The (not so old) Crocks Cafe

Indie_Kid

Hope you're ok, Sue.

Woek up Thursday and somehow pulled a muscle in my lower leg. I've been in pain since. And now my other knee has started going. Doctors it is then!

Trialia

I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday... Saw a doc I haven't seen before as my regular doctor was away. Apparently they still do not have my medical records in full yet.

I got a lecture about tinkering with my dosage; but if the dose they have me taking isn't doing anything because of my opiate tolerance, I'm not stupid, I would rather experiment very carefully with waiting and increasing it than end up writhing in pain for weeks on end because I didn't. I think it's mostly because this doctor doesn't know me and how long I've been on opiate painkillers, or that I do intensive research before I'd do anything like that. But she won't increase the dosage or change the medication because she doesn't know me; she wants me to wait two more weeks and talk to my regular doctor about it. Sigh.

only_mee

Noooooooooooooo
Here is the rain again
Oh what joy!!

bigzippy

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

DD has told me that she hopes best friend is put in a different class to her in high school, as she wants to be allowed to make 'nice friends, for a change, without her whining I'm bullying her because I want to play with someone else occasionally'

Meh. No wonder DD gets stroppy sometimes.

Sounds familiar - my (now) 14yo niece was like that. She's got much better friends now by all accounts

Careful_with_that_Axe wrote: »

I get really fed up with appointments - poking and prodding until I feel like yelling "leave me alone!". A good day for me now is one where I dont have to leave the house.

Yep - I tend to find I go through phases. I'll have a year where I'll want every dx and test (within reason! ) and consultant referral etc going, so I know I'm on it, iyswim, and then I'll have a period where I could just punch every last one of them in the face and they can all bog off and leave me alone!

At the moment I'm trying to get things done - mainly because I know/knew that my benefits were up for renewal and there was a query about a GP dxing fibro being "official" so in order for me to have it accepted by the dear old darling DWP, I needed to see a rhuemi to put that right. And of course that brought on the HMS debacle, and wanting to get more support/prove I'd tried everything brought on the "I won't see you cos I've already dxed you with ME so go to the ME clinic" (by my previous consultant)...which brought on the "you can't be referred to the ME clinic because you have a potential fibro dx" (from the ME clinic) and the "you can't be seen here because you don't officially have a fibro dx" (by the fibro clinic) - hence me going to the rhuemi who tried to fob me off with "maybe your symptoms are just from HMS instead of fibro, even tho that doesn't explain all your symptoms, by a long shot"... dontcha just love the system? :mad::o

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Good man!

I know it's horribly expensive, but it sounds like driving lessons would really help from the moment he is old enough to do them. Is there any way you could manage to put some money away each week to book a block of them?
There are some charities which help fund lessons for teenagers as well, which might ease the cost. If he gets all 'I don't want to rely on you', you could always point out that it benefits you, because you don't like driving much in unknown places, anyway, so you could leave it to him...

Tis a good point actually. If he's old enough to do his GCSEs then he must be 16ish now, and if memory serves me rightly, someone with higher rate mobility issues can learn to drive at 16...can't they? There was a lad in my year at school who had a heart defect with permanent blue lips and he learnt to drive& got a car at 16. Ditto a lad I knew 2yrs older who had severe arthritis... worth looking into perhaps SingleSue?

Hi everyone. I've been nipping in and out for a while, keeping an eye on you but not had much to say... probably cos I normally bob in at stupid-o'clock on my phone that doesn't take much before it shuts the app down!:cool: I'm still here tho, and tired from all the milarky with docs and forms and life and such

I did have my appt with the CAB this week though, which means that 4 hrs later (VERY labour (and pain!) intensive!!) my DLA renewal (which she thinks should go up from LRC to MRC and HRM which would make a MASSIVE difference! She thought that if they didn't rule that way then I should appeal, and could go back through them for help too, if it comes to it...which I'm half steeling myself for tbh:cool:) and my IB renewal forms are done. I just need to tweak them a little bit (where she's put a sentence that might be read as me saying a categorically can't do something, I might want to put a "usually" in so they can't say they've caught me out on the offchance I manage it iyswim) and photocopy them, and they should be good to go. Sorry guys, I know that had a LOT of ()s in! I have to tell you though, it's taking a couple of days to just recover from sitting on their (pretty comfy, actually) seats for 4hrs!!:shocked: Rather that than sit around at home stressing about it for months without actually getting the sodding things done tho, eh?

As for the rain/colder spell, I'm with you guys. I don't like it hot hot, but something above fleece-lined hoodies and raincoats would be a bonus!

Indie_Kid

bigzippy wrote: »

Tis a good point actually. If he's old enough to do his GCSEs then he must be 16ish now, and if memory serves me rightly, someone with higher rate mobility issues can learn to drive at 16...can't they? There was a lad in my year at school who had a heart defect with permanent blue lips and he learnt to drive& got a car at 16. Ditto a lad I knew 2yrs older who had severe arthritis... worth looking into perhaps SingleSue?

Yes. 16 year olds on HRM can drive - I did used to know people who could drive at that age due to their walking problems.

SingleSue

Thanks bigzippy, Jojo and sh.

Eldest is 16 but is not in receipt of any DLA, he hasn't applied as he doesn't think he is bad enough to claim as yet. As an adult (in the eyes of DLA), I can't put a claim in for him, it is his decision.

I personally don't think he is bad enough either, yes there are some days he needs to have a lift to school or be picked up from a friends house as even the shortest distance causes pain but there are also days he can walk for miles with not too many problems..at the moment, the good days are more than the bad days.

I'm worse than him and don't think I qualify either!

As for putting money away for him, money is so tight that the amount I would be able to put away would be miniscule and probably not enough for even a few lessons...he has said he would fund lessons by using his EMA when he starts getting it (September and he is 17 in October). I'm not happy about that idea because that is not what it is designed for and he could need it for buses and trains when his joints are not good and he needs to use transport for getting to 6th form.

Indie_Kid

Can he get a job over the summer?

SingleSue

He is trying yes....

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Ah well, perhaps see if you could drum up contributions from family for his Christmas & Birthday presents...

it's surprising how little they need to spend after the first horrendous weeks of college, when there are book deposits, 'voluntary' contributions, materials contributions, etc.

btw, you will need to phone tax credits on the first morning of term to tell them that he is in college, as they may assume he has left school otherwise. Child benefit can handle the concept earlier than that, but at least last year, tax credits couldn't do it until September 2nd.

EMA can take a while to sort out though, so he could end up with a small lump sum after a few weeks of inconvenience for you all.

Do your local authority not offer some kind of reduced travel for students? If not, just by getting a student card, he may qualify for the young persons' railcard? I think First do something like that.

Sorry to give you more things to think about!

SingleSue

Thanks for the tip re tax credits.....I know when he hit 16 last year, I had all sorts of forms come in asking if he was in further education or had started work and trying to explain to them that he was still in compulsory education just one of the oldest in the year, was great fun!

Child benefit is all sorted, as is housing benefit (well I hope so anyway!)...the EMA form looks bloody confusing, had a look the other night and put it away again very quickly.

I'll have all this fun with middle son too as he is another October born but at least I shouldn't get it so much with youngest as he is an end of March born (plus middle will have to stay at school until 17 and youngest 18 due the changes in education that is being phased in).

Edit - We did get a form for subsidised school travel but eldest worked out he could get a normal bus for cheaper albeit with a tiny extra walk at the end but still a fair bit cheaper! I'll have to look to see if they offer a travel card for all buses, not just school ones.