I wish I had no news but we have guard cats! (Might be long sorry)

Hi all

Weekly vent time as I say you don't have to read it I'm really just
here in this corner where I can scream when I need to....and this week
I need to!

The last 4 months have been "nothing much to report" and now finally I
have things to report and wish I didn't

Okay Tuesday Claus (I checked it is spelt with a "C" and not a "K")
called Dave and told him he, even as he spoke, had his hand firmly on
Dave's crutch- yes 4 months to the day we were told it would take 2
weeks at most, the crutch has arrived!

Only Claus was annoyed that it wasn't quite built the way he asked for
and he thought it might need to go back to the manufacturer for
further adjustment

Dave in passing mentioned his foot, Claus asked what the last people
he'd seen had said and Dave said "What last people?"

Claus claims he thought it had only been a month or less since he
ordered the crutch and had to check his diary, when he realised it was
4 months he couldn't belive we'd had no contact with the service since
then, apart from a few phone calls. He was like "So what's happening
with the bathroom,?"

"Nothing, Nancy called to take me off her books but then had to argue
with the housing about the work"

"And when did you last have a physio session?"

"When you last came round"

Turns out, Dave has fallen through the net and no-one knows how
(through I suspect his tendency to not do today what he can put off
until tomorrow and his persistent refusal to complain because it might
get Claus etc in trouble didn't help) but we should have had some
support coming round possibly Coco and the CICT team (although Claus
said rather darkly "What's left of them" I know cuts were starting to
bite there when they used to come round here) or whatever but Claus
has now urged Dave to complain, there should have been some support,
they'd decided there was a risk that if Dave was left at home staring
at four walls he might relapse and still someone didn't do their job.
Claus was pretty horrified when he asked Dave what he did all day and
he said "Stare at the walls"

I'm furious- I could have done with some support myself instead of
which we've both been left to twist in the wind. Dave would have
pointed out the problem with his foot to someone else but didn't
really want to discuss it with me beyond pointing out how much it hurt

Anyway showing the rare possibility he might have developed some
common sense Dave mentioned to Claus about his foot and Claus said did
he want someone round today? And of course, the common sense went out
of the window and he said it could wait until Thursday when Claus was
coming round

Anyway Wednesday Dave's foot was agony (his words) but he was still
rude to me when I suggested ibuprofen and I've reached a point by now
where I'll point out the options, tell me how we can carry them out
(get a taxi whatever) and if he doesn't take me up I won't make a big
issue of it- I've sort of stopped feeling guilty.

As late as last Friday he was walking round the flat a bit by
Wednesday he had to use the chair to get into bed.

Thursday morning was a classic, basically the night before I had gone
to bed at 12-ish and Dave rolled in at 3.30 moaning that he had fallen
asleep in the wheelchair so we had the following conversation Thursday
morning

Him: "You knew I wanted to go to bed early because Claus is coming
over- why didn't you wake me up?"

Me: "I was asleep at the time"

Him:"That's no excuse"

Anyway Claus duly arrived and it turns out the crutch isn't as bad as
he thought and Dave can use it but after walking once across the
living room, Claus realised Dave couldn't take weight on his left foot
and had a look at it

"Hmmmm, I don't like the look of it" was the verdict (Rather on par
with "Oh my God! That's a big one!" which was uttered by my dentist
when she first looked at where a filling had come out of one of my
teeth. The only way to fill it involved pins and screws and in a
moment of pure insanity I refused an anaesthetic- still she did give
me one of those Noddy stickers for being a brave kid- Umm....it was
last year)

Claus then said he was going to get the district nurse on this and
rushed back to his office and faxed a referral through, don't know
what he said but given the previous times the district nurse has taken
6 weeks to actually turn up, the fact she called that afternoon and
made an appointment to come about 10 on Friday was a worry

She turned up at 1.30, still it was the same day. Dave was being
bearable that morning because I had to minute a meeting at 9.00 and
Dave knows there are certain times when being a sod in the morning is
just not acceptable- I "forgot" to tell him I knew it had been
cancelled the day before- sometimes the lure of a peaceful morning is
just too much

Oh dear.....first of all she commented that the living room was a bit
of a mess then went into the kitchen to get something and came back
and in surprised tones said "The kitchen is clean!"

Of course it is, my back still isn't quite right (I suspect when it
was playing up I walked leaning too much to the right and as its
getting better and I'm walking properly it's taking my spine a while
to realign itself it's a whole lot better than it was but it still
gives me moments) so I have had to make decisions (It's been over a
year now since everything's been on my back- no wonder it aches!), the
kitchen has to be clean because that's where food is prepared, the
living room? I have to weigh up do these people want a clean living
room and having to take Dave places and have someone do the shopping
because I can't? Or can they tolerate a little untidiness and the fact
I need to vacuum but at least Dave gets out from time to time and they
don't have to organise someone to do the shopping?

I am getting so sick of people who aren't in this position judging me-
what would they do?

Anyway she then mentioned that Dave really ought not to be on the
first floor and mentioned yet again the nice place "for the elderly"
in an estate in Hackney. I have long since concluded that NHS staff in
East London get commission from Hackney Council for every new tenant
they get them

Then she started on his foot and that's when we discovered we have
guard cats

Sarsi isn't keen on strangers....uncle Tel, uncle Jim, uncle Nobby,
auntie Helen, Auntie Ray (Short for Rachael before anyone asks) uncle
Jon etc (the last being an especial entertainment as he doesn't know
how to handle cats and gets so flustered she thinks it's funny) yes,
welcome them and sit on their coats etc. but if she doesn't know
someone then she'll skulk in the corner of the bedroom and plot her
revenge on us for letting them in

Dunzi also hides at first but she soon comes out to see if they are
workmen so she can inspect their work and if she's a lucky girl they
will have bacon sandwiches (The window people are now coming Thursday
she's already slobbering in anticipation and has taken to coming into
the living room and sleeping on my chair so she will be in a good
position to look cute and get bacon- funny thing is she's not
interested in bacon from us, it has to come from a workman even if we
are eating the same bacon rolls the workmen get from the cafe over the
road)

But as soon as this woman started to wash Dave's feet (It's a rotten
job but someone has to do it) both of them came out, sat about ten
feet away from her and submitted her to the feline glare of death then
she started to scrape skin off and he went "OUCH!"

Immediately both cats were up and ready to move, Dave swears he thinks
if he had said something like "Sic her!" they'd have attacked

They watched the whole thing intensly whilst letting out a 500
megawatt feline flare of death

She got annoyed at Dave saying "OUCH!" and asked him what pain killers
he's taking and he told her he wasn't. So she put a big dressing on
his foot (goes up to his knee) and said she'd talk to his GP

Oh yes.....his GP....the place where 4-5 times before things got so
bad he ended up in hospital in the first place, he called for advice/
help

3 times the receptionist offered him an appointment but didn't seem to
understand he couldn't walk there

the other 1-2 times (I did one of the calls) I was more or less told
that I should call an ambulance (This being when Dave was refusing to
go) as they don't do house calls

Well the GP seems to have woken up..

He called Dave on Friday night ...at least he was a bit more
informative than the district nurse (she's back Tuesday to change the
dressings) not that Dave didn't now find out he'd have rather been
kept in the dark..a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.........

Looks like (won;t know til Tuesday..if you've followed it this far
then you'll appreciate why I ask for purrs) that he has an ulcer on
the side of his ankle, the point where all the trouble started. It is
unclear whether he has or not but there's a strong possibility that it
will extend down to the tendon if not to the bone..that could mean
surgery

In the meantime he's put Dave on antibiotics and will be calling
Monday to sort out coming round to have a look at it Dave said he
could pop into the GP's after his chiropdy appointment but that just
isn't going to happen, he can barely stand let alone walk down the
stairs so I have to call them tomorrow and cancel and at such short
notice they might take him off their waiting list...

Dave thinks perhaps the GP could come round on Tuesday when the
district nurse comes back but I think that unlikely so he may have to
come round tomorrow afternoon

The gig on the 25th now looks unsafe as well. Twice we've paid to see
that band and twice because of the foot it looks like we'll miss them,
total cost of wasted tickets being somewhere near the £200 mark

Mind you I think I am getting devious- Dave took one look at the
antibiotic pills I picked up yesterday and started complaining that
they were so big that he didn't think he could swallow them so I said
"Okay if you can't you can't. Tell the GP, after all a district nurse
knows how to give you an injection in your bum or if that's no good,
they could use a Venfluon or perhaps a drip"

Nothing in the history of the World has ever swallowed a pill that
fast!

I really wanted some good news instead it feels like we're back to
nearly sqaure one (at the moment he has his muscles he didn't have
last time but how long will they last when he can't really use them?)
and officialdom is back (she even asked Dave for details of our income
saying she needed to know if he could afford prescription charges,
fair enough but when he said "Yes" she asked him how much we had
coming in each week, what we had to pay each week, and apparently
frowned when he mentioned a small percentage of our income goes out on
things like my laptop insurance and a standing order for a charity
(CPL))

(He says he really finished her off when she suggested that
perhaps.....she could get social services to organise some
cleaning..poor deserving lad and all that....and he pointed out that
it's not so bad just needs a couple of hours a week and we've already
been talking about this since my back started to play up and we
wouldn't want to deprive the genuinely needy so we could actually pay
for a cleaner! At that point she asked him if he had any savings and
if so how much...well he does have, we both have, not huge amounts
enough to keep us going f I lost my job and couldn't get another in
the meantime for a month or so and no major bills)

I feel like I've been running a marathon and I just came within a mile
of the finishing line only to have a judge say "False start. Sorry you
have to do it all again"


Lesley

Worn out Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: I wish I had no news but we have guard cats! (Might be long sorry)
    ... I hope that, at least occasionally, Dave has ... Dave in passing mentioned his foot, Claus asked what the last people ... support coming round possibly Coco and the CICT team (although Claus ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • Re: I wish I had no news but we have guard cats! (Might be long sorry)
    ... Dave in passing mentioned his foot, Claus asked what the last people ... support coming round possibly Coco and the CICT team (although Claus ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • More ups than downs and a bit of sideways!
    ... Dave said yesterday it is now just over a week since the wheelchair ... see he's okay for a few months and Claus thinks with a bit of luck, ... his foot forced into it, it would be like Chinese foot binding! ... some shoes but they didn't. ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • Re: Happy dancing for once!
    ... Tuesday the district nurse came round and greeted Dave with the news ... A little later he was thinking he might phone Claus when Claus phoned ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)
  • Happy dancing for once!
    ... Tuesday the district nurse came round and greeted Dave with the news ... A little later he was thinking he might phone Claus when Claus phoned ...
    (rec.pets.cats.anecdotes)