Lots happening reccently. Annie and I celebrated Edwin's birthday with a family dinner with Mary-Anne, Sam and their children, plus one boyfriend, at the Moulton Packhorse, a fine inn near Newmarket. We didn't get back until gone 11pm, when it was decided to watch the penultimate episode of the Traitors. I lay on the couch to watch, but promptly fell asleep, waking up only to ask, "who won?"
My original MacMillan nurse was gruff and unsympathetic, to whom I tended to take a macho stance; he would ask how I was, and I'd reply, "I'm coping. I'm fine!" which is not helpful for someone with terminal cancer. The new nurse, Anabel, was sympathetic and drew my problems from me. Mostly chronic pains, which I'd tried to dismiss as "coping with lots of cocodamol". She immediately put me onto a low dose (1mL) of Oromorph, a liquid morphine compound well used in terminal care. This has made a huge difference - it seems to last for over 12 hours, I hardly take the pain tablets, and the pains have definitely eased. Annie says I'm high on the drug; certainly I feel more euphoric while everyone else suffers, and I look forward to my morning dose like a junkie.
Also, because of the breathlessness, I have been proping myself up in bed with more pillows, and Annie bought a wedge pillow. But Anabel suggested I could have a hospital style bed, with electric control for the back and tilt. She immediately ordered it, and it comes today.
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| By the motte at Clare Castle |
On the mobility front, we have bought a scooter. Ben and Kaz joined us for the weekend, so on Sunday we drove to Clare park where they lifted it out and I enjoyed a first ride. Amazing! For the last few months, I haven't got past the first bench. I was moving faster than they were, and they had to walk briskly to keep up. It sits in the car next to Byron; he tends to role his eyes at my eccentricities, but he doesn't seem to mind.it too much and enjoyed the chance to race after a flung ball and see more of the park.
One remaining problem is how I can get the scooter into the car boot. We are looking at ramps, or possibly some sort of electic lift, but we'll sort that out when we're back from our visit to Coventry.- our first time away since the death of Mike in February (In Memorium of Mike).
