EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

Seasidegal58

I'm so sorry to hear about your mum's accident EH - I hope she (and pooch) are not too shaken up. Also that you manage to get the your dad's problems solved in respect of the hospital. 🤬 I'm still gobsmacked on reading @jokono's comment on the expected gifting to hospital staff!  

foxgloves

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your Mum's accident on top of everything that's going on with your Dad. As you know, I am all too well-acquainted with that particular lung illness & it is stressful enough to witness & plan for, without other problems rearing their heads. I'm glad your Mum wasn't hurt. My Dad was actually still driving right up to his first collapse at home when he was hospitalised. He'd been told he was fine to drive as long as he had his oxygen cylinder switched on. It did mean he was mobile for longer (Mum didn't drive & my sister & I lived in other parts of the country) but I was really worried about him being in charge of a car with his lungs in such a parlous state. Thankfully he didn't have or cause any accidents. When he was home from hospital, he wouldn't have been able to walk to the front drive, but he was still chuffing about not being able to drive, so just in case, I took his car keys, & later the car, although that was mainly so I could go & stay with Mum for a few days & drive her to & from the hospital. I do absolutely understand how stressful it is. It's quite an uncommon illness & I think not all medical staff quite realise how quickly IPF patients can suddenly go downhill. For instance, Dad could climb the stairs before his collapse so the physios & OH team were really positive about that & assessed him at a higher level of physical mobility than he was capable of by the time he came out. If we hadn't arranged a stairlift for him before he came out, things would have been very difficult. I often wonder if more will be discovered about the causes of & maybe even a cure for, this illness in my lifetime.

I was wondering if the 'Hebrides' element of your diarist's name was borne out of a future dream to live there, so I checked back to the beginning of your diary for enlightenment & indeed it is what you are planning to do. This means we have a similar goal.....no, you're not suddenly going to bump into me in the Scottish isles, but Mr F & I would dearly love to relocate to another part of the country when he retires. Now, that's a good while off as yet because he is a good few years younger than me & I'm nowhere near pension age yet, but it is our Plan A. Naturally, the area to which we want to move is more expensive than our current region. There are some expensive properties in the villages surrounding our local town but we are not in any of them - our house is a modest 1930s semi from the pre-war expansion phase of the village. I do periodically check the property prices in the area we'd like to live & we would be able to do it if we got a top-end sale price for our current house (we blimming well ought to after all the work we've had done on it the last couple of years!) but if prices increased more there than here, then we'd be reliant on savings to bridge the gap. We are fairly new to savings, having been fritterers until I was hit by the LBM bolt in my early 40s, so one of the reasons I am determined to keep my budgeting as straight as possible throughout what is clearly going to be quite a protracted period of economic recession, is so that if we reach Mr F's retirement date & we still very much want to relocate, we will be more able to achieve this. So we're not off to the Hebrides, but we do have similar plans!
F

MrsPorridge

EH, really sorry to hear about the accident and your Mum.  I've been there with elderly parents and it is such a terrible, constant worry.  Please do try to make some "you" time as often as you can.

EssexHebridean

Thanks lovelies - it really feels so helpful at the moment to have to much "behind the scenes support" - it's so appreciated, honestly! 

foxgloves the big thing we feel we're encountering with dealing with the IPF is that the medical staff seem to be expecting "improvement" in Dad's lung function - no matter how many times Mum makes the point that of course, the damage that has been done - previously and now additionally thanks to the wretched pneumonia - is now there, and his lungs won't heal themselves in the way that most people's will, still we run up against this issue with them seeming to think that he should be "getting better" - yet even if the infection is finally cleared (it keeps coming and going, at the moment) his lung function isn't going to get any better! I'm going to try to find out how we go about setting up a conversation with the consultant at some stage as it's incredibly unfair on the young Registrars who are being very good, but with seemingly almost no grasp of how IPF affects things, to expect them to be able to give us any meaningful feedback. they might consider the Consultant to be a god like creature who should not be  "bothered" but I see things rather differently...  AAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH! And breathe... 

Yep - the Hebrides is the long term goal. Went across first in 2002, and have returned for at least some time every year since. Started thinking a fair few years back now that eventually we'd like to make it home, and have now ticked enough "visiting in all seasons" boxes for even the locals to agree we'll make a go of it! Actually making it happen might be a different matter entirely - but we'll have to see about that! While house prices there are mostly lower than where we are, there is obviously far lower earning potential across there - we have a few ideas, but translating those into reality could be difficult, and neither of us are particularly well served on the pension front. Pensions and planning are this year's key goals I think, or at least, two of them! 

Honestly - the weather here today has just been grim. It was grey and a bit cloudy this morning, but now we've added constant drizzly spitty rain into the mix as well. I took one look outside the door at lunchtime, decided I wanted nothing to do with it, and so have not been for my regular mile or so walk! I'll cycle a bit extra tonight if it's dried up, and then try to add a short walking loop into the mix to meet MrEH from the tube. It does look like it might be brightening a little - but that could be wishful thinking! 

beanielou

So sorry to hear about your mum.
What a shock for her.
Glad that the dog was ok.
Take care of you.  xx

savingholmes

So sorry that things are so tough right now for you and your parents. Glad your mum is okay even if in shock and that the dog was okay too.

Hope you find a space to recentre yourself and just make some headspace for you too.

EssexHebridean

Thanks Beanie & SH !

THE most beautiful bright, sunny day here today which almost makes up for a soggy ride back to the car last night! Fingers crossed it stays like this for the weekend as well. I ended up sticking at the office as long as I possibly could to see if it was going to stop - it eased up quite a bit thankfully but never completely stopped - well until I got right back to the car of course - doh! 

It does feel as though this week has shot past - but I'm still rather glad that this is my last working day of it. I need to have a "tetris" day tomorrow - so many things to fit in and will need to be pretty organised to squeeze everything in I reckon. So far it looks like this:
- Walk first thing with MrEH who will be WFH
- Get to the gym
- shopping to be done (could leave this until Saturday but would sooner not)
- Take my Mum to clear out her car - it means a short distance round the M25 which she's not entirely comfortable with driving these days
- Visit Dad
Doesn't look like a huge list but it's the times allocated to everything that are the issue - visiting times at the hospital are pretty rigid at the moment - so I can only go there between 3pm and 4.30pm. The morning walk needs to be done by 9.30am so MrEH can start work, and normally I'd have breakfast when we get back, potter a bit and then do the gym but I think it makes sense to try to fit breakfast in before we go out, then when we're back I can go straight to the gym. Gym takes nearly 2 hours allowing for travel there and back, my workout and a shower. Can't put the gym off until Saturday as we've got an online meeting to do with our voluntary role that starts at 11 and will run through to mid afternoon. Mum would prefer early afternoon for sorting the car - so I could potentially pick her up at around 1.30pm - that should mean we're all done and I can drop her home again for 3....and if I'm sneaky and use my own car rather than MrEH's for that it makes it easier to go straight to the garage (which will be empty of course) grab my bike and head to the hospital.... That *should* allow me time to do the shopping straight after the gym, which worked well last week...phew! Hopefully doing things that way will also mean I'm home no later than 4.30pm and can just chill for the rest of the afternoon which might be a good plan!  I think I'll make sure there is bread available to have toast for breakfast - that will be quick - and I'll get MrEH to prep lunchtime rolls first thing as he would on a regular office day - so I can have  my lunch earlier than usual.

Shopping list is taking shape - I'm aiming for a fairly low spend week again I think, although there will be some oddments of storecupboard and also some "buying ahead" going on. I've got a rough meal plan most of the way through next week which also tries to take into account the days we'll have slightly more time to cook. I've got a TGTG bag booked from Greggs tonight - those are like hens teeth near home but this is at the Greggs nearer to work and theirs seem to go more slowly. £2.59 - and might give us something each for lunch tomorrow perhaps, plus possibly something to throw into the mix for lunch on Saturday as well, depending on what we get. Saturday needs to be easy to grab food because of the meeting. 

Banks checked and fine - swept the loose change into the VSP as usual. Yesterday was a NSD - just. I got an email from LucyL0ck3tL0ves in the morning offering an extra 30% off their sale prices. Now I could do with some more full length activewear leggings, so I popped over to the site and looked...found a few bits I liked and then decided nope, not today, I'll think about it first, and shut the browser window. I probably will pop back again later today and see if any new designs have been added to the sale section - which they often are - and if so I may well still buy, in fairness that 30% off is a pretty decent offer and I love their stuff, the quality is top notch and the designs are amazing! I probably should get my summer capri length active leggings out and remind myself what I have in those as well as it'll be warm enough to wear them pretty soon...hopefully!

jokono

Wow, you have a super full day tomorrow, hope all goes to plan and you manage to relax in the afternoon.

Didn't know about LucyL0ck3tL0ves, had a quick look and they are fun. Do they have elastic at the top of the waistband? And I can't see in the pictures, but I assume they have a gusset where the inseams meet? 
I rarely wear full length but my only activity is running which means I warm up pretty quick.

EssexHebridean

LLL leggings are awesome jokono - I like that they do specific active and casual options too but the designs cross over to both in various colourways. The actives have a wide band at the waist - which is elasticated but not fiercely so - I'm trying to remember what the gusset is like - on the casuals it's just stitched. (I've not got a pair with me today as I threw a pair of cheapy Primarni ones on this morning!)  They're super comfy though, however they're done! I wear full length in the winter for running, cycling or the gym, then usually move into capris in the spring through to late autumn, except if I'm running in the Hebrides which is usually full length regardless, and thermal full length in mid winter! I've got a couple of pairs of LLL shorts as well which are a decent length - even on me! 

I've still not been back to the website to buy, but MrBoss has just given me £20 as a thank you for contributing to a particular job we've been working on, so I may yet throw that into the mix and buy the pairs that are in my basket. It's bizarre - I'm struggling to think of anything I "want" to spend money on, if that makes sense? The time was when this would NOT have been a challenge, I confess! 

Oh - I know what I've forgotten to mention too - the initial works on the refurb of our hallway start on Monday! Very exciting to feel we're starting to move ahead with it, but also a bit daunting. The lovely Steve and his Brother in Law who we think is called Matt will be arriving bright and early Monday morning to start the prep work. We'll have a bit of a wait until the plasterer can do his thing but hopefully that will be no more than a month. Super excellent news is that the lovely Steve (who is going to be TLS going forward I think - along with Might-be-Matt = MbM) should also be able to deal with the flooring - something we thought we were going to need to get someone else in to quote for - fingers crossed! Once the prep work is done I'll need to make a start on a list of things we need to do/think about...

RosaBernicia

Sorry to hear about your mum, glad everyone is ok. 

Also glad you are in touch with Patient Liaison.  They are exactly who you want to untangle getting things sorted without more stress for either families or staff.