Corned beef to the rescue

Thank goodness for corned beef! As you know I’ve got two yawning holes in my mouth, where fillings were. We’ve been somewhat tested as to what to cook of late. Then we remembered the tin of corned beef lurking on a shelf high up in the cupboard. The wonder is that corned beef, when hot, becomes incredibly soft. So yesterday the Fox made a Hampton Pie, a sort of shepherd’s pie with mash on top & corned beef below.  It was a joy to eat accompanied by baked beans. So soft. Easy to break up with just my tongue. A reasonably easy thing to eat, finishing off with the cherry cheesecake I’d made for Christmas dinner.

Today I’m using up the rest of the tin. I’ve made some Corned Beef Hamburgers. They’re now ready to go into the oven to cook for this evening.

Hopefully after that we can get back to trouble-free eating. I’ve managed to get an emergency appointment at the dentist for later today. Hopefully she will manage to put some temporary fillings in so eating will be less fraught & that dull ache I’ve had all weekend will dissipate. It’s been a long time to put up with the situation. I’m quite expecting one is going to need a crown, but the other should be able to be filled. It’s a lot smaller. To be able to eat on one side of the mouth would be something, and to sleep without the pressure of my face on the pillow waking me up all the time. Sheer bliss!

Then we will get onto the question of the Fox’s rash. His ears look so sore. His hands seem to be coming out all over. The problem with this is that there’s no point in putting cream on as he has to wash his hands so often in a day the cream hardly has chance to have any beneficial effect. His distress is palpable. I’m just hoping he can get an appointment before the proposed one at the end of January. I hate to think what state he will be in by then if he can’t.

Christmas agony

I hope you all had a good Christmas, a better one than we did.

So what went wrong with ours? Last Friday I lost two fillings from one tooth, leaving just a skinny enamel sentinel there instead. Then yesterday I managed to lose a filling from a tooth on the other side of my mouth. This made chewing food very difficult. We had some pâté for brunch. Even though the toast was cut into strips it remained an exhausting job. After one slice of toast I’d had enough. By dinner time the first challenge was having my chewable calcium tablet starter. Nibbling away with just my front incisors was another slow job. Come the delicious honey roast ham & again it was a slow hard eat. I did not succumb to an extra slice or two as usually I would. I think this is one of the few Christmases I’ve actually lost weight. I’m really looking forward to Wednesday when the dentist opens up again.

Meanwhile the Fox wasn’t doing too much better. His rash seems to have mainly cleared from his back, chest & face. But now it’s spreading along his legs & arms & into his hair. What’s more they seemed even itchier than the others. Once Christmas is over & things get back to normal we’ll be getting onto the hospital to see if his appointment could be brought forward. He’s desperate for some relief.

Christmas wasn’t an entire wash out. We spent a quiet evening listening to carols, chuntering over some alcohol. At least we do still have each other to prop one another up, to raise a laugh at our misery, to make the intolerable tolerable.

Christmas greetings

Happy Christmas 

everyone

Christmas cheer?

All week has been the same – damp. There’s no other word for it. I believe the Irish word is mizzle. It’s something between mist & drizzle. You can’t really put up an umbrella against it as it doesn’t have a downward movement. Not that we ever use an umbrella as it’s difficult to both cover my legs as I sit in my wheelchair & avoid the Fox’s eyes as he pushes me along. The water droplets just seem to hang in the air. It’s just miserable. The dampness gets into your bones to add to your discomfort.

(One thing we have located on Clemmie is the switch for the fog lights. The village centre is literally downhill. There it is more like fog than daylight.)

To add to my miseries a filling fell out of my tooth yesterday afternoon, after our dentist had closed for Christmas. I rang the emergency number but was told I had to wait until I was in absolute agony, & between 10am & 5pm before they would see me. They could only suggest paracetamol for the pain. I couldn’t help commenting that I was taking plenty of those & stronger than that as it was. If I took any more, I’d be in hospital for overdosing. The only consolation is that they would be able to find a wheelchair accessible place to go to for treatment. I’m very gingerly eating now & hoping I can last out until Wednesday when our normal dentist reopens. Fortunately I’d planned fish until Christmas Day – yesterday crab & smoked trout, today sea bass, tinned tuna for Sunday – so the food is fairly soft to eat.

The Fox meanwhile is doing a lot better. This batch of creams do seem to be clearing most of the spots. Some new ones arrive every day but they don’t seem so itchy.

We’re both feeling very very tired. I long for the day I get up with a spring in my step. I seem to be always dragging myself up in the morning. I may have spent time in bed but I’ve been sleeping so brokenly that I feel no sense of refreshment when I finally get up. It sounds as though the Fox isn’t doing too much better.

As you can tell we’re not in the best of spirits to try to generate Christmas cheer. At least all the shopping is done so we don’t have to face those crowds any more.