Dog Solution

The dog is being chemically castrated on Tuesday afternoon.
it will take a few days to take effect, but will last for 6 months and only cost about £30.
Neil does not know yet....

Anyone want a dog ?

The dog has got to the constant howling phase of 'dog next door in season'. I tried taking him on an extra long walk this morning in the hope that he would sleep, but it didn't work.... I am sitting here with the cat on my feet listening to an awful noise, I just hope he falls asleep soon and gets himself some rest, I cant be doing with this all day...

Neil had a better night last night, his dressing was dry today (he had a leaking something yesterday that they had to put a stitch in) so the surgeon said he may be released tomorrow.

He's told me not to go and visit today, instead I have to sort out the house and do some house work so he can walk round without falling over too much stuff - those that know me will realise just how difficult that is for me, coupled with the fact I have been getting up at 6am for weeks....

Hee Hee

Just spoken to Neil, he is well drugged.
They think that he will be released on Monday.

He has watched the wedding, much to my amusement as he has said for ages that he didn't want to. He was convinced that the Queen would be wearing yellow and she was.
Me on the other hand was going to watch it, I woke up at 10.30 and managed to stay awake for an hour, so I saw them married but missed all the frock watching before and after.

I feel a bit better after a couple hours sleep. Think it will be a day under the blanket for me, and working out how many rows I did on the first shoulder of Neil's waistcoat.

The morning after

The last few days are days that I dont ever want to repeat.
After 10 hours in surgery and recovery Neil was back on the ward at 9pm last night.

I have just spoken to him and he sounds fine.
They didn't put any metal work in, they did however move him round and bugger up his frozen shoulder. The shoulder is giving him more pain than the operation.
The morphine driver didn't work properly, so he is on oral pain killers, and waiting on the physio to go and see him.

He said he should be released on Sunday.

I've taken the dog on a very long walk, he is now snoring, I am going back to bed and hopefully will manage to sleep

The long day continued....

After several more phone calls I found out that Neil was back on the ward at 9pm.
Nurse said that he is 'perfectly fine'

I dont think I will be visiting tomorrow, far too tired to think about driving, perhaps I can try and sleep through the wedding (somehow I dont think the dog will let me...)

In recovery

It's been a long day....

He was taken down to theatre at 11am.
At 5pm he was still in theatre, at 6pm I was told he was in recovery. The staff nurse said he was ok, and asked me to phone back in a couple of hours.


Think I will be staying here tomorrow, dont think I'm in a fit state to drive...
Need to check if the queen will be wearing yellow or not...

longer wait

Just heard from Neil, who has just had a visit from the surgeon's registrar - he is second on the list, so wont be in until lunchtime....
He is watching everyone else have their breakfasts....

6 am wake up call

Neil was woken at 6, told to have a shower. He is waiting in his gown. The doctor he saw late last night said he might be first in theatre as he could be in the longest.
He is excited about having a morphine driver (easily amused !!)

I was also woken at 6 by the dog, we were back from our amble by 7 in time to talk to Neil.

And now for the long wait, crochet, coffee & toast....

Ward 3

It's been a long day...

Not long back from getting Neil a bed. When we got to hospital an air ambulance was just landing (and disturbing a game of cricket). Got to the ward, and they had given Neil's bed to someone else... so he got put into the emergency bed.
(The helicopter was taking off when I left 45 minutes later)

I set him up with 3 days of phone/radio/tv/web/films
He might try the web but as there is no keyboard and his patience at the best of times is not good (texting does not happen) with just a numeric keypad and arrows it wont be long before he throws it across the room.

So he can watch the wedding if he wants to, but somehow I think he will find something else to amuse himself on Friday.

The nurses on the ward dont know when his op will be, apart from he cant have anything from midnight onwards.. I have to phone 9ish or 10ish.
They have said that I can visit when I want as it takes so long to get there (today the times were right and it was a round trip of 2.5 hours)

The dog next door is in season, our little grey 14 year old seems to be more interested in running the hedge than where his dad is at the moment.. the cat is more interested in chasing his tail on the mat.

Minimal updates tomorrow, dont think I will have any news until 2ish.

And now I'm going to take my boots off and see if there is anything totally mindless to watch...

Good News

The lovely bed manager has just phoned, there is a bad available on ward 3 from 5pm today.
We can check in any time from then and dont have to go to admissions first.

So we are going to have a quiet afternoon watching Hellboy II and then an early tea, planning to leave here at 6 .......

Beds

Or lack of...

We phoned the ward at 11 as instructed, was told by the nurse that they would get back to us within the hour to let us know about a bed.

We phoned again an hour later, still no news.

We phoned at 12.30, and eventually spoke to the bed manager (they need more soothing hold music!).
There were 4 male emergencies admitted in the last few hours, he is waiting for discharge tests on two patients. He said he will get back to us as soon as he knows anything...

But it doesn't matter what time we turn up at the hospital - apart from me getting back home to feed the dog, getting stuck in rush hour traffic and driving 2 hours each way...

We are not happy relaxed people at the moment. At this rate the crochet waistcoat I started last night will be worn into hospital....

And the ducks have walked out on us, we saw them waddling down the garden a few days ago - at least they were a lot bigger than when they arrived....

Happy Easter

The duckies now have a raft (it was a coffee type table my dad had, I think he would approve of it's new use....)

Mum likes taking them there over night - safest place.

We have put chicken wire round the bottom end of the pond to stop the cat, it slows him down a little bit, but he is getting shouted at a lot !!





We have only named one of them - unsurprisingly this is Daffy.

We had a date for Neil's op, we have to phone to check his bed is there at 11am on Wednesday, then his admission time is 1pm.
We think the op is on Thursday, hopefully he will be home on the Saturday or Sunday.

And now I'm going to go and watch my babies again, they are so cute, and so fast on the water...

Neil did some time lapse photos yesterday, video is more tricky as they move so fast !!

Reasons not to garden

We haven't done any gardening for a while (understatement)

But look what has just arrived today on the pond..

They weren't there when I got up at 6.30 for the dog, but by 10 they were swimming round very happily.

Now we have the worry of seeing if they survive, there has been talk of making a raft, the cat has walked past a few times already and ignored them.. strange that one is all yellow.

Best Easter present ever !!!

Hospital Visit

Today we went to Frenchay to discuss the latest set of scans. We had to be there for 9am, so left early when we were ready before 7. I have never got to Bristol so quickly (and we weren't travelling above the speed limit). At 8.10 there was not a lot open at the hospital, luckily the unit was open even if the coffee shop didn't open until 9.30.

The result of the consultation is better than we thought, there are no further tumours, one vertebra is very thin so bloke doesn't know how much metal he can attach to it, might have to use some wire ... think it is the second one down so he should be able to attach stuff to the ones either side.
Artery to head pushed out of the way by 2cm, if damaged could have large stroke.

Think op could be in next few weeks, maybe on a Thursday (cant be on Monday as bloke has a bbq!)
Secretary should be phoning us in next few days.

Neil thinks it might be time to pack a bag... he will have reduced movement in his neck still be able to nod but limited sideways movement.

And now for some knitting:

I have eventually finished Evenstar shawl.
The beading is heavy, the graft in pattern is not as pretty as I would like, but the horseman might not notice...









Here it is blocking in the sun on the newish decking. Knitted in a hand dyed silk that I had in stash for ages. I thought there was enough of the huge ball to complete the shawl, but I was wrong, so I dyed up two slightly different colours, one for the last clue and one for the edging.

It is 54 inches diameter...





And I had a helper telling me what to do...

Now I need to go and find a bag to pack...

Spring Hat

Here is what I made from those crochet bits I showed last time.


As you can see I got carried away...


















The tit is on the right of the hat - thus making him a 'right tit'

He does look a bit as though the cat has had a good chew, time was against his legs...












for those on Rav there is an auction in aid of Air Ambulance in the Wonderwool forum.

What could be a better Easter present for your loved one ???

Unresponsible Adult

First a picture of the sky, it has been really hot here the last few days, tomorrow is an ironing day after four loads of washing...

We have another appointment to see the surgeon, this time to review the scans Neil has had in the last few weeks.
Hopefully he will go through what will happen in the op and give us a date.

Another two weeks to wait - appointment is 9am on the 20th.




An interesting photo of the pond, I think it was meant to show the fish, but the conservatory is looking good !!

I have to admit to worrying about Neil falling over as his balance is not great - so what do I do, yes fall flat on my face on the concrete between the cars. I've grazed my face, and bruised my shins, and my arms hurt. It could have been a lot worse...

I need to be more careful....


This is my latest shawl, (rav link)

I really enjoyed knitting it, and it only took three evenings.

The pink and purple were hand dyed unlabelled from stash.







And now for something a bit different !!

These little bits (mainly of crochet) are going to be added to another creation to be unveiled at Wonderwool on Saturday.

If you are coming do come to the interactive area to see it in it's full glory.

I will try and post photos of it on Sunday.

And now to start on all those ends.....