Into the new year with a bang & an itch

Life is slowly getting back to normal after the holidays. We went to the supermarket yesterday to find half the shelves were empty. It was annoying as it was the basics that were so low, things like bread & fruit. It amazes me that the shops don’t realise after the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, that it is the basics, the everyday foods that people will want to buy. After all the rich food of Xmas we turned to Breakfast-for-Dinner with relish.

Afterwards we went along to our local pub to discover ours was not the worst Xmas to be experienced by our friends. One had the Serious Crime Squad banging on his door. His daughter, who lives with him, had been assaulted three times by her regular partner. The assailant has been arrested. Meanwhile our friend’s daughter has had to go through the humiliation of having all her bruises, cuts etc. checked, measured & photographed as evidence. The only good thing is that there is collaborative video evidence & some independant witnesses.

I spent Tuesday on the phone trying to reorganise the Fox’s hospital appointment. Apparently the appointment was made by a national central booking scheme. They could not bring forward the appointment & would not be able to put him on a list if there was a cancellation before the present date. For that I had to ring the local hospital. I rang the hospital to be put through to another central booking system based in Kendal. They apparently can’t cancel a booking made by the national scheme &, whilst that booking existed, they couldn’t do anything. Neither could he be put on a list of people ready to attend earlier if an appointment should arise as he is not one of their existing clients. They can only do that with bookings made by them that come as a follow up after the first consultation at the hospital. The only thing he could suggest is seeing a GP again. We went along to the surgery & the Fox has now got an appointment with a more senior & experienced GP. We’re just hoping he can recognise the problem & give him some medication that will improve the situation.

Meanwhile the Fox is steadily getting worse. More & more areas are becoming covered by the rash. He has weeping sores on his scalp, under his hair. He can’t sleep as he’s so uncomfortable. Inevitably he’s getting irritable due to lack of sleep along with the constant itching & pain. He’s having difficulty using his hands as the rash is covering his fingers, distorting them, causing swelling & excessive sensitivity. Needless to say it’s all getting him down.