Poorly Betty part 2

 We took Betty to the vet this afternoon, she was still being sick this morning, not eating, hardly drinking much water and still very listless, she wasn't herself at all.  I didn't give her anything to eat yesterday, but offered her a little plain scrambled egg at lunchtime today - she wouldn't touch it.  I was also a bit worried about her hardly drinking, and being so lethargic and quiet, most unlike her.  She hardly even had the strength to wag her tail, which she always does when I talk to her.  

The vet, who's a lovely man, questioned us about her sickness and poo and general demeanor and gave her a thorough examination, checking her gums, eyes and running his hands all over her, especially her stomach.  He said in his opinion it was a simple case of gastritis, probably caused by her ingesting something which didn't agree with her - she can be a bit of a scavenger when out on walks, or even in the garden, she does like digging and nosing around in the bushes.  I mentioned my concern about her becoming dehydrated, due to not drinking much water - the vet said actually she shouldn't have any water for at least 12 hours after the last time of being sick, which surprised me.  He said a dog of her chunky size wouldn't become dangerously dehydrated for around 72 hours, so not to worry.  He also said when we do give her a drink, make it lukewarm water (cold water could upset her stomach further) and just a few sips to start with.  And no food for 48 hours, and then only 1/4 of her normal portion.  She's not been sick anymore this afternoon, vet said if she starts being sick again after we reintroduce water and food, to take her back to him.  Oh, he gave her an anti-emetic injection so she shouldn't continue being sick.

It cost me a lot for a 10-min consultation and 1 injection, but it's put my mind at rest.  She's currently fast asleep in her own bed beside my chair in my bedroom.  Hopefully, she'll start to pick up tomorrow, I hate seeing her so subdued, I love her to bits.

I've made bread dough this afternoon, it'll be having a long overnight prove before being baked probably late morning tomorrow.  I'm going to try and get in the habit of making bread once or twice a week.  I use 300g strong white flour, 100g strong wholemeal and 100g brown rye flour, with a couple of tbsp of mixed seeds.  Except I've just realised I forgot to put the seeds in this one!  I could knead some in tomorrow morning....

Added this morning:-

We all had a good night, no sick to clear up this morning and Betty seems much better - tail up and wagging, much brighter.  What a relief.

Poorly Betty, and another CI development

 Woke up this morning to the sound of Betty being sick, it transpired that she'd thrown up a few times in different places indoors sometime in the early hours of this morning.  She was also sick a couple more times outside a bit later on, although it was more or less dry heaving by then, her stomach being empty.  She doesn't appear to be in any pain, although is quite subdued, she's had a few mouthfuls of water 2 or 3 times and has wee'd normally.  She's currently asleep on my bed (on a double-folded fleece blanket), where she's been for the last hour or so.  I'm not overly concerned but will certainly be keeping a close eye on her for the rest of the day, hopefully the sleep will do her good.  If she's hungry later I'll give her a scrambled egg, if she manages that ok and doesn't throw it up then I'll do her a little bit of plain cooked chicken mince with plain boiled rice this evening.  She's not been sick for about 4-5 hours or so now, so hopefully it was nothing more than a stomach upset and she'll be on the mend.  Bless her, I don't like to see my baby feeling unwell.

I've noticed husband has been getting a bit verbally abusive lately - not towards me, well no more than usual, but shouting at or being insulting towards people on TV.  I don't mean specific people such as the USA president (although he does have a few choice words to say about him!), it's just random actors or even normal people being interviewed on the news - if they're saying things husband doesn't agree with or considers stupid, or even just some aspect of their appearance, he'll say something very insulting or rude about them, or swear at the TV.  Hopefully, it's just a phase which he'll soon get past, like his other random obsessions.  I hope he doesn't do it in front of visitors (we're having some visitors in March and April) - but then again, if he does and as they're family members, some of whom we haven't seen for some time, it might open their eyes as to just how much the cognitive impairment is now affecting him.  And me.

A bit less rain forecast for this coming week, although heavy rain and wind due overnight and all day tomorrow, but Wednesday looks much better, possibly even sunshine in the afternoon.  More showers Thursday and Friday though, but drier over the weekend.  Not so cold now, so that's good.  If the sun does appear on Wednesday, I think we'll go out somewhere, it'll be nice to have a walk along the promenade.

My new chair is lovely and comfy, very back supportive as Cherie said, and with it being higher than a standard armchair, it's much easier to get up from.

Last big purchase, garden plans, and a cute memory

 Thank you for all the comments on my last couple of posts.  The computer-generated letter mentioned by the nice case manager lady arrived this morning, once again it's a bamboozlement of figures which don't seem to make any sense....but as she said to ignore it, I will!  I'm not dealing with anything admin or finance related this weekend, it's a weekend off.  

I decided yesterday to get another armchair, to replace my current recliner in the lounge - I've had it several years and it's become very uncomfortable, the padding or springs or whatever it's made of on the seat part are breaking down.  There's a charity furniture shop in town that we've bought a few items from already, I noticed on their website that they had a lovely, new-looking chair in just the right colour, so we went and had a look....and I bought it.

It's what's called a fireside chair I think, although I think of it as a granny chair....it brings to mind the chairs all around the lounges in an old people's care home - the same style of chairs which are in our residents' lounge here on our little sheltered housing estate, in fact!  I guess it's appropriate - although I'm not a granny, having no children/grandchildren myself, I am an old person! (well, ish 😉).  Anyway, I like it, it's in excellent hardly-used condition and is very comfortable.  It's not a recliner, of course, but we do have a nice leather footstool I'm happy to use. 

That's the last major purchase I'm making out of the legacy money I received, the rest is staying firmly in my savings account.  I'm also going to add to it regularly, this year is going to be all about putting money into savings.

And finally it's the last day of the month....January has felt like it's had about 8 weeks, exacerbated by the miserable, grey, windy and rainy weather meaning we've not been out much, I'm definitely feeling stir crazy.  Today's weather is a mix of short (very short) sunny spells with a bit of blue sky, interspersed with more cloud and rain.  It's hard not to feel depressed when the weather is so dull and dreary.  At least February has only 28 days (unless it's a leap year this year?  No idea, better have a check....no it isn't).

I think I've now made the final decisions about what to do in the garden this year, having changed my mind a few times.  Nothing drastic, just a few changes to future-proof the garden and make it easier to manage, as I doubt husband will be doing anything much (except dozing) in the garden from now on.  There's a half-dead yucca type tree to cut down, cut into smaller pieces and take to the tip - husband's got an electric saw and we'll do it together, it's not a very big tree.  We have another recently-bought small tree - well, more of a large shrub - to plant in the border between us and the neighbour (more privacy-gaining measures), not been able to plant it out yet because of the bad weather, it's fine in a large pot in the car port at the moment.  Betty's small 6ft square lawn, which she never laid on and only ever wees on, making unsightly dead brown patches, to rip up and turn into a rockery - she has several gravel covered areas to wee on, and does, instead.  As I mentioned before, we'll be growing less, and less variety of, veg from now on - my decision, towards the end of last summer husband just wasn't interested in it anymore, so it became another job for me.  I want to buy perhaps another half dozen perennial shrubs, flowering ones, I won't be buying or planting any annuals from now on.  I may scatter a few annual flower seeds in the beds though, I do like flowers and colour in the garden.

This photo came up on my feed this morning, I took it on 31 January 2017 when Betty was 3 months old, we'd had her a month then.  She was such a character when she was a baby.  And so tiny!

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 I finally had the phone call this morning from the case manager, she was extremely apologetic.  She explained that they'd had a complete new computer and software installation late last year, which was very different to their previous set up.  The new software systems apparently operate in a different way, they have different algorithms (whatever that means) and layouts, meaning confusion all round.  It sounded to me like the staff haven't had sufficient training on the new systems.  She was quoting some figures to me, which were completely different to the figures in the last letter I'd been sent, the one from November that I was disputing.  It transpired that the figures she had on her screen were updated figures from early December, correcting errors in the November letter.....I should have been sent this letter but she eventually found that unfortunately it hadn't been sent out, an error she blamed on the software changeover and again apologised for.  She said, in view of the figures I was disputing, she would go through things thoroughly and get another, hopefully correct, letter sent to me next week.  And she also promised it would be in simplified form, with no jargon!  She ended by saying don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of things and get the correct refund sorted.  She gave me her direct line phone number and said don't hesitate to ring her if I'm not happy with the letter she sends next week.

About half an hour later she rang again, very apologetic once again, to say that 'the system' had generated another letter, with figures dating back to 2023 (why that date I don't know, nor did she).  This letter is already on its way to me, apparently - she said to please disregard it, as it did contain some outdated figures, as far as she could tell.  We ended up joking about having plenty of waste paper for writing shopping lists or shredding for hamster bedding, although she did say on a serious note that all this paperwork currently being generated by the new system is a shocking waste of paper and trees.  She said she's not the only one who's having problems with the new computer systems and disgruntled customers getting in touch, and the staff are all putting in complaints and recommendations (like get the old system back!!).  I'm happy - for now - that I'm being listened to by an efficient and helpful senior staff member who has promised she will sort it all out.  Fingers crossed.

I was busy in the kitchen this morning, making a cake and bread dough and chopping a load of veggies for a root veg and Heck sausage traybake for tonight's dinner.  We both like sausages but after watching Prof Tim Spector's What Not to Eat programmes on UPFs, I've decided that from now on we'll only have sausages once or twice a month, and I will only buy the Heck 97% meat ones - leaving little room for any nasty stuff.  Husband was flat out in his recliner chair again, so I suggested he clear out the airing cupboard, which needed a good clear out.  It's a large, deep cupboard and had a couple of boxes right at the back, full of - well, I didn't really know what - stuff we'd brought from the old house when we moved, and hadn't got around to unpacking in 2 years.  I know, shameful right?!?!  There was also quite a bit of old bedding we no longer use, including a couple of pillows and duvets and some fleece blankets that were from the caravan - smaller beds in the caravan so the bedding wasn't any good for our beds here at home.  I suggested husband put all the bedding etc into black bin bags, to be taken to a charity shop the next time we're in town.  I also said he could pull out the boxes of 'stuff' and go through it to get rid of anything we didn't want or need.....after more than 2 years in the cupboard we presumably didn't 'need' most of it!  I thought it was a fairly easy job to keep husband occupied whilst I was busy in the kitchen - better for him than lounging in his recliner chair all day, dozing in front of the TV.

Well, every couple of minutes he kept calling me to ask if we wanted or needed this or that - rather than bringing whatever it was to me, he just called out every time and expected me to go to him 😒.  Eventually, I told him firmly that we don't need ANY of the bedding, and if there were things in the boxes that he wasn't sure about, to put them in a pile and I'd have a look through them later.  He got the message and eventually the cupboard was more or less emptied, the remaining few things to keep are now confined in one box and one bag at the back of the cupboard, leaving plenty of space to put freshly washed clothes and bedding for airing.  So we've both had a productive day.

Why don't people listen?

 I had an appointment with the senior nurse at our surgery yesterday for an annual review....only, when I arrived, she said she couldn't do the review as a couple of tests I should have had when I went for a blood test last month, weren't done then.  Apparently the nurse who took the blood was an agency nurse filling in for staff sickness and she didn't know she had to do these other tests....why, was it not on her screen?  Obviously not.  We've had other instances of things being done wrongly or in a haphazard way with this surgery, they're certainly not as efficient as our last surgery.  The nurse, who apparently couldn't do these tests herself (why not?  Time I suppose, she was running 20 mins late), said she could quickly discuss a couple of things with me, so that my appointment wasn't completely a waste of time(!!).  She then said she could see from my screen notes that I wasn't on a statin and asked why not - I said I didn't want one, and pointed out that I've declined them every time they've asked, for years and years.  She tried to tell me that as my cholesterol was a bit high (it's not high, just slightly higher than they advise for diabetics) I should really be taking one!  I said that's my decision and I'm sticking to it, and as it's already on my notes that I decline statins, they shouldn't have to keep asking me!  She also said my BMI was too high and tried to give me a lecture on what not to eat - carbs which are potatoes, bread, pasta and rice, and saturated fats - as if I didn't know at my age!  Her manner was quite patronising actually, considering she was half my age, and she talked over me a couple of times.  Basically, she just didn't listen to me.  So now I have two further appointments because of this mix up, the 2 other tests first, then on another day (different week as well), the review I should have had yesterday.

This seems to be the way of things nowadays in my experience - people just don't listen.  Or is it that I'm not explaining things clearly enough?  I've had instances of friends not listening to or understanding me when I've tried to tell them things, family as well.  It's all the more frustrating when I live with someone who almost never listens to me and I have this to contend with every single day.  It's getting to the stage where I feel like I'm invisible.

We had loads of rain during the night which kept waking me up, so far today it's been rain, wind and short sunny spells.  More rain forecast every day for the next week, which means more washing hanging about on airers for days and days.  Relentless grey rainy days are so depressing, although I'm pleased to see a few Spring bulbs are starting to flower.  I keep looking out of the window at my garden and making or changing my tentative plans for it - can't do anything though until the weather improves.

I think I ought to hibernate every winter, it really doesn't suit me.

Oh, and the senior case manager woman hasn't yet rung.

I knew I was right!

 I didn't really get the rest and recuperation I needed, the past few days have been quite problematical.  Husband has been really testing my patience - enough said about that.  Problem relative has been a pain in the backside as well.  And there have been other stresses....

For the past 6 months or so we've (well, I've, it's me who deals with finances) been in dispute with a service provider.  Quite out of the blue, several months back they informed me that we owed them a few hundred pounds.  I immediately disputed it, as I was quite sure we didn't.  2 or 3 weeks later, I had an email from them saying it was a mistake on their part and we didn't owe them anything.  Good, I thought, that's the end of that.  A month or 2 went by and then I had another letter (from a different person) saying we did in fact owe them money....yet again I disputed it.  After another 3 or 4 weeks, yet another letter (snail mail) from them - a covering letter plus 4 pages of figures and abbreviations which made absolutely no sense to me at all.  I wrote back (this was at the beginning of November) saying that this last letter from them was not clear in any way, shape or form, it appeared to be just a cynical attempt to bamboozle me with inexplicable figures, meaningless abbreviations and garbled nonsense.  No reply to my letter addressing any of my concerns, they just sent an invoice.  By this time, and due to other things going on which had drained my brain and emotions, I lost the will to live - well, to continue fighting them - and simply paid up, although reiterating that I didn't believe we owed the money but was too exhausted to carry on trying to get them to see when they clearly weren't listening to me.  Last Friday late in the afternoon, however, I had an email from a senior case manager, apologising for the delay in responding to my early November letter and asking for my phone number, so she could discuss the concerns expressed in my letter.

I got out the offending letter from them (good job I'd kept it) and went through all the figures with a fine tooth comb, to refresh my memory and see if I could make any sense of it, before she rings me.  And I spotted a huge glaring error in their calculations - I can't believe I missed it the first time around.  Well, I guess it was because I was just so worn down with the constant back and forth, we owe them money, no we don't, yes we do thing (and other things affecting me at the time) and more or less just skimmed through the figures and unexplained abbreviations as my eyes glazed over.  Well, now I know that we didn't owe them money - as I actually knew all along - and they in fact owe us £412, quite a substantial sum.  And the proof of that is in black and white in their own letter to me, it's a definite indisputable mistake on their part.  So when she rings me, if this isn't the reason why she's ringing, I shall hit her with it, along with a promise to escalate the matter to an ombudsman if they don't put it right and refund our money.

Honestly, everything's a battle these days, it's no wonder I'm so run down.

I've focused on good, clean, healthy home-cooked food these past few days and am pleased to say I've lost 4lbs, no longer feel bloated and my guts and joints are feeling so much better.  This persistent rain and wind isn't doing my mood any good though, hurry up Spring! 

Recuperating

 I'm having a couple of days off blogging - well, off everything really.  Things have been difficult the past few days, I'm feeling very drained physically and mentally.  I'm ok, just running on empty, so just need to curl up in the chair in my room and read a good book for a few days.  Back soon x