Lynda

So s'morning at 11 the toe cutter lady arrived and earned her cash in next to no time. Gosh but she is good and quick

And I arranged my next appointment for a different day as Thursday mornings are busy now

Isn't she...

So I had an appointment with Denyse s'morning and she talked a great deal about my "stage" of recovery and where we\I should be heading now. (Not "for the rest of it" just for now)

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Out and About

Then me and Alex headed out in the car. First of all I directed us to Mynydd Cerrig and we called in at Ruth's house and delivered back Athan's toy which he had left here

Then we went into Carmarthen looking for a bun shop but everywhere was closed (It was after 9pm) we ended up in SHHHHH McDonalds and bought two mugs of tea and two buns

Ruth and Athan

Then about 4 o'clock Ruth and her talented son, Athan, came round. It was excellent to see them both and Ruth made some noises about me finding a life which was positive

When they went home Athan left one of his toys sitting on my table

Level 3 class

So I had my first Tuesday mobility class s'morning. I could walk faster by the end of it than I could at beginning.

And it is strange noticing stuff today. I wasn't concentrating on my right wrist and it stayed in position for the whole session.

I didn't have to concentrate on my right foot for about the first 3/4 of the session and it didn't turn over at all, then I had to concentrate for 10 minutes then for the last 5 mins it turned over outrageously

Ulster

I have just caught a program about NI on BBC3 "Petrol Bombs & Peace: Welcome to Belfast" it was called. Just wow, they came to "peace" how many years ago and many folk are still so bitter. Apparently the 12th July was more violent in 2013 than it has been for many years

Warmer

And it has got much warmer since s'morning. I just had a bath, got into bed for my nap and lay there, in bed, naked, with no covers on

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Rain

Gosh, it is back to "just" raining, not the noisy heavy stuff that there was earlier

Clever Clogs

So I said to Timmy s'morning how can I make the day appear beside the date on the beginning screen on my phone. He said "No, I've looked into it, you can't". I looked a bit disappointed and he said "But press 'the button' and do nothing else"

Ooh, the clever clogs

Summer's Over

And today is the first day in a number of months where I have had to put summat else on as well as my t-shirt and trews (new pic now)

Quiet Day

Well it's a quiet day on my timetable. So at lunchtime we nipped to Morrison's (noisy link) and bought loads and loads of more shopping than I usuall get there

SLT

Then just after I had woken up properly Sarah the SLT came in to see me again. We discussed some of my perceived weaknesses and how I can improve them

A Lie In

And I didn't get up today until 8.30. A decadent lie in

Sporting Telly

Then out of the blue when I came back from Aardvark I received an email that said "I have signed you on... you will get an email in 15 mins....." and I already had the next email saying she had signed me up for BT Sport and I could watch it.

I can't see it on my telly yet but it works on my PC now, which is where I watch 95% of telly anyway

Ah, and I am told I won't be able to see it on the telly as I don't have a Sky box, but WTF I can watch it anyway

Late

Then because I had a late lunch I thought there was no time afterwards for a bath, I just had a nap then headed off to Aardvark, did my shopping.

But because I had been to gym today I figured I probably needed a bath so I had it after tea (1)

(1) As usual on a Friday it was naan pizza and oven chips, it was one of the highlights of the week eating it

Isn't She Beautiful

So about lunchtime I had a 3rd level gym class with that lovely Sam. It seems strange, of the folk in my class I am by far the most immobile so effectively I have a different class than everyone else there.

I told Sam today that I had discussed my voluntary work with Trysordy and they had said I could move days so as from next week I am going to 2 level 3 classes

It is frankly remarkable how much progress I am making

Out In A Bit

And I have had a quiet day today but in about an hour I am heading into Carmarthen to but a dinner for Freya and Toby. Who is back in town staying with his Mum ATM so obviously some bridges have been mended

Wow. And he seems so grown up now. But yes we had a lovely dinner together, then we came back here, I gave Toby my old phone, went and bought him a SIM etc etc and had to buy Freya a "phone me" top up too

My Arm Is Better

Gosh, I have just noticed how much better my right arm is. It's not fully better so I was being a bit negative but on reflection it is so much better

Need Sum Buns

And this morning I got the stuff out, Paul arrived and said "Erm..." then I got stuck in and made a load of flapjacks. Yes, SmallPaul had to help, he greased the tin while I was stirring them.

After they were ready I left them cool for about 15 mins, tried to cut them but they were still all breaky. 

So I left them for another hour and they look lovely now

Colder

And I noticed that last night when I woke up I had pulled my bed clothes over me, for the first time in a number of weeks

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Failure At Games

Then s'evening Timmy said "Game of backgammon?" so we both got on the iPad device, he won the first game, I put it down to luck, he then said "Best of 3?" and promptly beat me at the second game too

(Grumble, grumble)

Right Handed

And as we fitted the new clip for my bath lifter yesterday,  today, the first time since it was fitted, I got out of the bath, approached the clip and had to use my right hand to attach the wire

I managed, no problem, and that is evidence of summat I have been thinking for ages but not able to say, my right hand is getting so much better....

Restful

Ahhhm,so it's back to proper business now....

Trysordy-ing

So we nipped to Trysordy and did our bit for the community today.

We also had to ask them if there was a different slot available as I have now been doubly promoted at Gym, they said "Yes" so from next week I will be going there Thursday

Feck, arse, girls

So tonight me and Timmy conversed and decided that I was probably well enough to have just one drink tonight. Lets hope I am not all coughy in't morning

(Noisy link, sorry)

Timmy the dude

OK, so Timmy wasn't able to solve items 2 and 3 on my list but he was able to sort out making my video camera work. I said "The "on" light came on for 2 seconds when I switched on my PC then off again", he said "Ahhh" opened Windows Movie Maker and the light came back on. Ah, no program, no light. So I have installed Skype on my desktop PC as well as my laptop

My memory IS improving

So at lunchtime today I thought "If I am gonna cook 'em tonight..." went to the cupboard and took out 4 potatoes. They are too big to steam so I cut them in 4, put them in a bowl and stuck it in't fridge. 2 minutes later I recalled, rushed to the fridge, took 'em out and filled the bowl with water around the spuds

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

And as I was leaving gym I spoke to Sam and she agreed that it is time for me to be altogether in 2 better classes a week. So providing my voluntary work can do another day I will be at gym Tuesday and Friday

Sam

And we went in and had a Sam halfway class at gym. I was telling Sam how beautiful she is or summat at the end and she actually said that I should be in the very advanced class twice a week. But the other class gets in the way of voluntary work on a Tuesday so we will have to ask them if I can rearrange my days tomorrow

A quiet week

And as my life has been so hectic for a number of weeks I am rather glad that we are having a much quieter week

Out For An Ice Cream

So me & Gareth went out for an ice cream, the heavens opened and we had to sit in our car and eat the ice cream

Quiet

So we are having quite a quiet Sunday, so far.

This morning me and Gareth went out and headed for Morrison's where I did most of half my weeks shop. Today I asked Gareth to push me to the frozen veggie section and said "I can't look at everything, find me the least fattening food" so he spent ages looking thru them all so in the end I found some

Aargh

Then I was about to go to bed, suddenly my PC started behaving really strangely. Oh, malware was in, big style.

So I had to pay for a solution (noisy link), which took 'til well after bedtime, then miraculously my PC started behaving like itself again

And it does seem generally better today so I think paying was worth while

Surprise Shopping

Then today I thought I would look at the wound in my moses sandals, looked at it and thought "Wow, how have they lasted this long?" So we went to one shop, looked everywhere, no moses sandals. So we drove somewhere else, went into the first shop, looked everywhere, still to no avail. We were about to get back into the car when Edwina said "Lets try here!", went in and within one minute I was trying my new sandals on

No Pink Hair

Then s'morning Clair came to see me and talk about strategies for dealing with an ABI etc. She left me a copy of a leaflet and forgot the staffs copy so is gonna email it to them, so I can have a more accessible copy too

Still Runny

And I had 3 or 4 poohs last night and I am just about to have the second one s'morning, oh what fun this barium is

And I am paranoid now, every time I fart it feels just like my pooh did yesterday so I need to be sure I don't think there is any solid before releasing it

It's OK, I am dry now. Paranoid every time I need to fart but dry

Friday Feeling

Then, having had no time for a nap today we nipped to Aardvark and did my weeks shopping

Just back

Then we had just got back, I was sat at the table opening 2 parcels when the community physio lady arrived to discuss NHS cough assist tools but I don't think she thought I was suitable

Lunch

Then, as we took ages in hospital, we nipped to Pizza Hut and had lunch there which was nice but much to filling for me.

Petty cash had to buy that for us two

Sh*t, what a morning

So we headed off first thing to Singleton Hospital in Swansea where they did "Video Flouroscopy" which involved me being got into position sitting in a scary big camera device then I would eg sip juice which was laced with Barium (which doesn't taste very nice) then they were able to take x-ray movies of my swallowing. I had 3 drinks in various patterns then some pieces of peach with a hoppible goo on them and last of all a biscuit with loadsa goo on it too

Afterwards I was speaking to the Doctor x-rayer and she said I should actually stop doing the put your head forward to have a drink but do continue to do that to eat.

This is relatively rare, most people can eat drink but not eat, but I am, typically, the opposite

Lunch With Freya

Then Freya contacted me and said "If you aren't coming out to play can I come to yours for lunch instead?" and we nipped down to Saundersfoot with Gareth who had brought some sandwiches in for his lunch today so he sat outside the chippy while we went in. It was rather nice tho.....

Phlegm

And I coughed up another load of Phlegm s'morning and it seems not to be "infected colour" (green) and it seems to be white once more

Gonna Cricket

And me and Gareth just made a phone call(*) to someone from Glamorgan Cricket Club and made a booking so on Sunday 25/08/13 so we will go to Swansea and watch a 40 over match

(*) He contacted them then I had to give my credit card details to get the ticket. He will be free as my carer but I have to pay

Email on my phone

For a couple of days I have been trying to fix issues with email on my phone be fiddling about with my PC and setting email settings etc. It occurred to me tonight that no, it is my phone saying "Crisis on this account" because it is on my phone that the settings need resetting, not the email prog on my PC

Early Swap

Then because Paul has to take me to hospital really early in the morning on Friday when he is not supposed to come in 'til 10AM, when here is not on my diary for day before, so he is coming in tomorrow night so he can be up and at 'em early on Friday so Gareth, who is gonna lose half a shift then came in to start it early to make it fair

Oops

Then s'morning me and SmallPaul nipped into Morrison's to buy 2 or 3 things including large yorkshire puddings. We went over and over and gave up, nipped to Tesco's and asked someone there, yes, frozen she said, we had not looked in the freezer in Morrison's

Autumn Weather

Mmm, 100% grey cloud s'morning again and it is a bit cooler today. Still hotter than average but colder

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

It's Fixed!!

And me and TechnoTimmy were at last able to, after a few erroneous attempts managed to get the video's on Neil Cooking page. We hummed and hawed attempting to upload videos then gave up, uploaded them all to Youtube and published the links at the bottom of my page.

So HOORAY etc

OT

And Sarah the OT came round later and by lord, didn't we make an excellent treat for Freya's birthday

Busy For Community

Then I went to Trysordy and did my bit for recycling.

And they did compliment me on my photos for the website which I took last week, which was nice

And in the audience today was a couple of kids, one of whom made a rather excellent model of Shaun The Sheep while I was watching

Summers Over

And there is 100% cloud over a much colder day s'morning.

Ooh, by the time I came out of Trysordy it was only 70% cloudy and much warmer

Fark, now it is 85% clear blue sky again

BLINKIN' FLIP, now 100% even tho they had terrible rain storms in Cardiff

Wot A Day

Oh I haven't been able to come to terms with today properly. This AM was mad and maddening and effective and made me feel good etc then the rest of the day at gym and clinic felt a bit odd in comparison

Technician

Then later today I nipped to see an Asthma technician and we discussed my medication etc. She did say in future they would call me in for a mega peak flow reading then afterwards they would be able to tell which effects are from me smoking for years and which are asthma, the asthma should all be minimised

Gym

After such an exciting and hectic morning we headed to my old gym class and it went OK

Morning Shopping

Phew, me and Timmy went to Argos and spent £60 on a new monitor, which we have just fitted before I need to nip to gym

It's Broken

Oh dear. So s'afternoon my PC monitor switched itself off. I switched it off then back on again. It worked, picture on screen for a couple of seconds then died again. So I restarted the PC - still nowt. I was about to cry when Alex looked on the back of the telly to see if it had the right connecter. Which it did and I was so grateful when he got it working. Luckily TechnoTimmy is in tomorrow so I suspect we shall be shopping, unless he miraculously fixes it.

Its really strange now, it is about twice the size of my original monitor and too big for me to be able to see both sides of the screen without moving my head, but it works

To Hot To.....

But it does seem a smidge cooler today.....

S'morning we nipped to Morrison's and did a weeks shopping.

Trouble looking for frozen food that is not really fattening, again

Evening Out

And me and Alex went down through Swansea to Mumbles which was a bit beautiful and very coastal, it was a bit strange, we seemed to be looking across to a place which was a mile away. Strange but very worthwhile

What A Day

So me and Alex headed out to buy a fan 'cos it's so hot ATM.

But everyone had thought of that first.

So we called in at The Range, Waverleys and in the end to that awful Tesco place. None of them had a big fan or a small fan, sold out. Ach well

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Earrings

And on the shop tonight SmallPaul said "Strawberry bags look silly on your hands" and my pockets were full but I invented a way of carrying them

Wot A Day

So I relaxed s'morning then Sarah came and I have been non stop busy since then, it was after 5 o'clock before I managed to stop and have a nap, now I am hungry etc etc

Drs

Then after a quick lunch we went to the Doctors again, to see about my cough. She (not my usual Dr as it was an emergency visit) listened to my chest, said "Awww" and gave me another course of antibiotics for a week and said I could leave the phlegm waterers.

She also gave me a stronger brown inhaler just one for now, hopefully my normal one will be strong enough when I finish this

Lastly she gave me an AeroChamberPlus which is supposed to make my inhaler much more effective. Someone tried a much larger device last year which I couldn't get on with at all but this one seems loads better and my chest feels better already, after having 2 blue and 2 new brown inhalations

But my cough seems better already, more phlegm etc so I AM getting better

FTF

First things first, so she came here and was saying "Yes, coughing" etc, she stretched my arm loads as it has got worse thru coughing etc. Then she said "Walk up & down" and said "Wow". After the injection into behind my shin last week my foot it turning over much less. I was walking almost without having to concentrate and my foot was not turning over, almost as if I had my Bioness device on, but I didn't

Before FTF

So they delivered my cover and frame for my VegTrug s'morning and I had to get out in the dreadful sun to supervise (and take pics) of Paul building the cover. Which actually looks rather good now and I think it will be effective

Bother

And because of yesterday's crisis we have called off gym today and told SaraH to come here instead to do her worst on my here instead

Scared

So I was sitting outside while Gareth pottered at the plants then I started thinking.... then I woke up while Gareth shook my arm and said "You OK?".

Dunno, I had passed out again

Aussie Cricket

So I am listening to the cricket test match on Radio 5 live sport and now the Australians have started bowling England and so far it is 26 for 3

Lordy we are supposed to win

289 for 7 at the end of play today so we came back very strongly after such an awful start

Lie in

Now I have learned how to switch off ny alarm clock when I don't NEED to wake up, so I switched it off last night and I didn't get up until an hour after my alarm clock was due.    

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

First time in years

Now I am being careful to keep my fluids up etc. Last night I went to bed lateish and I didn't wake up for a pee until it was getting up time s'morning

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Scary Creature

Aargh, I had to call TT out of bed a few minutes ago because there was an enormous creature flying about the living room, getting freaked out that he couldn't find a way back out. I think it was a bat, he had to attack it with a towel to make it be still for a minute in which time he put it out

Mmmmm

So Timmy told me today that they met up with Denyse yesterday and she mentioned how the chocolate or yoghurt peanuts and raisins that I have been buying as a snack are dangerous (choking) and very fattening and I would do better to go back to purchasing a bar of Green&Blacks organic chocolate like I used to as it is less fattening

Edible

And for a snack today I had 6 or 7 ultra fresh organic strawberries from my Trug. Just mmmmmm     

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

TechnoTimmyfied

So TechnoTimmy came in today and even before I had time to show him my list of queries the postman brought an enormous armful of Techno crises, which we had to deal with.

Then we got stuck into my crises, the sending email from my phone in plain text is still query and TT is currently sitting behind me with my phone in his hand.

Listening to Radio 5 turned out to be no problem, instead of approaching it thru my browser he said "That radio app, use that" and it just worked, once we had found the station

And lordy BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP, TechnoTimmy finally found, downloaded and installed an App that sends plain text emails, so I can now now send Ixion emails if I am not sitting at my PC

OTness

Then SaraH OT came to see me, with a bag full of food and we together made a Spanish Omelette  with (steamed) spuds, a courgette, some mushrooms, a red pepper and 5 eggs we used in the end

It was delicious in the end

And she did comment on how much more mobile I am and how much more useful my right arm is these days

But I was chopping up veg with my right arm, it was cutting OK but I couldn't make the knife go straight down, it was 30-40 degrees off vertical. But then I realised if I took ½ step back, away from the surface I was cutting on then I could cut properly. Very very strange but I hope I remember it

Recycling

So we nipped up to the Recycling Place just up the road where again I was taking photos.

Today the MOtheeirS who knows how to work their camera wasn't there so I could't get the autofocus to work. I gave it to Alex and said "Help", he made puzzled sounds then pressed "Reset" which seemed to work

But FWIW I had a pee before we went, was there for 2 hours without a pee and didn't need to go straight into the loo when we got back. Gosh, the days of peeing every 15 minutes are long gone, phew

GYMing

And I am off to Gym in a bit for today's lesson

And I managed to only interrupt my exercises thru coughing a couple of times but I still can't get up the last piece of phlegm

My head is exploding

And this morning we had to watch the video of the speech and language therapist showing me how to swallow liquids properly again.

This is why my head is exploding, I am having to re-learn everything, or learn it for the first time as my accident has caused some problems/issues

Early

So I didn't have a lie in s'morning, my alarm clock went off at 8AM but I had been up since 7.45

Oops

So Timmy has phoned and said he can't come in today as his 18 month old son is covered in spots and he can't come here as we don't want/need infections

So we have got Alex doing an extra now to cover up for it

But Tim will be able to come in on Wed morning, apparently it's just the chicken pox

Out

So me + Paul nipped to Saundersfoot and had dinner there, it was spectacularly beautiful but a tourist destination, not much else

Can't multi task

So as Denyse is gonna Skype me s'morning I thought I'd better cheat with my electric razor. So I went into the loo for my morning routine and took a the razor. So I shaved half my face and tried to do other things - to no avail. So I finished half my face and turned off the razor.

Pee, pee, pee, I managed suddenly.

I shaved the rest of my face and turned it off again.

Within 10 seconds I had started my poo

So I can't shave and use the loo simultaneously

Lie In

So my alarm clock goes off Mon - Friday at 8 am. Usually at the weekend I am up any time between 6.30 and 7.45 but today I went to the loo at 6.45 then went back to sleep.

I didn't wake up/get up tol 8.50!!! A lie in

More Fluid

And, although I am shopping for the week tomorrow, me & Gareth had to nip to Morrisons to buy a load of mineral water for me to keep drinking

SLT

And Sarah the SLT came to see me today and did loadsa stuff about me swallowing. She did say that swallowing food my head needs to be bent forward as I have been doing, but we tried it with drinks but I couldn't manage it with swallowing liquid but in the end we decided between us, drink normally max of 2 mouthfuls then look at my plate, head forward to swallow it.

It feels very strange but my swallowing is evidently much better so I need to practise this so it becomes as habitual as eating with my head forward

But it pisses me off big style, I had my accident 10+ years ago and only now am I so well that issues like swallowing matter/can be noticed.

9½ years ago I was too ill for them even to notice issues like this

A Fan

And we had our usual Friday night tea of Naan bread pizza's and Alex hasn't tried one before and he liked it enough to say "I will have to try that at home". Which was nice

Lunchless

And I didn't have lunch before I went to the 1pm gym class today which was OK, but I told Alex to take us to Aardvark to do our shopping immediately afterwards which meant it was much too late for a lunch when we got back here. So I polished off my yoghurt from yesterday and called that lunch.

So roll on dinner now

Much Shopping

And after we went to 4 shops, with a car trip from one to the next, we finally found somewhere that sold proper v shaper pillows, not combinations of 2 pillows like I used last night. We bought one then had to drive to another shop to get pillow cases but in the end we did it. It's fitted now, lets see how it feels later

And it felt fine when I was napping this afternoon

Better

And after sleeping with an improvised v bed thingy I am all in favour of buying a proper one today. I coughed some in bed but my chest feels better and lighter already

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

V shaped

So I am in a bed tonight with a v shaped double pillow. It is supposed to be lifting up my shoulders/back as well as my head and so far it does that and is well comfortable

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Cool

And at about 11 o'clock tonight I went out into the hall and it still has an open door to the garden on it and at 11 o'clock it felt cool there. Cool.

Hooray 

Talented Visitor

Then later a "finished my GCSE" Freya came down to see me and was playing my electric guitar, the first time she has played at all in about 4 months and I was a bit jealous at how talented she is

Veg

And me and Paul had a bit of a look in the vegTrug today and pulled up some excellent radishes. There were a few left and we took them indoors and made fresh, organic food with our lunch

Sara physio

So Sara came round all over lunch hour and talked about coughing, showed us loadsa techniques etc, and talked about the after effects of the drug on my arm too

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

And she wants to meet me outside gym next Friday and come along and see how hard they work me in my new Friday class

A Week Since

And Sarah the Physio is coming to see me tomorrow and it is also supposed to be the day the injection I had last Thursday takes hold but as since then I have narrowly escaped going into hospital etc I haven't even remembered which bit of my arm is supposed to be better

Dentist

Well, I had to go to the Dentist s'afternoon and she drilled out almost a complete tooth before replacing it. It was a bit scary having someone drill so much but she has finished now

She did comment on how much more mobile/walking I am as she hasn't seen me for 6 months, which was nice

And my teeth felt horrible all the way thru the very nice curry I had made for dinner

And as the pain killers wore off there was no pain or discomfort which I am very grateful for

Choking

When Denyse was here yesterday as she is in charge of "caring" for me it occurred to me, perhaps randomly, that it is now weeks, possibly months, since I have choked

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Warm

So here I am, sitting outside just wearing a t-shirt(1) at a quarter to 12 at night

(1) and trousers etc

written on my BlackBerry 10 smartphone

Clean My Teeth

And I am a bit nervous as I have a dentists appointment tomorrow.

They are gonns fix the wonky hole in my tooth

What an afternoon

Later Denyse came to see me, for why I dunno, I think she just had to see me before she went on holiday and she upset me a lot by saying no beer until your cough is mended.

At the time I was angry etc but now I think "Yes, fairy Nuff"

Half way thru our conversation I came over feeling all feint, Denyse said "Are u OK?" but I was, just etc. It is such hard work coughing as I can't breathe while coughing etc

Treasure House

So then we went to Treasure House where I did more helping recycle stuff. Today they were loading a van and I had to make notes (on my phone, translated later by a MOTheirS) of everything they loaded.

And someone told my that I will be taking more pictures next week

Early to rise.....

Erm.... and I was wide awake earlier so I gave in and got up at 7 AM s'morning....