11 January 2011

Dr Lort, my GP, kindly telephoned this afternoon to give me the results of the four recent blood tests that Clare, the district nurse, carried out. The PSA was practically zero, which is good news confirming that the prostate cancer has not returned or spread. Two of the other test were to do with bone which apparently were equally satisfactory. Just one test was slightly above normal, and inflammatory test, which Dr Lort will repeat in a couple of weeks to ensure there is no problem in that direction.

Also, this afternoon a very sweet nurse, called Lucy, came from Papworth Hospital with a new respiratory mask. She fitted it and it felt slightly more comfortable than the earlier version. She also adjusted the head harness which had not previously been specifically fitted for my funny shaped head and I believe that now there will be less air leaking into my eyes. Lucy was also very helpful over a number of other issues, for example, she explained that a lot of people on respirators can suffer from wind in their stomach which could explain the distension which has puzzled us for some time. As I have been taking peppermint oil pills and Mebeverine daily, with a view to reducing this flatulence, it seems that I can probably give up this additional medication with no ill effect.

Lucy also explained that stiffness and discomfort in bed was quite normal with MND patients. This is the first time anyone has suggested that this could be the cause of the pain or joint discomfort at night, which in some ways is comforting, particularly with the negative results from the blood tests. However, I still consider one consultation with an orthopaedic specialist will finally  put my mind at rest on this issue. We did discuss the painkillers I am currently taking and Lucy said, of course, I could take something stronger although these would probably be codeine-based and a side-effect could be constipation, something I certainly want to avoid at all costs as it would involve more hoist work in the loo, which would be a great pity as we seem to have achieved a satisfactory rhythm in that area.

We finally discussed with Lucy the problems I’m having turning over in bed and she thought that the silk nightshirt might well be a solution. She explained that they have special sliding sheets at the hospital that they use to turn patients but she did not think we could put those on this bed as it could make it too slippery and I could actually fall out. So the hunt for a silk nightshirt proceeds.

I think I have finally cracked how to embed pictures into the diary text. (See entries for New Year’s Eve and 19th December). However, most of the pictures I get are from overseas and may run into 30 or 40 different views about a particular topic and are far too many to include in the body of the diary, so I still have to work out, with Charlie, how to put these into the Photo or Video Section and access them through a Click in the diary.

12 January 2011

The first night with the new respiratory mask proved to be a bit of a nightmare. With the humidifier fitted the moist air seemed heavier and more difficult to breathe. Whenever I attempted to turn over, for example, I found myself gasping for air. We telephoned Lucy early this morning and she kindly agreed to speak to Alice, earlier this evening, to re-set the machine to increase the air pressure and also to lower the temperature of the water.

Derek, our faithful plumber, came today to make some adjustments to the radiators in the room in which I sleep. I also got him to tighten up the fixing bolts on the Bio-Bidet, which somehow seemed to have worked loose. I cannot speak too highly of this ‘wash and dry’ loo it does enable someone with my disabilities to retain an element of dignity.

I received some very amusing photographs of notices, mainly translated from the Chinese, where the true meaning was ‘Lost in Translation‘. I reproduce these in the Photo section not in the spirit of poking fun at the Chinese but more enjoying a laugh with them, after all how many of us could even begin to translate and English notice into Mandarin?

I cannot resist one final poke at the Australian Cricketers which came in today from a friend. Heaven knows how long it will be before the boot is on the other foot. You non-cricketing fans can skip this bit.

Q. What would Jimmy Anderson be if he was Australian?
A. An all rounder.

Q. Why don’t Australian fielders need pre tour travel injections?
A. Because they never catch anything.

Q. What’s the Australian version of LBW?
A. Lost, Beaten and Walloped.

Q. What do you call an Australian with 100 runs against his name?
A. A bowler.

Q. What’s the most proficient form of footwork displayed by Ponting?
A. The walk back to the pavilion.

Q. Who has the easiest job in the Australian squad?
A. The guy who removes the red ball marks from the bats.

Q. Why are Australian cricketers cleverer than Houdini?
A. Because they can get out without even trying.

Q. What does Ryan Harris put in his hands to make sure the next ball
almost always takes a wicket?
A. A bat

Now for the one day series.

‘Jane the sheep’ came this afternoon to ‘babysit’ me whilst Alice went shopping but unfortunately Jane still had the remnants of a cold and accordingly. considerately did not massage my hands just in case she was still slightly contentious.

Steve White, the local MND Association volunteer rang this afternoon. Steve is in charge of this area and has around 30 MND patients whom he telephones, from time to time, to see how they are doing. Steve himself is a living miracle as he has had MND for around 20 years which has only affected his legs and nothing else – he must be almost unique in this respect. However, he did tell me that three of his 30 MND patients have also plateaued and not substantially deteriorated over the past three years. All of this is very encouraging. Who knows, I might plateau, but when where – arms, legs, diaphragm (my hands have already gone)?

13 January 2011

Lucy from Papworth hospital, kindly dropped in early this morning to readjust the respirator. Hopefully, when I try it  to night it will be a little more efficient. I must say I am extremely impressed with the service given by this particular hospital over what must be irritating little problems for them which, in a normal way, they would hope to be able to sort out over the telephone. When it comes to something as important as the respirator, when the life of the patient may depend upon it, they take the matter very seriously.

I must say, after 20 years, I am beginning to miss attending the Arbitration Club lunches, not only the Mother Club but also the various branches I attended from time to time. Whilst the weather is so cold Alice will not even countenance the idea of someone taking me in my wheelchair on the train to London. I had sort of pencilled in, in my mind., the possibility of attending the March lunch, hoping by then the weather will be considerably milder. However, as it happened I was speaking, on the telephone today, to the chairman of the Mother Club, Tim Reynolds, and he  told me that the whole Mother Club committee would very much like to come down, at some stage, and give me lunch. I was extremely touched that so many really busy people are prepared to spend, what will be in effect, the best part of the day, coming to me rather than the other way around.

This afternoon, two of ‘my lovely’s’ old friends, Bar. and Rosemary came to tea. Although tea was served in the breakfast room both of these dear ladies came and spend a little while with me in the study. I certainly appreciate a bit of company, from time to time, as I spend almost every day, from early morning until 10 o’clock, when it’s time to go to bed, in the same chair, unless, of course, I am off on some hospital appointment or other. I’m not complaining, ’my lovely’ does her best to make life interesting for me but it’s not easy. Thank heavens for this blog, at least, that gives me something to think about every day.

Speaking of which when ‘the girls’ asked me what I wrote in my blog I had to admit that it was eclectic, in other words anything that came to mind at the time, woven in and out of various medical updates. For example, today I came across a figure of speech which was totally unknown to me. I had in fact previously included this in the 16 October 2010 entry under the heading of  Some Interesting Definitions.

(The full list of these definitions can be found under anecdotes,) The figure of speech in question is  a paraprosdokian. and is used  where the  latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected in a way that causes the reader or listener to reframe or reinterpret the first  part. It is frequently used for humorous or dramatic effect, sometimes  producing an anticlimax i.e.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

To finish up I must give you access to 100 really historic photographs I received yesterday you will recognise many famous scenes and people from the past. An absolute treasure trove of memories. Erinnerungen (Memories).pps doctors (6 MB)

England won the first of the 20/20 cricket series, as a warm up for the 7 One Day International matches (50 overs each side) in a thrilling finish, by one run

15 January 2011

I had a better night last night, virtually no pain or discomfort, so I really don’t understand what is the problem. In fact, I even noticed doing my morning exercise in bed that it was a little easier than the day before so there must be some variation, day-to-day, with one’s muscle strength. Yesterday, I was talking about MND patients plateauing out and I must confess that I have not noticed a great deal of deterioration over the past two or three months in the strength of my arms. They are weak but I can still raise them to the level of my shoulders, both in front and side. As long as they stay in this condition I will be able to continue to use my walking frame, and also, with the aid of the plastic splint on my left forefinger, continue to poke at the laptop and therefore not having to entirely depend upon voice activation.

Little  granddaughter Lara’s birthday yesterday. I can hardly believe that she’s six already. I had a pretty one-sided telephone conversation with her getting monosyllabic answers to most of my questions and comments. I think at that age the children still find the telephone slightly intimidating, or maybe it’s me who intimidates them – I hope not. For her birthday I think we gave her some item of clothing which she wanted. She has had a great deal of excitement recently for a little girl, firstly Christmas, in three different households, followed by a visit to the ballet at Covent Garden,  and then the following night to Oliver, our Christmas present to the Volz family and a birthday party.

In my entry on 11 January I was mentioning the difficulty I was beginning to have  turning over in bed. Pauline, one of my readers from Somerset, very kindly suggested that I looked at some purpose made sheets which she described as:

Wendylett sheets from Romedic. These have been very useful for some of my MND clients with difficulties in turning. They consist of a fitted bottom sheet with a satin centre panel which is covered by a cotton oversheet lined with satin. They can be locked by tucking under thus reducing the risk of sliding too far

I pulled up Romedics webpage and they certainly seem to have a number of accessories which might be useful. Unfortunately there are situated in the USA so it’s difficult to speak to anyone direct but I’m going to try to get some more information out of Pamela, in particular, to see if these sheets can be purchased in the UK.

Son Smiler came to lunch today and during his visit took some photographs for me of the snooker table which I will then have available for any interested party. I must say the children are very good, both of them coming down on a fairly regular basis to see the ‘old man’. The highlight of the visit was Smiler showing us a beautiful oil painting of a Lady, which he acquired quite recently. Smiler runs his own art gallery in Lower Sloane Street, and has made quite a name for himself specialising in Welsh and British Art.( www.mileswynncato.co.uk )

I’m still having trouble sorting out the best way to download media, in particular in Photos and Videos. If I’m having trouble that probably means that the readers are also having trouble clicking onto them when they appear, highlighted in red, in the diary entry. Sometimes, having clicked on the highlighted  item the actual photograph button appears in the bottom tray of the screen and you have to press that. So the readers will have to use a little ingenuity for the time being until I can sort things out but I do urge you all to look at these add-ons as most of them are fascinating or spectacular, the like of which you may never see again. I will have another attempt now and add a slideshow of some really historical pictures. Old_Pics.pps

England lost the second of the 20/20 cricket series against Australia by four runs, in the last over – one all.

16 January 2011

Overnight, it was the first of the seven One Day International cricket series against Australia. England started well and got to 90 for no loss. At one stage they looked as though they would get something in the region of 320/ 330 runs but when Pieterson was out for 78 the scoring rate slowed down and there were only  58 runs scored off the last 10 overs, with England finishing, with 296 runs, all out, two balls short of the 50 overs. Still a challenging target for the Australians. In the event, Australia, the world champions at One-Day Internationals, were up to to it.. England did well to take them to the last over , from the first ball of which Shane Watson won the match with an impressive 6, giving him a personal best of 161 in ODI’s. How well matched at these two teams, so much so that had we scored off the last two balls of our innings it might have been a different result – it was that close.

Jill and Tony Griggs came to lunch today, or rather, should I say, brought our lunch to us, and what a delicious lunch it was too. Jill even insisted on doing the washing-up before they left. It’s a lovely idea and maybe we’ll start a new trend. I certainly recall as a young man will never went anywhere without taking a bottle, or even being responsible for bringing one of the courses but bringing the entire meal, well…! After lunch Alice was able to escape for a short time  while we had coffee and I showed Jill some of the add-ons on the blog. Tony sadly is computer challenged and really doesn’t understand how the thing works at all..

A gripe. In no way political just an opinion from a typical taxpayer. Something which is now becoming a fairly regular story. A farmer complaining this morning, on the radio, that he did not get a single application from a UK resident for the picking season for his daffodils. Instead, like so many other cases of farmers needing casual labour from time to time to pick or harvest  their produce, the English are just simply not prepared to do the work for the basic wage paid. Instead, hundreds, or even thousands, over the year, of Eastern Europeans are flown in to do this work.

With almost 3,000,000 unemployed in this country, surely the government could insist that the young and healthy, at least, did this work and, if they refuse, then, during the period the work was available, stop their unemployment benefit and certainly their jobseekers allowance. I seem to recall that Australia brought in some sort of regulation that if an unemployed able bodied person was offered work that they could easily cope with, which they refused to do, then, after six weeks they lost their unemployment benefit. I cannot recall whether this was ever put into practice, or even is still the case today. (I will check with the good doctor when he arrives on Wednesday) but something on these lines needs to be introduced in the UK as it is lunacy importing thousands of youngsters from elsewhere when a few weeks in the open air, working in the fields, would do our own youngsters a power of good. I certainly remember spending part of my own summer holidays lifting potatoes which was backbreaking work, but maybe our generation were made of sterner stuff than today’s youngsters!.

17 January 2011

Readers may recall that I sent my first ‘invention’, the ‘ Mitt Wipe’ product, off to Proctor and Gamble, Boots the Chemist and Lloyds Pharmacy, towards the end of last year to see if any of them would be interested in taking this to the market.. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the top person dealing with innovative products, in each of these companies, by my friends at Coventry University. You might recall that all three of rejected it but were kind enough to give their reasons which led me to believe, with the greatest respect, as they say, that they all misunderstood the purpose of the product. Accordingly, I spoke to each of these three very senior gentleman again, just before Christmas, and, to their credit they all agreed to reconsider the matter and to put it to one or other of the committee’s. I heard from one of the other day, I won’t say which, as it would not be fair at this stage, but the product is certainly being seriously considered by the right part of the organisation but I get the impression I should not hold my breath. Watch this space, as they say.

Paulette, an OT reader of this blog, from Somerset, telephoned me today about the Wendylett sheets with the satin centrepiece. She told me that her PCT in Somerset provides these sheets to MND patients for the very purpose I need them myself, to,  enable me to turn over more easily in bed. In fact, there are two types. One which allow you to slide,  side to side in the bed and another which allows you to both slide, side to side and up and down the bed, which in my case is important as I have to wriggle up to the end of the bed each morning before I swing my legs over the side to sit up. . Paulette has very kindly asked a colleague of hers to contact me and I am hoping to speak to her by telephone soonest and find out where these sheets can be purchased in this country. I shall have a go at my own MND team to start with, to see if they will provide them, but if there is any problem then I will buy a pair myself and report back on how efficacious I find them.

‘ Jane the sheep’ is now thankfully fully recovered and considers herself non-contagious and was therefore able to massage my hands during her short afternoon shift today.

18 January 2011

I heard today from Proctor and Gamble, the first of the three firms to whom I submitted my ‘Mitt Wipe. I must say the gentleman concerned, David Hull, has been very generous in the amount of time that he has dedicated to considering this product.

In the event he had to decline to proceed with the idea and in doing so pointed out that P & G  had tried to develop something similar in the past but ‘concluded that no business opportunity sufficient to meet our criteria was forthcoming.’ However, David did not leave the matter  there, but introduced me to a company in Cincinnati to whom they have referred similar ideas in the past who might possibly be interested in pursuing the idea. I think that was very generous of him and will certainly follow it up.

Talking of follow-ups I spoke this morning to the lady to whom I was referred concerning the WendyLett sliding sheets. She, in turn, put me in touch with the distributors, Nordic Care Services in Canterbury. I spoke to a very nice gentleman called Mahesh and explained my problem and also referred him to my blog and the comments I’ve been making about these products over the last day or two. As a result, he sent me a fantastic presentation of the use of these sliding sheet, both manual and video, which I found extremely helpful. I believe they may be prepared to let me try out these products and then report on the results in my blog. However, the boss who can make this decision is away until the weekend and in the meantime I shall invite, Lynn, my OT to kindly drop in and discuss with me which specific products we should ask for.

It was one of those busy days with people coming and going. First of all Peter, our gardener came to see me early this morning. I hadn’t seen him since I stopped going across the lawn to my office, and I think he was rather concerned to see that I was okay. Peter is like one of the family having worked for us for over 30 years and is genuinely interested in our well-being. Then Jane and Richard, vet and farrier, came to attend to the donkey, Mouse, who either has laminitis or touch of rheumatism, or possibly both. I don’t think there’s much to choose between the two of us in the way we shuffle along! They certainly gave her a good going over having sedated her to do her feet, they then filed her teeth and, in doing so, concluded that she is probably over 40 years. They also tried to administer some anti-inflammatory medicine which Mouse was not interested in taking.

Then came Chris Wix, our electrician, to try to sort out why almost every time we switch on the office equipment in the morning our trip switch is thrown, something to do with  surge I think. As a result, I think we are going to change our Belcon  eight-way adapters to ones without surge control. It was these adapters which saved our equipment, a year or so ago, when the mains electricity surged and blew  a lot of equipment in the area. I remember we were off for 28 hours and many of our neighbours had to have new televisions, washing machines etc. All paid for by the electricity board as it was clearly their error. We were lucky the only thing that went with us was my office fax/telephone. We were also expecting a further visit from the telephone people, who came yesterday to try to sort out why both our main telephones were out of order. The engineer managed to partially resolve the problem and promised to return either today or tomorrow. What an exciting life we lead! Never a dull moment.

19 January 2011

I was in a certain amount of pain last night and therefore spent quite a lot of time listening to the BBC World Service. They were going on about the outcome of Basle 3, the meeting of world bankers to establish a global agreement to try to prevent the near disastrous economic collapse of the world economy brought about by the machinations of these enormous international  banks.

I understand that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has debts in excess of the Gross National Product (GNP) of this country. The problem that the bankers in Basle have to resolve is how to prevent individual international banks becoming so big that we simply cannot afford to save them if they get into the same sort of trouble as we saw last time. Although almost 2 years has elapsed since we were on the verge of disaster the bankers still seem to be some distance away from a global agreement to avoid this happening again. In other words, it seems to me that the economically the world is in a very fragile state and it would still not take very much to push it over the edge and we will all be in trouble. Yet, with all this going on it seems the banks are still not able to limit the grotesque sizes of the bonuses they pay out to their staff -apparently, an average of £220,000, but this disguises the fact that over 3000 employees in the city will receive in excess of £1 million. The dilemma being that it is an open marketplace and if we don’t pay these bonuses the international banks in other countries would be only too delighted to get hold of them, and so damage London as the world financial centre. So what is the solution? It seems to me we are between a rock and a hard place on this one.

Son Miles, who had been listening to a radio programme, mentioned a couple of interesting illustrative statistics in connection with the size of our national debt, last time he was here having lunch with us. I hope I’ve got them right. He told me that if we stacked £50 notes in a vertical column up into the air, the column would have to rise 6000 miles before it represented the amount of debt owed by the UK. Put another way if the same man stood at a window throwing out £50 notes, one after the other, it would take him 3000 years before he reached the amount of our debt or, if every house was sold in the British Isles the accumulated value would only represent two thirds of Britain’s debt. If these are anywhere near the truth they are frightening statistics. This gives a very fair indication of the size of the problem facing this present government and why every one of us must be prepared to tighten our belts. Of course, it’s disappointing if some services and community projects have to be abandoned but the alternative does not bear thinking about.

The good Dr Michael arrived this afternoon from Sweden to spend a couple of days with us and we celebrated with our ritual bottle of champagne and cigar six o’clock. His son William and William’s friend Daisy will be here tomorrow to have lunch with us at The Cricketers public house, next door. This should be great fun and very interesting as it is the first time either of us will have met Daisy.

Both of my telephone lines are now dead again despite the two hour visit of Orange telephone engineer yesterday, which followed 8 days after the first engineer had been here. To be fair to the last engineer he did say he was not quite finished and that someone would be back either the following day or the next. However, when I rang this morning there was no record of any further visit required. I explained that I was disabled and we relied heavily on this particular telephone line and asked if they could expedite a visit but despite this the earliest they were prepared to come was next Friday morning. Bearing in mind this is their third attempt I think that’s a pretty poor show.

20 January 2011

I had a good night last night, no pain at all. The sporadic nature of this problem is puzzling. As I have no pain during the day the good Dr Michael does not believe it has anything to do with my bones.

He suspects that it may have something to do with  my ligaments and possibly an increase in the anti-inflammatory medication might alleviate the problem. Although it seems that perhaps the orthopaedics consultant might not now be the best person for me to see, as the wheels have been set in motion, it would be lunacy on my part, to further interfere, so I think I will let matters take their course and take it from there.

William and Daisy joined us at the Cricketers pub around 1 a.m. As I said, earlier,  neither of us had met her before so the poor girl was subjected to a series of probing questions which she fielded extremely well. She is a delightful girl and I really hope that she and William make a go of it. Michael very generously hosted the lunch and the food was excellent. When I learnt about the lunch, I had asked Trevor Oliver, Jamie’s dad, if he could kindly get a copy of Jamie’s latest book personally signed to Daisy but unfortunately Jamie was not back in time for America to personalise the book, although it was signed by him. Dear old Trevor was so sorry that he had been unable to accede to my request that he generously gifted us a copy of the book, which, of course, we gave to Daisy.

After lunch we came back to the house to have coffee with Alice, as she had been unable to join us for lunch, so the probing questions started again trying to establish friends in common. The girls got on well and I suspect we will see more of Daisy here in the future. Will and Daisy left around 4.30 so I settled myself down in my comfortable lounger chair where I remained before going to bed at 10 o’clock. To be honest I was a bit fatigued.

I got back an e-mail from Lynn, my OT, to whom I had sent the video presentation on the WendyLett sheets and associated products. She obviously has reservations about their use so I asked the distributors if they would be prepared to let me trial all four products, which I will do under Lynn’s supervision.

21 January 2011

Having listened to the second of the One Day International cricket matches against Australia, from 3.00 a.m in the morning, I got up early and settled myself down in front of my laptop to watch England’s response to Australia’s modest 230 runs. England had started off against Australia extremely well and wickets tumbled early on leaving Australia 4 wickets down for 33 runs and 8 for 142,  then Marsh  went on to score 114 not out and in doing so clocked up  a record ninth wicket partnership with Bollinger. England never looked comfortable. Prior was first to go (1/12). Next both Strauss and Pieterson  were out, in successive balls, when England had scored 36 but despite having lost these early wickets they were always ahead of the required run rate but when Morgan was out when England only had 140 runs on the board and Yardy fell victim 7 runs later, the writing was on the wall and the result inevitable. About this time I lost my connect Internet connection due to the telephone engineers coming to sort out my problems so had to resort to the radio commentary. However I knew in my bones that was never going to be a nail biting finish so I was  not too disappointed in being unable to watch England’s inevitable demise. In the event, we were all out for 184. So, Australia are two up in this seven series of ODI’s

This was ostensibly a respite day off for Alice but she was delayed in her departure by Mouse, the donkey, who, despite all her recent ministrations from the vet and farrier, refused, or indeed was unable, to stand. When I’m in trouble on the floor Alice can generally use the hoist but, that is not an option  in the case of the donkey, so it was a further call to ‘Jane the vet’ who arrived early afternoon and seemed to be able to get her up without too much trouble. I just have the awful feeling that poor Mouse is not much longer for this world. Alice will be devastated as she loves that donkey.

The next excitement was the AbilityNet representative coming to collect my laptop. I am concerned about the interim period while it is away, particularly my daily update for this blog. In event, all that happened was that a  courier left the substitute laptop and I was told to await further instructions from AbilityNet.  In fact, I spoke to the technical arm of AbilityNet is afternoon and the consultant is going to deal with it is going to attempt to do it by remote assistance, i.e. taking over control of my computer over the Internet. This is all supposed to happen next Monday or Tuesday. Having said that it would still require people to plug things in and to put discs in out of the various computers and there’s no way that I can see ‘my lovely’ managing that. It just isn’t her scene, so I’m going to try to get Mick to help me, before he leaves on Sunday morning, to do as much as we can in advance of the telephone call on Monday with the consultant.We had a lovely evening. After our usual bottle of champagne and an early supper we ended up watching a beautifully crafted play, Lost for Words, in memory of the actor, Peter  Postaliethhaite who died recently, in which Peter and Dame Thora Hird played mother and son. The play sensitively dealt with the problems experienced by the children when their parents reached the age when they are alone and start suffering from strokes and Alzheimer’s.

A joke for you to help you understand how modern economic works . It is a slow day in the small Saskatchewan town of Pumphandle and streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody is living on credit. A tourist visiting the area drives through town, stops at the motel, and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs to pick one for the night. As soon as he walks upstairs, the motel owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher. The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer. The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill to his supplier, the Co-op. The guy at the Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her “services” on credit. The hooker rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with the hotel owner.. The hotel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, picks up the $100 bill and leaves. No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a  “stimulus package” works.