The Diary Of Onebrokelady Aged 60 And A Half

milann

Aww the new puppy is exciting. Enjoy meeting up.
It really got my goat when the bus pass went from 60 to retirement age 🤬🤬🤬 I wrote to my local mayor (quite a character who is often in the news ) I didn’t expect an answer but within a few days got a reply from his office saying London and Liverpool still gives passes at 60 but it’s up to individual councils 🤬🤬🤬🤬 ripped off again!!!!! It really makes a big difference and keeps cars off the roads.

Onebrokelady

milann said:

Aww the new puppy is exciting. Enjoy meeting up.
It really got my goat when the bus pass went from 60 to retirement age 🤬🤬🤬 I wrote to my local mayor (quite a character who is often in the news ) I didn’t expect an answer but within a few days got a reply from his office saying London and Liverpool still gives passes at 60 but it’s up to individual councils 🤬🤬🤬🤬 ripped off again!!!!! It really makes a big difference and keeps cars off the roads.

Yes I was very cross too, I was was really looking forward to getting my bus pass as it would have opened up so many travel opportunities for me even in my local area. I could have gone down to the beach  a couple of times a week whereas now it costs me around  £10 so I have to limit how often I go 

Onebrokelady

Another busy week done. 

I went to see my mum and she was ok so that’s good news. 

Tuesday I had Rehab which went well,I’m really enjoying it and will be sad when it’s finished but the physio can refer us to a local gym for a further 12 weeks, you have to pay but I think it might be a bit cheaper than normal. I’ve asked her to refer me anyway. 

I had a day at home on Wednesday and can’t for the life of me remember what I did 🤷‍♀️
Thursday I met my friend for coffee and this time our favourite Costa was open so we didn’t have to wander round looking for somewhere to go.

Friday was rehab day again which was really good fun, our group is quite jokey so we do have a laugh while we are there. It was a bit somber at the end though because the talk was about forward planning which included things like arranging care, signing a DNR, and basically talking about dying 😳 she has given us a link to a video to watch on YouTube called Dying For Beginners which is apparently very helpful. I haven’t plucked up the courage to watch it yet ☹️ I’m not sure when I will but not yet 

Today I had a lie in then did a few odd jobs, I went out in the garden and tidied up my pots which were covered in leaves I also raked up the leaves on the front garden steps because they get so deep I can’t see where the edge of the step is and I raked the patio , I took three large plastic trugs of soggy leaves up to the top of the garden 
I also made a casserole with steak and ale sauce but it was awful, I fished all the ingredients out and washed the sauce off with hot water then I bunged them in the oven in a roasting tray for 20 minutes , it tasted lovely after that so I’ve put it in the freezer, I also roasted some small potatoes with carrots, onions, swede amd parsnips which made three portions to have with whatever I fancy, so all I’ll need to do is cook something like a Quorn escalope or sausages with a green veg.

milann

The you tube video sounds as if could be very helpful. It’ll be there when you’re ready to watch it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to pop your clogs straight away….but it happens to us all. We could all get run over by a bus tomorrow so it pays to be as ready as we can. I’ve had poa paperwork here for a couple of years but haven’t got around to filling them in yet….it’s impossible to get us together with a witness to sign them. 

Well done rescuing the casserole 👏

Cherryfudge

milann said:

The you tube video sounds as if could be very helpful. It’ll be there when you’re ready to watch it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to pop your clogs straight away….but it happens to us all. 

I think that's a very helpful way of looking at it. None of us is here forever, but how we make our peace with that will vary for each of us. It's not something we are accustomed to discussing, so opening a dialogue in someway is helpful, whether that's with loved ones or by watching videos or reading books or something else. Finding what needs to be addressed and how other people have done it might be a way forward - but in the meantime it is there when you are ready (even if just watching the first few minutes).

Your class sounds very positive and I wonder if any of you will stay in touch? You already have experiences in common, which saves a lot of explanation.

Onebrokelady

milann said:

The you tube video sounds as if could be very helpful. It’ll be there when you’re ready to watch it. It doesn’t mean you’re going to pop your clogs straight away….but it happens to us all. We could all get run over by a bus tomorrow so it pays to be as ready as we can. I’ve had poa paperwork here for a couple of years but haven’t got around to filling them in yet….it’s impossible to get us together with a witness to sign them. 

Well done rescuing the casserole 👏

The video is about the actual process of dying and what happens in body when you are actively dying so not sure if I want to know yet 

daisy_1571

Obl I've just watched the Ted talk video of the lady, 15 mins but there are other utubes that are 4 mins or so.  The 15 minute one might give more understandingof her situation as she discovered sharing this info with patients was a good thing, not sure, haven't watched the shorter ones. 

Dont worry, its not gruesome,  its not describing any particular illness nor organs etc.  It describes absolutely when my mil died.  I always described that as 'she just stopped' I couldn't find any other way to describe what we had witnessed. 

The doctor is very good at explaining her story (as most Ted talk people are).  Thank you for sharing the info.

Daisy xxx

Cherryfudge

I was with my Mum when she died and I too would say she 'just stopped'. Peaceful and natural.

Onebrokelady

Another week done 😀
Sunday I went for dinner tov see the DGSs and met the new puppy who is super cute, he feel alseep on my chest 😍😍

Monday I was at home and can’t remember what I got up to 

Tuesday was rehab which went well as usual

Wednesday I went to see my mum, she had a nasty fall on the Monday and hit her face on the patio so she now how two massive black eyes and a cute nose and forehead, I wanted her to get checked out but she wouldn’t. We had a nice chat and I left her with strict instructions to call me if she felt poorly. 

Thursday I was at home all day and I decided to clean my living room from top to bottom ready for the new sofa. Dd 2 was volunteered to do this job but she hasn’t been able to yet so I did it myself, it’s only a damp dust to remove any traces of feathers from the house. I actually went one better though and steamed cleaned the walls Doors and floors then I washed the dining table coffee table and tv cabinet. It took me all day, I also took the curtains down and washed them and steam cleaned the windows, I need to do the outside of the windows as there is the perfect shape of a pigeon right in the middle after one flew into it the other day 😟 I got a message from my niece in the afternoon saying she had taken mum to the hospital to get checked out, she always does this I tell her she needs to do something and she says no she’s ok then someone else says the same thing and off she goes, I messaged my niece back to say I had suggested that the day before but she refused 🤷‍♀️ they xrayed her and there’s no broken bones just badly bruised, I was convinced she had broken her nose 

Friday was rehab day and it was our last session so we were all feeling a bit sad, we are going to try to arrange a meet up at a local pub though and there is the support group meeting on the 26th of November as well. We didn’t do the exercises on Friday , we did another 6 minute walk test instead to measure our improvement and we had all improved. I did 7 more laps than the first time and my sats were very good, I think they went down to 90 and recovered to 97 which is actually normal for the average person and excellent for someone with a chronic lung  disease  so I was very pleased. The physio is referring me to a local gym for a membership which I think lasts 12 weeks so that will be good and I’m going to carry on doing the rehab exercises at home. I actually walked up the stairs without getting massively out of breath this week so definitely some improvement. I just need to keep it up and try not to catch an infection 🤞

Saturday I was meant to be going to out local garden centre with DD2 but neither of us felt like it and the weather was awful so I stayed at home and pottered about. I made a leek croustade so that will be dinner for the next few days. 

Sunday I met DD2 for a coffee in town and we went to the Oxfam shop to look at books, she is doing a book calendar for her sister for Christmas ( they are doing one for each other ) both of them have bookstagram accounts where they review books and share what they are reading so they get though a lot of books every month. The books for  the calendars have to be used not new to keep the cost down and of course it’s good for the planet .

Today ( Monday ) I have been at home. I had to get up at 6.30 because my sofa was arriving between 7am and 11am, I couldn’t sleep last night so thought I would be really tired today however I woke up full of energy and have kept going all day. The sofa arrived at 8 so I now have a huge box in the middle of my living room 😀 it will be out together on Friday. I also bought some seat covers for my dining chairs that are washable so I fitted  them today, I had to take the seat off the chairs to fit them properly but they look really nice, 

I then decided I was in the mood to do some cross stitch so I put the Christmas cross stitch that’s been waiting for me to finish it on the frame and I got quite a lot done. It’s on 18 count  aida material so the squares are really small and I need really good light to do it so I have to do it during the day or I make mistakes. I don’t know how those ladies managed to do their embroidery before we had electric lights, I can’t imagine sewing by candle light 😀

This week I bought myself some ready meals from M&S because I’m not eating properly so I thought they were better than toast or cereal. I have now decided I can recreate two of them. One was a butternut squash and green bean curry in a coconut sauce and the other was a vegetable casserole with paprika dumplings, it’s literally a tomato based sauce with onions, carrots, swede and haricot beans topped with dumplings. I won’t buy haricot beans but I will use baked beans with passata and veg to see how it turns out 😀 I also remembered a cheap meal I used to make when the girls were little with was sausage meat pressed into a casserole dish topped with a layer of beans then cheesy mash potatoes topped with grated cheese, it was a cheap and very filing meal and tasted yummy. I will use Richmond vegetarian sausages and just remove the skin to make sausage meat . Dd 2 made pitta pizzas and she removed the skin from a Richmond sausage and crumbled it on the top, she said it was lovely 😀 I’ve got flat breads in the freezer so will use them to make pizza with next week.

Cherryfudge

Goodness, what a lot you've got done! I would never have managed all that deep-cleaning in a day, let alone all the other things you've been up to. Great news about your readings after the rehab class.

Is it frustrating or exciting to have the new sofa so near and yet not quite there?

I'm not sure I should mention that you've written that your Mum has a 'cute' nose. That's far too sweet to change. I hope the black eyes are better soon.