Grim times

I can't quite raise much cheer this morning. As readers of the Fox's blog will know, our friend MK is in hospital now. Helen, his wife, rang first thing. It seems he has a chest infection. Hopefully it will be cured with antibiotics & he will be home soon.

He certainly wants to be. The problem is that with his lack of muscle in most of his body now, he really does need someone there, at his bedside, pretty well full time & the hospital just doesn't have the nursing staff. The other problem is that as a side effect of the Motor Neurone Disease he doesn't respond as well as he once did to antibiotics. We can just hope & pray.

Even more disturbing is that MK has been put into what was our friend Dave C's bed. Dave has now been moved to a quieter part of the ward, literally to die. His wife, Linda has given the hospital Dave's living will. In it he advised the hospital he didn't want medical intervention if he was once more in hospital with liver problems. As a result all medical intervention has been withdrawn.

Helen bumped into Linda & reckons that Dave is now in such a state that Helen was hard pushed to even recognise him. Further prayers. We had heard via Chinese whispers that Dave would be home in another few days. Now it seems it will only be in his coffin.

The two women obviously did what they could to support each other. A grim time for them both.

As a say, a saddening day.

I had been going to write about the antics of the blackbirds last night, or the meal I'm intending to cook from scratch in the microwave tonight, a noodle primavera. But that just seems so trivial now.

I even had a chat with our neighbour, Andy, this morning. He's celebrating the fact that the trial of the murderer of his step-daughter has happened. He's been convicted for two life sentences, with a minimum period of 22 years before parole can even be considered. This is a source of relief to Andy & Julie.

They have taken in the young grandchildren, & can now feel at least the murderer, & father of the children, will be in gaol throughout the children's childhood. It will also make getting formal custody of the grandchildren easier. That hearing is due next month. Hopefully then their life can start to be lived again, instead of just being an existence in limbo, unable to make any decisions about their future life.

Even this news seems trivial as I think of my friends in hospital. And of their wives, both waiting, both worrying, one dreading, the other unsure whether to dread or not. Both determined to put on a cheerful face for their husbands & the world.