general update Feb 18 2009
Pete is 41 tomorrow and for some reason I get the feeling he isn't keen on being 41, although 40 didn't bother him.
Mom and I went to the Merry Hill Ctr today and bumped into the mom of someone I was at school with. Although I'd probably known it at some point in the past I'd forgotten that she'd known my mom when they were teenagers - weird them both moving to the same village. She gave us a general update on her own and her kids lives, apparently her daughter had seen me on either facebook or friends reunited and told Margaret that I wasn't well. Margaret told us that her daughter, who I was at school with, L had a baby girl last year after 4 miscarriages - so congratulations to her on the birth of her first daughter, albeit a little late. She also emigrated to New Zealand along with her partner, which I already knew and unfortunately her arthritis which she was diagnosed with at 18 has now gotten really bad. Her knees are more or less completely shot, but she's carrying on as much like normal as possible (which - good for her! seriously).
Unfortunately Margaret lost her husband to a brain tumor 4 years ago now, which is a real shame. He was her second husband whom she married when we were in senior school so I reckon that makes, I don't 15-18 years roughly that they had together.
Her son, T, who is a year older than my brother has also had major health problems. Apparently he'd gone private to have the bone shaved or something in his back, but the delay in getting it done had resulted in damage to the sciatic nerve or something. As a result he'd been out of work for quite some time and now that he's fit again he can't find a job. He was a plasterer originally and doing quite well.
Bloody health problems!
We were talking for quite some time and I was hurting quite badly by the time we moved on. However it was good to catch up. We were walking round Merry Hell for quite a while, though frankly if we'd gone any slower we'd have stopped. I think it's the first time mom has really been able to see how poor my mobility has gotten over the last 12 months. She's now firmly of the opinion that I need a mobility scooter or something similar. She keeps saying we should move out of the flat, but to be honest we can't afford it and I happen to like our home. Ok so it needs some work doing, but where doesn't?
Someone on the OU forums called me an 'inspiration' today, which, while very complimentary, did come close to having me roll round the floor laughing. It was all because we talking about the course that we're doing at the moment and quite a few people were complaining because there are parts they don't like. I was saying that there are always bits you don't like but that despite it being a real struggle for me because of physical and mental limitations, ie can't write, type, struggle to get to tutorials, struggle to even hold the books etc and have concentration issues & short term memory problems, that I'm loving the course. My tutor is really supportive and making a huge difference. People were whinging about their grades where I'm just happy to pass. My grades aren't going to be what they would have been 5 years ago because the concentration levels just aren't there.
Right now I'm on 12 different medicines a day including buprenorphine transdermal patches (20mg), dihydrocodeine, amitriptyline at pain killer dosage as opposed to anti-depressant dosage, allergy meds, propranalol, cyclizine, tranexamic acid and others. Overall though I seem to be staying at a level at the moment rather than getting any worse, so I'm counting that as a good thing. Someone else went to see my GP about something the other day and saw information leaflets on FMS on his desk. Seems like my GP is doing some reading up.
Right, now I'm going to go back to watching Night of the Living Dead.
Mom and I went to the Merry Hill Ctr today and bumped into the mom of someone I was at school with. Although I'd probably known it at some point in the past I'd forgotten that she'd known my mom when they were teenagers - weird them both moving to the same village. She gave us a general update on her own and her kids lives, apparently her daughter had seen me on either facebook or friends reunited and told Margaret that I wasn't well. Margaret told us that her daughter, who I was at school with, L had a baby girl last year after 4 miscarriages - so congratulations to her on the birth of her first daughter, albeit a little late. She also emigrated to New Zealand along with her partner, which I already knew and unfortunately her arthritis which she was diagnosed with at 18 has now gotten really bad. Her knees are more or less completely shot, but she's carrying on as much like normal as possible (which - good for her! seriously).
Unfortunately Margaret lost her husband to a brain tumor 4 years ago now, which is a real shame. He was her second husband whom she married when we were in senior school so I reckon that makes, I don't 15-18 years roughly that they had together.
Her son, T, who is a year older than my brother has also had major health problems. Apparently he'd gone private to have the bone shaved or something in his back, but the delay in getting it done had resulted in damage to the sciatic nerve or something. As a result he'd been out of work for quite some time and now that he's fit again he can't find a job. He was a plasterer originally and doing quite well.
Bloody health problems!
We were talking for quite some time and I was hurting quite badly by the time we moved on. However it was good to catch up. We were walking round Merry Hell for quite a while, though frankly if we'd gone any slower we'd have stopped. I think it's the first time mom has really been able to see how poor my mobility has gotten over the last 12 months. She's now firmly of the opinion that I need a mobility scooter or something similar. She keeps saying we should move out of the flat, but to be honest we can't afford it and I happen to like our home. Ok so it needs some work doing, but where doesn't?
Someone on the OU forums called me an 'inspiration' today, which, while very complimentary, did come close to having me roll round the floor laughing. It was all because we talking about the course that we're doing at the moment and quite a few people were complaining because there are parts they don't like. I was saying that there are always bits you don't like but that despite it being a real struggle for me because of physical and mental limitations, ie can't write, type, struggle to get to tutorials, struggle to even hold the books etc and have concentration issues & short term memory problems, that I'm loving the course. My tutor is really supportive and making a huge difference. People were whinging about their grades where I'm just happy to pass. My grades aren't going to be what they would have been 5 years ago because the concentration levels just aren't there.
Right now I'm on 12 different medicines a day including buprenorphine transdermal patches (20mg), dihydrocodeine, amitriptyline at pain killer dosage as opposed to anti-depressant dosage, allergy meds, propranalol, cyclizine, tranexamic acid and others. Overall though I seem to be staying at a level at the moment rather than getting any worse, so I'm counting that as a good thing. Someone else went to see my GP about something the other day and saw information leaflets on FMS on his desk. Seems like my GP is doing some reading up.
Right, now I'm going to go back to watching Night of the Living Dead.