However, persuading a member of one’s family to provide help for such an act might be a different issue.
It has been my practice throughout this blog after such a serious note to lighten up a little and add some more jokes, anecdotes, etc. So under Jokes you will now find the following: Dirty Old Grandmas; Funny Chain of Title; Health Insurance — Send the Bill to My Brother-In-Law; If You’re over 50, You’ll Think This Is Hilarious!!! and a few more that I have called More Oldies. Under Anecdotes you will find a fascinating catalogue of the quality of the health giving properties of Bananas; a very interesting Aussie view on Global Warming – Myth or Fact. and something described as The Top 10 of Everything, which speaks for itself. All well worthwhile spending a little time looking at. Under Photos you can see yours truly with the famous kilt and smoking stick and two other entries. One for the dog lover, Adopt a Dog and one that should make you realise the important things in life, 45 Lessons in Life. Finally, under Videos the most fantastic time piece you will ever see The Clock to which, I suspect, you will return many times. To round things off there is another rather rude video involving farting, just so we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Tags: assisted suicide, tennis
