Yes, still here...

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Most significantly, perhaps, have been the meningitis B cases in Bristol. Three students at St Brendan's College, a mile or so up the road from us, have been hospitalised (tragically two of them subsequently died) with the disease, and it's been diagnosed at Bristol Uni too. Kai's spleen was damaged by his pre-transplant TBI and can't be relied on to fend off meningococcal infections anymore, so it's been a frantic search for him to be inoculated asap. It's not currently available on the NHS for anyone over about 3 (I think), and ordinary health clinics and drs surgeries can't do it (in our area at any rate), which left only Boots the Chemist pharmacy - and only the ones in Broadmead and Cribbs Causeway. I was very lucky to get an urgent appointment with the Broadmead shop - explaining the circumstances made all the difference - and he had the first jab last Tuesday. The second and last one is the middle of next month. Winced a bit at the price though - £110 per injection - but it's essential, even Kai's consultant agreed. So, with that and last Sunday's venesection he's feeling a bit run-down at the moment - which didn't stop him going for a small walk at Radstock with family friend Dawn yesterday!

Going back a bit, I taxied it up to my own dr Wed before last: like me, she thinks the pain in the right hip and leg is the same as in the left, and has requested another steroid injection into the right hip. Got the unfortunate news that three steroid injections into the same place is as much as anyone can have in one lifetime, as they carry their own risk of damaging tissue. (I asked what I was going to do when I've had three if the situation hasn't improved: she said we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Oh joy.) I did finally find out what the problem is with my back though (she printed out the report from my last MRI, the one I've been asking for for months.) It's a thing called degenerative disc disease, which is a bit of a misnomer, as it's a condition rather than a disease, and doesn't necessarily imply that it will get worse. It is, however, painful and not likely to get any better. [sigh] I asked Lutra, rhetorically, if the stress was ever going to end: her reply made me smile...

Stress? hah! We laugh in the face of stress and, and tweak the nose of the dreadful killer spindly fish. Or something.

While I was up at Broadwalk I checked out the charity shops, and came back with Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time (which we've seen before and which isn't very good, but it's very pretty and adds to our live action game collection) and Alien Agent (Marc Dacascos and Billy Zane in the same film!? This I must see!) for 99p for the two, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (with The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), which we watched last Sunday. It's absolutely gorgeous and we're looking forward to the second one this weekend.

Sun 15th K&K and Dawn went to Avebury for the day - train to Swindon then local bus. Avebury is one of my favourite places in this part of the country: been there twice, once with friends and once when I drove Ken and I there. They had a fantastic time, and Kai fell in love with the place. Arriving back, he asked if we could watch Children of the Stones, which we did over the next few days and thoroughly enjoyed.

Speaking of driving, we're investigating getting a car again. Kai wants to learn to drive (and in the meantime wants me to drive to places with the bikes so we can explore new areas), so the plan at the moment is to look for a little hatchback and bike-carrier compatible runabout in the new year. Kai will buy it, I'll insure and tax it, and we'll share the petrol costs. Something cheap and cheerful will do, as long as it has a long MOT and is in good running order. Not too bothered about the state of it as it's likely to get muddy and possibly a bit battered anyway. First though, I'll need to pay for a couple of refresher lessons, as it's been 23 years since I was behind the wheel. And I need to re-read the Highway Code, as a few things have changed in that time!

Then we'll need to have a hard-standing built and the kerb dropped, which was always the plan in any case. I need to start pricing up (and saving...)

This room's painting and curtains are now finished...

It's now beautifully de-cluttered and feels much bigger and brighter. Still need a new door (brown one) and maybe a new light, but those can wait. And yes, all of those figures are Transformers!

Recently watched: K&K have been watching episodes of Cadfael and enjoyed them so much that I've now bought the complete collection: aiming to watch in the run up to Yule. In the same vein was The Name of the Rose: first time Kai's seen it and he enjoyed it very much. John Wicks 2 was as violent as expected. And we're currently re-watching Sapphire and Steel. Fantastic stuff, although I think I need to buy a remastered version: ours is not performing well on the new DVD player...

My orchid's flower spike finally finished, and I thought it was going to take a rest for bit (remember it's flowered continuously for nearly four years now).

But no!

That's a new flower spike unfurling...

Wendy came up for the day yesterday - had a great time catching up with the news and watching Passengers, which just gets better and better each time I see it. Thanks Wendy - fantastic day!

... that's most of the news, I think. Will try to update a bit more regularly but no promises...

Cheeky invader...

Labels: busyness, days out, decorating, films, friends, medical matters

Two weeks!? My haddock are flailing...

OK, let's try to kick the memory into gear.

It's been busy, of course. This room's painting is almost done (the last of it is the wall to the side and behind my desk and the ceiling above: I have to haul the desk out and take everything off the shelves in order to finish, and that's a fairly major job, so I need Ken or Kai to help), and the new display case assembled and in place with all my Transformer figures now properly on display. Going to start making the curtains this afternoon. K&K should be able to get the new curtain pole up next weekend (and hopefully all the pics that need to go back on the other wall): once this room is finished I can start on the lounge.

But it's taking much longer than it should. The vertigo has eased off to a copable level, but now my right hip and leg are playing up too: feels like stabbing knives every time I move. Using my cane all the time now to walk. And I can't shop by myself any more - in fact, after it taking two hours yesterday to get to Tesco and back with Kai, I think I'll just give up until after the steroid injection. Which, I found out when I rang the BRI, will be "before or on Dec 11th". Two more bloody months! Stressed that my ability to act as carer for Kai is now severely hampered, and have gone onto the 'cancellations' list. Fingers crossed.) I have an appt to see a dr later this week (will have to get a taxi as there's no way I can get myself up the hill and the appt is before the local bus starts running) to see if I can get another injection in the other hip. Oh, and the X-ray shows that the bone structure of my lower spine is damaged, uneven and deteriorating, and 'might cause pain'. [Inset eyeroll, grimace and 'no, duh!' here] I want a new body!

On a more fun note... Kai was scouring the truly excellent charity shops at Westbury-on-Trym and found this hideously adorable dragon...

   

It's an incense cone burner: air is pulled in through a hole in the tail and incense smoke puffed out through the nostrils! Haven't tried it yet as we need to get a safe holder for the (lavender) cones that came with it, and that means a trip to St Nick's Market in town, which is a bit beyond me at the moment. But definitely before Yule.

Last time we were in Weston-super-Mare Kai and I bought a cheap 'fidget spinner' each to see what all the fuss is about. They're quite fun -

They glitter and form pretty patterns when spun in front of a light source, make a faint warbling whisper when in use, and are mini-gyroscopes - you can feel the force if you twist it while it's spinning.

And then I found a solid metal one at Proper Job... It's beautiful. It's satisfyingly heavy, and the iridescence looks like scarab wings. The warbling is tuneful, and if you let it spin against your hair it sounds like bird wings fluttering (yes, I've been experimenting with it!)

In a pinch it could even be used as a weapon: not exactly sharp but hard and heavy enough to cause an unpleasant minor injury. Like pretty knuckledusters... Anyway, I'm hooked. It's going everywhere with me.

We've been watching an awful lot of films: it's a good way for me to rest. As well as the spinner I found Bride and Prejudice cheap at Proper Job: Ken and I saw it ages ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it (as did Kai!). Turned out we didn't have and hadn't seen Transporter 3, which was fun! Alien: Covenant was in the shops last week: picked it up at full price and wish I'd waited til it was reduced. Kai likes it, I found it dreadful. No way does it deserve its 6.5 rating. I wouldn't have hired that crew to empty my dustbin...

While at Tesco yesterday we picked up John Wick 2 and Wonder Woman (I assume the incredibly speedy release to DVD of new films is because of things like Netflix? I'm not complaining!) Watched the latter last night - it wasn't what I was expecting, but in a good way. Most enjoyable! Nice varied cast too. Great acting. Will save Keanu 'til the weekend...

So, still to watch... Notting Hill and The Shawshank Redemption, neither of which we've seen and which Ken found cheap. I also picked up Hirokin for 99p at St Pete's Hospice. We've seen it before, and it's not very good, but I kind of like Wes Bentley and sometimes it's nice to watch a bad film. Makes you enjoy the good ones more!

And Kai and I are watching Moonlight and thoroughly enjoying it. It has a similar ambience to The Dresden Files, which remains one of my favourite supernatural series of all time. They were made at the same time, might have something to do with it...

So, where in all of this is any writing happening, you might ask At the moment it isn't. I find this much pain a little distracting. Fingers crossed for post-injection period and memo to myself to actually book for the procedure in advance next year.

In other news - we have a new microwave and a new vacuum cleaner (the old ones were very old and failing). Both from Argos, who deliver and accept payment through PayPal. Happy about that!

Tyjer being eccentric again...

Kai will be home for lunch shortly, then sewing. There will be photos when I'm finished!

Labels: busyness, decorating, films, medical matters