Thursday was a normal run of the mill day. My Wife and I blitzed the bungalow which meant that it took a little less time than Wifey having to do it on her own. We waited in for a visit from a friend that we had not seen for years but that we had bumped in to in the supermarket on Wednesday but unfortunately did not come round. A little disappointing but there must have been a reason. It was nice to see her and her kids, the eldest of which used to play with my eldest Son over 13 years ago. Unbelievable how time goes by. The rest of Thursday went by without any important things happening or visits from anyone, we went to bed at a reasonable time although not particularly early it was far from late.
Friday started with the usual departure of `Pickle` to nursery and then the return of Wifey after dropping `Pickle` off. After only a few minutes the doorbell sounded and in came Maralyn for my acupuncture treatment. I had woken with a bit of a sniffle which I was not too concerned about and this was the first thing that we spoke about while the pins were put in to my skin. We spoke about several things during the treatment, what the weekend held for us, what the week had brought and then came the usual hobby that we get round to, taking the mickey out of the people on the Jeremy Kyle show, seriously, were the hell do they find these people? The guy who was on, on Friday’s show should have won Mr Kyle an award because good God only knows what the hell he was saying. I have no idea how Kyle was able to respond to the chap to be honest. There is muffled speech and there are different accents but holy crap, this guy had a strong Birmingham accent and had not idea how to separate his words. This provided Maralyn and I with a good few laughs and copious opportunities to take the piss, gleaming.
Acupuncture finished, she went in to speak to Wifey to arrange the next appointment. It has been decided that in the New Year my treatment will drop to once a week. We have been on a plateau for a while now where little has changed and so once a week will keep things ticking over. I got dressed and in to my manual chair and only a short time later the doorbell sounded and my `Wednesday friend`, Alison arrived. We had not `walked` the cycle path since the operation to remove the metal in my left arm back in October and so today we had decided to do it to see how it would go. Very early on it was apparent that the weeks that I had not been making the trip to Ilminster had made a huge difference to the strength in my arms. It was very hard work made more difficult by the amount of leaves on the path, as well as this there is the camber of the path as well. It is impossible to get a decent rythum and speed up to make it easy as as soon as you do, you have to slow one wheel down and push the other to stop yourself dropping down the camber. Something that I had never noticed or appreciated when I could walk. It took a bit longer to get to Ilminster than on previous trips down the path but we did beat the rain which was lucky. Approximately 10 minutes after we had arrived at the nursery, Wifey pulled in to the car park and while she went in to get `Pickle` Alison and I got in to the Chucklebus. We arrived back at the bungalow and had a coffee and continued chatting until Alison had to go. I then went in to my bedroom and changed clothes as the clothes I had worn for our `walk` had got ridiculously wet and dirty from rubbing on the wheels while propelling myself along, and no sooner had I got changed then the doorbell sounded and my physiotherapist came in.
We had a brilliant chat about techniques to get from the floor in to my chair which is the next thing I want to achieve with regards my personal skills, this is all things that I should have been taught or at least spoken to about at the spinal unit but as I wasn’t actually taught anything there I am having to learn and perfect techniques now, I am very fortunate that my physio is really keen to help me as was my last one, it is just a shame that I have only been able to get help over the last four months. Disappointing considering I left the unit in December last year. I have a letter that I have written requesting my transfer to another spinal unit as the experience I had at the one I left was so bad, but I am in two minds of whether to send it or not. The reason is this. I have a physio at the unit who is really keen to help me and can not understand why I have not had help until her, she has also submitted applications for equipment to aid my rehabilitation. If I move unit then I would lose my physio there, so by staying at the unit I keep my physio who is great, still get to catch up with the care staff who are great but also keep my consultant who whilst undoubtedly knows his stuff, has really done nothing to help me. If I change unit, I will hopefully get a better result with regards the consultant. What to do? After my physio had left Wifey and I decided to get a takeaway as by now the sniffles had turned in to a fully blown cold, both me and Wifey have colds, ironically only a few weeks since having the flue jab, BRILLIANT!
We had tea and rapidly I seemed to go downhill. I could not seem to be able to keep my eyes open, it was rubbish so I decided to get to bed really early in the hope that I would feel better when I woke in the morning.
I woke this morning still bunged up and full of cold which is nice. We had to be up a little earlier this morning as my Step Brother and his Wife were coming down. They had to go to the estate agent to see about a house that they were interested in. They have viewed the house and were happy with it, all that really remained was to have a final chat with the estate agent and hopefully all would run smoothly and they would be offered the house. As well as this my Step Brother would be having the car MOT’d and concurrently my Sister in Law would be having a job interview, so as Saturdays go, this would certainly be a busy one, for them anyway.
My Step Brother headed off for the MOT and my Brother in Law came to sit with the older two kids, we left with my Sister in Law to take her to her job interview and stopped off to collect the Mother in Law, we were off to `Pickle’s` nursery nativity play. We have been hearing `Pickle` singing the songs that they have been learning for a couple of weeks now and we were looking forward to seeing her singing with her friends. We arrived at the primary school in Ilminster which was the venue for the play and made our way in to the hall. It was already pretty packed with other Mums and Dads eagerly awaiting the start of the play, they too no doubt having had their children singing the songs that we have been hearing. The time came for the play to start, the room quietened down to a near silence and a staff member introduced the play. You could feel how proud each and every parent was in the room, including my Wife and I..despite `Pickle` developing an overwhelming case of stage fright and not allowing my Wife to put her down. She joined in with the clapping at the end of the performance which was a brilliant little production by the way, a little disappointing that my little `Pickle` was not part of the cast, but watching it with her was just as nice.
After the play had finished the children were visited by Father Christmas who gave each of the children a present, and then the party food was unveiled. The queues formed and the plates were filled, and then all the children sat and ate. The party went on for at least an hour and then slowly parents and children left. We left, loaded in to the Chucklebus and headed back to the bungalow. When we got home my Brother was changing the discs and pads on the Step Brothers car which had passed the MOT with flying colours, my Sister in Laws were both inside which meant that I would not have to make myself a cup of coffee and that I could hear how the house meeting and job interview had gone, (not sure which was more important, coffee I think!) My Mother in Law took my Daughter to accompany her for a small shopping trip to Yeovil.
The meeting with the estate agent had gone well and they have accepted the house which is a good start, the interview felt good but she will not know for a few days so we keep our fingers crossed for her. At least now they have an address they can find a school for the girls, and they now know where they will be living and when they will be living there and potentially where my Sister in Law may be working, a good news day for them then. We spent the rest of the day chatting while the Brother in Laws car was finished and then after a quick drink, they headed back to Bournemouth. Shortly after this my Brother and his family also went home. My Wife cooked tea with a tiny little bit of intervention from me and we sat down to eat. While having tea my Mother in Law returned from her shopping trip to Yeovil with my Daughter, she had done Christmas food shopping and as she would be spending a lot of time with us as it is easier than me trying to get in to her house, she put the food in our freezer.
With tea finished and `Pickle` asleep, Wifey took the opportunity to have a nice relaxing soak in the bath which would firstly, be a nice relaxing bath and secondly possibly help to relieve the bunged up feeling in her nose. Me and my Son are watching Top Gear now, and when my Wife finishes in the bath and comes in to the front room to watch her recorded final of `Irritation Factor` which will cause several thousand people to bitch about who has been sent home and who has won, will bring us another five minute wonder who will release a song around Christmas for all the 12 year old girlies to go and buy with their pocket money and for some of the really annoying halfwits who if there was any justice in this world would not be allowed out that did not make it to the final to be put on to the television making them seem like they are some kind of superstar, and giving them serious delusions of grandeur making it impossible to put them back under the rocks that they came from, (my opinion obviously), at which point I will probably try to have a bath myself.
So that has been the last few days, tomorrow the plan is to go in to Taunton for a couple of things so we shall see what that brings.
Goodnight all.