Rough patch

It's been a rough few days.

It started on Saturday. As you know from my last blog, I was not looking forward to that afternoon. In the end I stayed at home. The weather looked changeable. In the end it did change, into a gloriously sunny day but by then I was stuck at home. The Fox got to Kendal. No problems with floods.. 

It was a very long afternoon. By the time he got back, I was aching badly. For all that I'd sat in my riser/recliner chair, it didn't alter the fact I had to get up a few extra times than I normally would. Also anxiety causes all my muscles to tense up increasing my physical pain in my knees. And I was tense. The Fox hadn't seemed at his best when he left home. I asked him to ring when he reached Kendal because he looked so under the weather when he left I questioned if he was even go to make it there safely. Fortunately he did. 

Mid-afternoon I gave my cousin Ann a ring to discover it sounds as though her cancer has maybe taken a turn for the worse. She's going to have another scan today. I hope it's nothing too dire. She also told me another cousin, Trudy,  who had a cataract removed earlier this year, is now having problems with bleeding in that eye & is having to have a lot of laser treatment. This news did nothing for my flagging morale.

As the afternoon went on, and on, I got increasingly bored, being confined to the one seat in the one room. To do more would have risked not being able to make it to the loo if needed. Thank goodness I at least had a good book to read. I've come to the conclusion I have to accept the fact that I am no longer fit to be left on my own for six hours. Anything more than four hours, I will be organising someone to come in, paying if necessary. I'm telling myself  it was a timely reminder of my difficulties in view of the benefit form which will probably arrive this week.

As for the Fox, he found himself in a room full of others. He discovered his new hearing aids exaggerated some sounds so he could hardly hear anything being said over the sound of the air-conditioning unit. It didn't help when he was also so worried about me rather than the purpose of the meeting.

On the way home he stopped to pick up some fish & chips. It was already 7pm & he realised if I didn't eat soon I would beyond food. The fish & chips proved a disaster, full of grease. Previously this has been one of the best of local chippies, but not this weekend.

After eating we sat on the settee in each others' arms. I was aware how fast the Fox's heart was racing. He, by this time, was feeling nauseous from the food, &, I suspect, the release of the tension he'd been building up all week. We soon abandoned the idea of watching anything. The Fox's eyes kept closing & I couldn't face sitting once more in that riser/recliner chair, no matter how comfortable a chair it is, or possibly having to make the effort to get into bed without assistance, a thing I can rarely manage these days at the best of times.

As the night went on we tossed & turned. The Fox got up a couple of times to go to the loo with his upset tum. Eventually he abandoned all effort of sleep & stayed up. I tried to sleep on. Suddenly at 4.30am the radio blared on. Somehow in trying to switch the radio on in the dark the Fox must have accidentally have switched on the radio alarm. Having been woken so rudely, I hastily switched off the radio to be almost deafened by the sound of gurgling coming from my stomach. That was the start of my frequent visits to the loo.

Sunday is usually chore day in our household. The Fox abandoned his chores in favour of watching the Men's Singles Final at Wimbledon. I changed the bed, sorted out the washing, did a cursory job of emptying out the airing cupboard. This activity necessity meant yet more painkillers. My chores, too, were abandoned. As rain stopped play at tennis we decided on an early dinner. Just as well really as by the time we'd eaten & I'd got changed I was hard pushed to keep my eyes open for our after meal cup of tea.I was in bed by 6pm not to re-emerge until 8.30am. I tossed & turned, sweltering under just a sheet, so uncomfortable I couldn't actually get off to sleep until in the end I took a sleeping pill along with some extra painkillers. I knew that today I would be starting taking the pills I take in the middle of the night so from then on sleeping pills would not be an option for another fortnight. And if I was to cope I needed to get some sleep now.

Yesterday's problems were of a different sort. Our stomachs had settled. Instead we ended up waiting for the man to come to service the central heating boiler. He would come between 8am & 6pm we had been told. He would ring first to give us a clearer idea of the time of his arrival. When there was still no sign of him by 4pm, I gave them a ring. They were ever so apologetic. The engineer must have got waylaid. He wouldn't be able to come that day. We'll have to come another day. Why, oh why, couldn't they have rung us to let us know instead of leaving us just waiting? We'd had to abandon our usual Monday Pub visit with PD because of this appointment. Let's home they do better next week when we have the next appointment.

Free at last we went down to our village pub, just the two of us. Getting out of the house did me good. I hadn't been out since Friday. We enjoyed our drink. As our stomachs had been so unsettled the last few days, & I wasn't quite sure when the workman would arrive, I hadn't prepared any food. We decided to go mad & treat ourselves by eating while we were there. The new landlord & his partner are enthusiastic about their new chef & we hadn't tried any of the food. We'd even been given a £5 voucher off the price of a meal. We both decided on the lemon sole with a lemon & prawn butter sauce. What a disappointment.! On the plate was maybe three small new potatoes, cut in half & sauteed, a little salad with a honey based dressing that clashed badly with the lemony butter sauce. The sole came whole, on the bone - if it had said that on the menu it would have deterred the Fox from ordering it. The fish was so small, there was hardly any flesh on it & what there was was tasteless. The sauce was little more than melted butter with a few cooked prawns warmed up in it with a lot of sharp lemon juice in it. A couple of very tough, overcooked king prawns adorned the fish. For the privilege of having this meal we were charged £11.95 each. We left in disgust, as hungry as we sat down. We couldn't face even looking at the dessert menu. We won't be eating there for a while. A snack maybe. Their jacket potatoes are good.

So home we came. Soon we decided to have a pizza from the freezer to fill the hole a bit. In the process I managed to lose part of a tooth. I'm relieved to say I haven't got toothache even though it feels as though the enamel on the inside of one tooth has fallen off. The large filling that was inside seems firmly stuck in. I rang the dentist this morning. He has no appointments until September. I pointed out I already had one in August, admittedly just for a check up. They're going to make that a little longer in case treatment is needed. Meanwhile, if it does start to get painful, I'm to ring up at 8.30am & they will squeeze me in as an emergency.

What more can go wrong? I suppose I should be grateful we've still not been flooded despite the frequent showers. This weekend has been surprisingly warm &sunny despite the forecasts. I've just been making an old favourite - a meatball curry  -  for dinner tonight. It should be soft enough to not cause further tooth problems. I can only hope it's time things picked up for us.