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20 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 21 October 2012 in Diary |

A quiet weekend, no pressure. A chance for me to find something on TV that will allow ‘my lovely’ to catch up on some of her missed sleep.

My first day on Beta blockers so I was quite anxious to see if any of the range of adverse side effects afflicted me or whether the Beta blocker would quietly blend in with all the other pills I have to take, this one for heart and breathing, both of which, could take all the help that is offered.,

Spoke to Richard (Marsh) last evening to find that he had suffered a minor setback with his heart. We are extremely lucky at having my very old friends, John and Anne (Prytz) who live relatively close by and have been calling in daily to keep an eye on them both. We are extremely grateful to them. They could not be any kinder if my mother and Richard were their own kith and kin. With both of them in their mid 90s, for every day that goes by without mishap, we give thanks. I feel so helpless myself. Instead of being a rock on which my mother and Richard can rely, it has turned into a question of which of us goes first. We really must sit down and discuss, with Richard, the various probable scenarios so that at least we know we are following their wishes.

One important issue upon which I have touched with both Chloe and Miles, is their quality of life in 20 or 30 years time. In a relatively short timescale this country will have more Muslims than indigenous’ Christians’. The point being that the Muslims seem to favour large families whereas the non-Muslims either have no children at all, or will restrict themselves to 2, hopefully one boy and one girl. It is not hard to see that the time is not off when the number of Muslims will exceed the non-Muslims. There was a classic illustration of this in the tragic case of the Muslim family caught up in a house fire yesterday. The mother and four the children perished in the flames leaving one badly burned child and the father. Subsequently, the poor little child succumbed and died leaving only the badly injured father. So far as the child was concerned , one cannot but think it was probably a mixed blessing. Having lost her mother and all her siblings and to cope with that on top of the many operations that would be required to restore some of the areas of her body to as near as normality as possible, frankly, one could not help feeling she was better off having joined her siblings. The poor house farther still has to face the agony associated with the loss of his family as well as probably years of remedial operations.

The point I set out to make, however, was illustrated by the size of this family-five children. There was a time when five children would not seem excessive. I think Queen Victoria had nine. Certainly in my own family. some of the great aunts and uncles. had children running into double figures. Given the present situation, then it can only be a matter of time when the Muslims outnumber the non-Muslims and the indigenous population of this island falls into a minority. What then will we do about this and how can we preserve our culture and traditions. It is no good waiting until the day dawns when this problem is upon us, but some sort of planning ahead is necessary to salvage what we have and what have are from this prophesied state of affairs.  So Click here to illustrate the point.

It is all very well, the Prime Minister, declaring to the world that we are a multicultural society, which sounds idyllic but when the chips are down it becomes a battle between the Muslims and non-Muslims. This is a problem to be faced, and worked out by my grandchildren’s generation, but, in the meantime, we should also be making whatever preparations may safeguard our way of life, so that the indigenous population, their culture and traditions do not get swept away.

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18 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 20 October 2012 in Diary |

Paul’ the computer’ came after lunch today to relieve ’my lovely’. As we are pretty well up-to-date in tweaking the computer Paul and I sat back and jointly enjoyed my daughter Chloe’s birthday present to me, a boxed set of DVDs covering the Hornblower series.

Life under the sail at the end of the 18th century when Britannia really did rule the waves and Britain was enjoying a level of success probably not exceeded before or after that period. The storyline covers the career in the Royal Navy of Horacio Hornblower from his early days as a midshipman – the lowest officer rank – to Captain (or is it Admiral?) I shall not spoil my enjoyment of watching these series to find out which. In any event,  it covers a period  towards the end of the 18th century and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. It in no way attempts to soften the life of these heroic figures, who through their dominance of the sea, shaped the control of many countries until the middle of the 20th century.

I mentioned to Paul how good was Windows 7 and how most of us cannot even touch the full facilities available through this programme. I really ought to spend time working my way through the various options offered on the tabbed bar at the top of each page. I would advise anyone using Windows 7 for the first time, to spend a little time to get acquainted with the options built into by the software designers. Inevitably, most of us just plunge into the programme in the specific area on which we are currently working and as a result fail to test run other options. We are all guilty of this, so I make no apologies just copy what I say, not necessarily what I do.

Did I mention that we were told quite recently that we had been granted (awarded!?) an extra one hour per day on our continuing care program. The readers will recall one of the main conditions, giving you this extra time is that the patient is most likely to die within 12 weeks. This latter condition is in the lap of the gods but must be based upon some statistical record, so here goes to try to mess up their statistics.

One of the nurses in Papworth Hospital, told us of patients who had survived for longer than the three month provision.

One who went 13 years and another 20 but I suppose balancing all of these  responses there must be solid evidence driving the average figures down below 12 weeks. Let you me see where would 12 weeks get us? Well, roughly to the end of this year, so we will see. We can only possibly plan a week or two in advance and then there’s the Medicare side of things, who might say that I have plateaued in any particular area and specifically my breathing. The good Dr Michael, from Australia suggests, the way you are progressing. you will just fade away. A bit like having a pleasant  anaesthetic. Nothing dramatic or unpleasant. Choking is unlikely to be the cause. That all sounds fairly satisfactory and nothing to worry about when is this fading away likely to affect me?  How these doctors can be so specific about such dramatic milestones in one’s life, defeats me. The only way that one trusts the description on death would be to die and come back and describe it. No doubt my medical readers will read about this and hopefully provide some more concrete evidence upon which patients and carers alike can feel comforted by.

Smiler and Kimberly are due here tomorrow for lunch and I will continue to discuss what he needs to do on my demise, although I’m pretty sure I’ve covered most angles. Unfortunately Suffered Life, who are responsible to the government for keeping an eye on my pension , ensuring that it is within the parameters laid down, do not work at the week so I will have to check this out on Monday.

 

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17 October 2012 -3 MILLIONETH HIT

Posted by DMC on 19 October 2012 in Diary |

When I was being shaved this morning, by Craig, my key carer, he politely enquired what arrangements had I made to have the hair in my ears trimmed. The short answer is I have no such arrangement. Before I was struck down with MND I attended to such things myself with a special razor which was also designed to trim nose hair and eyebrows.

The regular reader will recall my battle with Essex County Council to run a free at home, finger and toe nail service for the elderly or those who were confined to home through some disability or other. Ultimately, in conjunction with my MP Sir Alan Hazlehurst – I managed to get the County Council on side and make this provision free, or for a notional fee, for all the elderly within their domain.

As a potential beneficiary of such an agreement I would have expected by now to have received notification as to how to take advantage of it. Not having done so I will contact Sir Alan again and perhaps he can get the assurance I am missing. At the same time. I may raise the issue of nose and ear hair.

Some time in the night of 16 October the 3 MILLIONETH HIT  on this blog took place. The number of readers has grown very steadily from the beginning and now runs at 3500/4500 daily. By the responses I receive it is quite clear that this blog is being read by people all over the world. I have often wondered whether I was wasting my time, but it is quite clear, from the comments I receive from the readers, that it seems to appeal, or even inspire, people in different parts of the world. From the daily hit rate and based on the broad assumption that the majority of readers click in every two/four weeks, although it is accepted that a large number of them look at it every day, the actual number of people following the blog could be around 40,000 /50,000. Even if there is one lunatic logging in every single day at five-minute intervals that would only clock up as around 7000 hits a year, so it can’t be that and so I can only conclude that there is a genuine following. I am disappointed, however, at the number of comments I receive, particularly when I tackle a controversial subject, where there are two opposing views. However, my readers have their own views on the topic, but rarely share them with the other readers. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the loyal readership is content to read the opposing views, but does not necessarily want to get involved themselves.

I remind my readership, from time to time that, so far as it is possible. I do not express a view on matters that might be said to be politically incorrect and again, so far as possible, I’ll avoid matters touching race, colour, creed and ,religious belief, so with these restrictions the entries can sometimes appear to be anodyne. This is particularly so when it comes to my little bits of fun that I frequently add to the end of an entry, which are there purely for amusement and to get the reader to forget their own troubles for a minute or two and if I’m lucky get them to laugh or wonder.

If I had to summarise my impression of the effect that the blog has on its readers, I would be hard pressed to avoid saying that on the whole readers find the blog to be inspirational. I hope I am right for this was the objective when I started it for years or so ago, to inspire even the sickest person to fight back and, so far as possible, enjoy every day, carpe diem and all that. I do seriously believe that this objective has been achieved and in that respect I am well pleased with the outcome.

Of course, this blog has a finite life, tonight, tomorrow, in a months time, or even in a years time. when I drop off the perch I expect the interest in this blog to dramatically fall away . My good friend, Richard Morris, who designed the blog, and is what I believe we call my Webmaster, has very kindly said that he will keep the blog is running for a few years as his personal tribute to me. Statistically, I am now in the elite circle of people who survive more than five years from diagnosis. I am cheating slightly as I was in no hurry to have confirmed whatever was wrong with me after the initial signs became obvious.

It started with the weakness in my left arm, noticed in the gym but for which I did nothing knowing I would have my annual BUPA check in January.this medical checkup confirmed that there was something seriously wrong, which lead to extensive tests, which ultimately, in March 2008 was confirmed as MND. I count my five years from September 2007 when the weakness in my left arm clearly indicated that something serious was wrong.

You might be interested to learn that I wrote the final entry a year or two ago, just in case I did suffer an untimely demise and I never like leaving loose ends. I’m sure of what I wrote, or some long time ago, will still fit the Bill but I must confess I have not checked this final version but am quite certain that it makes all the right noises.

To finish this in retrospect I give you an example of the sort of joke I might include at the end of any of my entries. Click here and see for yourself. Totally inoffensive I think you must agree and, in fact, not particularly amusing. Bear with me the jokes can only get better!

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16 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 17 October 2012 in Diary |

I’m sorry to report that I have nothing more exciting to record than the fact that I had a visit from Althea, the lady who cuts and files my hand and feet nails. So far as my physical condition manifests itself I can honestly say that my breathing has improved. The tightness in my chest appears to have eased, or gone altogether, and I have had no periods when I’m like a fish out of water, gasping for air. In fact, I have found it hard to justify spending time in the morning and afternoon resting under the respirator. but that is what the consultant at Papworth suggested I did, so I shall go along with him. The only thing I can say in favour of following the consultant advice, is that using the respirator sporadically, does allow me to commerce longer without getting worn out. The best I seem to be able to do, at present, seems to be between half an hour and one hour.

I am now getting to that stage where I would like to know how the team expect me to die. It is all very well saying from ‘respiratory failure’, but I suspect it means that, at some stage, my heart will be too weak to allow my lungs to work even with the help of the respirator. I must remember to ask the Papworth people next time I’m in contact.

I know that the crude statistics show that half of the number of people diagnosed with MND die within 2 ½ years and the other 50% within five years of diagnosis. In my case, there was quite a long time between the disease manifesting itself and having it probably diagnosed. In fact, I notice the weakening in my left arm in September 2007 but it was not formally diagnosed until March of the following year. However, for my purposes. I shall take September 2 007 as my benchmark, this then means that I have already passed the five years and am entering into unknown territory. Although I do get fatigued, particularly in the evening, I cannot honestly say I am so weak that I feel that I might as well be dead, although sometimes I get close to it. The next few weeks will, I believe, give us a fair indication of where I am going.

Alice has been taking my blood pressure for the past three days on Dr West’s personal monitor which you lent to us. The outcome has shown a great diversity. The worst being187/105 and the best this morning 136/71 This latter reading would be the sort you might expect on a healthy young athlete so it will be interesting to see what Dr West makes of them.

Talking of the young man, particularly when it comes to dying, click here to see one of the most amazing aeroplane break-ups for which the pilot was given no warning. In fact, he survived unscathed.

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15 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 16 October 2012 in Diary |

Another week, but one based on the old time of 2 ½ hours, from outside carers, per day. I can understand that it might take a few days shuttling people about in order to add the precious extra hour, we have recently been awarded and adjusting our times so as we get the full benefit from them. I must be honest, I still watch the clock for the last hour or so, before I go to bed, as this is the time that I begin getting edgy and uncomfortable for no other reason than my ‘jug of energy’ is exhausted. However, I do not want to do what ‘my lovely’ suggests, and go to bed an hour earlier, leaving the possibility that I would wake up an hour earlier and have to live with the pain in my joints for that extra hour.

Without any way wishing to be cruel. I do believe all the carers, who have to use the sling hoist on their patients several times a day, should allow themselves to be put in the same position as, their patients and go through the process, from bed to commode; from commode to wheelchair and from wheelchair to lounge chair, including making the odd mistake with the length of the sling, just to give themselves some idea how vulnerable their patients are. This, in their healthy state, leaving them to imagine what it would be like if, on top of everything else they felt weak and unwell.

The promises of sponsorship, for the Ben Nevis climb, are still dribbling in. I am pleased to report that the initial target of £2000 was exceeded some little time ago and hopefully we will now manage to break the £3000 barrier. For those of you who intended making a donation and never got round to it, it is not too late. The book does not close for another month or so. If you have lost the form, then may I suggest you can make an online donation through http://www.justgiving.com/sarah-emily-perkins. In anticipation may I send you our combined thanks.

I received an email today from the wife of a much beloved MND sufferer, very sadly, no longer with us. The substance of the email was to record that a group of the patient’s friends got together and organised a concert at Aldeburgh and to date have raised over £5500. I think these events are wonderful in that they celebrate the life of the loved one in a manner which contributes to towards the research being carried out, to rid us from this horrid disease. I have been extraordinarily fortunate in my friends giving their time and effort in running such events. The Great London Swim and now this Ben Nevis Climb.

Following our last visit to Papworth when it was noted that I was suffering from high blood pressure, Dr West very kindly loaned her personal blood pressure monitor to us, so we could take regular readings over two or three days. Having this information would enable her to decide what course of action to follow.

Working on the basis that in a healthy person’ normal’ systolic pressure would be 140 and the normal diastolic pressure would be 90, our results have shown my systolic to range from from 70 to 105. Heaven knows, what conclusions Dr West will draw from these results. We received a telephone call yesterday from Papworth telling us they will be dropping off an instrument for us to make some recordings for them. I suspect it is the finger clip that I wear at night to monitor the amount of oxygen in the lung blood. I seem to recall Dr Michael Davies saying that provided this did not fall below 90 there was nothing much to worry about but as we were wavering about in the low 90s perhaps he is being ultra-cautious and attempting to pre-empt any problems which might occur from this particular symptom.

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14 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 15 October 2012 in Diary |

In the recent exchange of emails with the good Dr Michael, in Australia, it would appear that although he is ready and willing to come and spend a week or so with us in November, that is, subject to how his son Tom is getting on at the time. He is part way through the preparation for stem cell therapy, so just how that will fit into things we can only see. Clearly, Tom must come first when it comes down to Michael’s. priorities. Whether or not they will know anything about the course of Tom’s treatment in couple of weeks time, which will take us to the beginning of November, remains to be seen.

Paul the ‘computer’ came over the lunch period. I knew that ‘my lovely’ was going out but it was not made clear to me, until she returned, that she had been gallivanting about and attending yet another golden wedding anniversary (Ba and John Goldworth) Lucky ol’ her. My problem is that I can’t even go to funerals – which are becoming more numerous – mainly because there is no wheelchair access. The same applies to most parties. Very few houses, in fact, are completely step free, which makes attending parties, very difficult. We did go to a couple of parties this summer, but I am only too aware what a nuisance it is for the host. Therefore, although I still get invited out of courtesy, my party days are over. This will not be a great loss to me. When I was at full strength there was nothing I enjoyed more than a small dinner or supper party, say, with four couples, where good conversation took place and some lively controversies were argued out. As for Paul and I, I thought it about time he had a break from fiddling around with my laptop systems, so we settled down and watched the first episode of Hornblower, which Chloe and family has kindly sent to me for my birthday.

As I have mentioned in the past, my daily calorie income has shrunk to probably less than 1000 a day, which is what a human being needs just to survive. Concerned about my weight loss-I would guess that I am somewhere between 10 ½ – 11 stone – Dr West has prescribed some calorie supplement. Its commercial name is Fortisip Nuticia. It describes itself as a very high energy Nutritionally Complete Completa hypercalrica. 24 kcal/ml. The good news is that it comes in four flavours. Banana; vanilla; strawberry and one other. It is not too bad to take and, in my case, quickly made me feel as though I’d had a good meal. I will stick to the doctor’s recommendation, at least for the time being, and see if the added calories give me more energy

 

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13 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 14 October 2012 in Diary |

Today turned out to be a pretty good one. The new morning regime is settling in. Whereas previously I would almost be woken up by ‘my lovely’ at 6.30, now I wait for the carers to come in at 7.30. Previously ‘my lovely’ prior to the carers coming in, had exercised my legs; given me my tea; given me my morning pills; given me my breakfast and shaved me. Now nothing is done. The only problem is that I am tending to wake up pretty much as I have done these past few months, at 6.30, or before, and it is this hour or one and a half hours that I am having to fight off pain. So what blesses one does not always bless all.

The district nurse, dropped in unannounced early this morning and casually let drop that we have been approved for a further one hour a day. This is terrific news as by spreading it over the four visits it will take the pressure from the carers.

Two or three times a day ‘my lovely’ has been making a valiant attempt to record my blood pressure. It certainly has not been anywhere as near as high as it was in Papworth (200+/103). On Monday, when Dr West returns to retrieve her blood pressure monitor, she will decide, what, if anything, needs to be done about my raised blood pressure.

I believe one of the boxes that the team have to tick, in order to get this increase in time, is that I am most likely to die within three months! Of course, there is no contract between me and social services, who are responsible for granting this extra time, so whatever boxes have been ticked, they have not been sanctioned by me. So, if I do hang around a little more than three months there can be no redress expected from me!. It is reminiscent of the Devil in Gounod’s Faust, where I played the priest in perfectly standard performances for the public. But in order to understand what I’m talking about the reader would need to see that part of my autobiography, which covers my time at Sadlers Wells. We have yet to determine how to use this extra time, but my own personal preference would be at least to let the carers feed me at lunchtime and at 6 30. As they are already doing breakfast, this means that ‘my lovely’ will be relieved of all feeding duties. However, I have to persuade her of the benefit first.

What impresses me is that we were only talking about asking the district nurse to drop in to look at a persistent itchy spot on my back a couple of days ago, and again this morning and, like the genie from Aladdin’s lamp she appear all the smiling and charming, ready to grant our wishes..

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12 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 13 October 2012 in Diary |

I’m glad to say that my voice has strengthened again, from a whisper to a normal level of speech. Well, that’s not quite true. It sounds like me but with a sore throat, as if I had been lecturing too hard or recovering from a nasty cold. It seemed ridiculous to me that with everything else working, in the end, it was the volume of my speech which would let me down – something I had never even considered. Anyway for the time being that seems to be okay. Somebody mentioned that there was available a voice enhancer I imagine one somehow attaches this to the microphone, so this is something I shall look into.

There seems to be a consensus that I look and sound better than I did a few months ago. I think they are referring to the withdrawal symptoms from the morphine when I really did feel pretty rotten. I do know now, from several sources, that the doctors would not have been surprised had I ‘slipped away’ during that period. As I have mentioned, in retrospect, putting two and two together, things fall into place funny what you say. For example, unbeknownst to me, one of my medical advisers advising Smiler not to go abroad for a holiday in April. Of course, I had no idea that at that stage my life was very tenuous and it would have taken very little to tip me over the edge. It’s a bit creepy really as the act of dying and the journey one takes, is something to which I have not given a great deal of attention. Now, feeling considerably better and reasonably normal, except for a little breathlessness, I would say I am in pretty good shape.

Over the last two or three days I have used the respirator for a short period in the morning and again in the afternoon as suggested by the Papworth doctors but the sessions lasted only around 30/45 minutes, rather than the two hours suggested by Dr Michael Davies. If I did that there would simply be no time to do anything else. I know that even MND patients deteriorate at different speeds and even plateau-my Chancellor’s representative has been in a wheelchair for over 20 years and the MND stopped at his waist. In my case the only area that I observe which is worsening slowly, is my arms. They really are too heavy to get up to my nose or to wipe my eyes. This can be very boring for the poor carer who has to spend every few moments wiping my nose and eyes. Although, having said that, both legs arms and hands are completely useless, so I suppose there isn’t a great deal more that can go wrong. I have my blood pressure taken again this morning and it was 166/83 which I believe is probably okay.

Dr West mention one of her MND patients, who I got the impression was not very was taking a holiday on the Norfolk Broads. Having booked in and had his narrow boat allocated, as he stepped from sure to boat, he died. No warning, no explanation if one tries to discuss this with the medical team you get the same answer from all of. There is no pattern, therefore no warning. Every MND patient is different. The only conclusion they have been able is a rough percentages which die early and the balance which survive the five years. (The first indication I had was a weakening in my left arm which manifested itself in the gym in September 2008)

I suppose I shall know that the end is nigh when I am left in bed all day. The only problem with that is the pain from my joints. From all the case records I have seen none of them have complained of this pain so I wonder why it afflicts me? For this reason I cannot believe I will die in bed. At least when I am up, dressed and in my study chair, the remote control can be used regularly to change the pressure positions from whence most of the pain emanates. Anyway, here’s to the next target, the 3 millionth hit on the blog (now imminent), then Christmas, then the New Year, heading towards our Golden Wedding Anniversary, 16th March. If I get to that point we will have to re-evaluate things then.

 

After this rather dry entry, check here to be amazed by some youthful madness.

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11 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 12 October 2012 in Diary |

Craig and Paula P came on the second of the new regime and like the first morning call it went like clockwork and was accomplished in 55 minutes. I was pleased to be able to hand over an envelope containing cheques etc which I believe added up to something in the order of £200. Although there are still amounts coming in we know that we have well exceeded the target of £2000. The time we finish I believe it will be nearer £3000. An excellent outcome from these three young people setting a good example to others like themselves that life is not all about taking, whenever possible one should take the opportunity of giving something back.

I did manage to speak to Julian about his part in updating my book (see yesterday’s entry). His big arbitration, which has been running over two years is now completed and, fully understanding my situation, he has promised to try to complete his work on this book by Christmas. We will see!

Smiler, sent to me this day, details of an Aston Martin sale on the 31st of this month. In it was a photograph of what the auctioneer described as a 1967 shooting brake. The estimated auction price being between £325,000 – £375,000. My Aston Martin, which I would have called an estate, and which I was forced to sell (£3750) by the Administrator in 1972, was practically identical except for a small feature at the back. Click here for a copy of the sale details.

This was in my property development days when I owned and ran a series of property under the umbrella the Nationwide Property Holdings which were put into administration by Cork Gully in 1972.

I should quickly add that any loans to businesses in those days could be demanded back on 24 hours notice, if you failed, then the lender could go to the court and ask for the business to be put into administration, which, in effect and gave complete control to the administrator appointed by the lender. Once that happens the administrator, answerable to no one except the lending company who employ him, could virtually force the borrower to sell anything owned by the company which the administrator thought was a reasonable price. Thus the sale of my beautiful Aston Martin – as I understood it, only one of 11 made – for £3750.

As they say’ you win some, you and lose some’

Today turned out to be extremely busy. The procession of different people started at 11.00 a.m. Firstly the county dental service who will come on request or regular visits to check up on teeth and provide a general hygienist service. Of coarse, there is a limit to what they can do, no x-rays for example, for my purpose they are certainly adequate. At 12 o’clock, Sarah, one of the Ben Nevis team, made her duty call. Then after a quick lunch Edward Oliver, my kind retired accountant, dropped in, to tidy up my tax return for last year and then, thank heavens, I had a free afternoon. I forced myself to put on the respirator for half an hour (not the two hours suggested by the Papworth consultant) and after that I had a short free time to read, watch a movie etc. However not exactly what the Papworth consultant would have called taking it easy

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10 October 2012

Posted by DMC on 11 October 2012 in Diary |

Smiler left mid-morning after giving me a shave (a first for him) but an operation we still have to work into our daily routine. He confided in me, from the sanctity of the barber’s chair, that he had been advised not to go on holiday in April as my condition was worsening and his informant feared for the worst. Well, here we are seven months later and still going strong. It just goes to show that even the most well-informed only have a vague idea about the progress of the disease

Craig and Paul P turned up to get me out of bed, dress me etc. They make a fine team finishing the whole process within the hour. Craig told me that they had a special meeting in Ross nursing offices yesterday where it was agreed that he and Paula P would be our primary carers backed up by Carla. In other words wherever possible a combination of these three carers will be selected to deal with the for visits from Ross nursing.

This suits us to a tea. Apparently, Harriet has also undertaken to approach social services with a view to getting a little more time. I told Craig that Dr West was also on the case and that she should liaise with Harriet as we do not want to find ourselves on the wrong end of a decision as a result of putting pressure on the social services.

In the post this morning came two sets of DVDs, one covering the whole of John Galsworthy’s Forsyth Saga and the other CS Forester’s Hornblower. These came as a belated birthday present from Chloe and family and work in lieu of book tokens which somehow I never managed to use. Anyway a lovely gift from which I will get a great deal of pleasure.

I chased my publishers this morning concerning the process of updating the third edition of my book Cato on Arbitration-Interlocutory and Hearing Problems. The update is now running almost 2 years out of time. This is due to the heavy workload that my friend, Dr Julian Critchlow, is dealing with. Whenever I approach on the subject he assures me that he will be taking some time off to deal with it and has planned how he will complete his part of the task but, in the event, with the best will in the world, he always seems to fail. I had made it clear that it would give me a great deal of pleasure to see this Fourth Edition published, before I go but even this tug at his heartstrings had not been converted into action. I shall have to try again.

Even if you are not a keen golfer you cannot but admire the the skill of this magician. Click here to see if you agree with me.

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