Saturday, May 15, 2010

Its cold out there – Erin Here

Hey there,

Well, I’m feeling a lot easier then I was during my previous post. Bill, while doing well is really feeling the cold weather at the moment and is spending longer and longer in bed during the day. Fiona our lovely Speech therapist has been out and done her thing and is really happy with his progress, or rather “lack” of progress. Bill is definitely weaker then he was, but his breathing, eating, swallowing is absolutely wonderful. Blood oxygen levels are as good as mine and hers so fingers crossed we’ll make it through winter without too much fuss.

Have some issues with transport now, Bill is no longer able to tolerate transfers into and out of an ordinary car, but because we had missed several appointments at the hospital to see this particular doctor we were told that unless we made the next appointment we would need to be referred again through a specialist. Our local hospital shuttle provides a wonderful service for a small donation but is only able to carry one motorised wheelchair at a time and our appointment clashed with someone else in a wheelchair who had booked ahead of us. So our only option was to take him by car. What a headache….. Had to keep Patrick home from Polytech to help me transfer his dad from motorised wheelchair to vehicle at home, vehicle to manual wheelchair at the hospital and the same in reverse. Long story short, we got to the hospital only to be informed that the Doctor was off sick and they were very sorry, they had tried to contact us to postpone the appointment and for some reason we hadn’t received the message. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr, that poor lady on the reception desk got a short sharp YOUR KIDDING ME….DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE HAD TO GO THROUGH TO GET HERE……grumble grumble grumble…….So we made the trek home in stoney silence…..actually that’s not quite true….I made the trek home in stoney silence. Bill was actually quite amused by the whole episode, thought it was a great joke……which only made me worse and Patrick was even less forgiving then I was. I can’t repeat what he was saying lol…..actually I can’t repeat what I was saying either….so I won’t. Phoned one of our clinical team and moaned my head off to her, 2 days later we received a new appointment and woooooohooooo they’re coming out to see Bill from now on…..Normally I just roll with things, easy going type of gal….lol, but that just got right up my nose.

Anyway, that’s my lil moan for the year. On the upside, we have put an application in to the Lotteries Commission to fund a mobility vehicle with lift for Bill. We don’t really expect to get it, but we are hoping we might. Bill as I think we mentioned in an earlier blog is BORED BORED BORED. The transport thing means that for 95% of the time he’s stuck at home and as the weather has got colder he is confined to the house. The ability to be able to just take him out for a drive somewhere, or if its fine enough to go watch the kids in the sports/recreational pursuits would help alleviate this no end. So cross your fingers, toes and anything else you can cross for us folks, maybe send some “Give Bill a vehicle” vibes in the direction of the lotteries commission will work for us. They make a decision on July 10th so we’ve been told.

Bill had a nice visit from his Uncle Iri a couple of weeks back and then from his Mum and Aunty Anne last weekend so that brightened his outlook on things a whole heap.

My mother in-law and her sisters  Aunty Anne, Aunty Sue, Aunty Kuini, and Bills mum Cherry

    27767_112009775502193_100000795140150_86550_2582960_nUncle Iri, our son Timoti and Bill

Well, that’s enough from me for now. Was really just trialling the Windows Live Writer, to see if I could pretty my page up a bit more. Finding it really easy to use, so you just might hear from us a bit more often now.

You all take care of yourselves, stay warm, stay dry and stay healthy.

Erin