Return of Confidence Summer 2018

Well thank goodness the meds have kicked in and Ron is almost back to where he was before the anxiety attacks started.  Also the summer has started to show itself and Ron is able to get outside which always helps with mood.   We attended and enjoyed both our outings in April - Bath with Area 33 and Wales with RREC.   We had a bit of a nightmare journey to Wales in our shadow caused by a faulty tyre, when we arrived the metal was all splayed out but someone kindly changed the tyre and then no further problems.  The best part of these outings is not the places we go or the things we see but the lovely company we enjoy with friends.

We seem to have had a lot of sad news recently of good friends passing away.  I suppose it is one of the results of reaching "old age", Ron has just had his 80th and I am 76.   Sadly our lovely daughter-in-law Michelle lost her mum in April.   We are determined to make the most of every day as we have during all our married life and thank goodness we did - such lovely memories.

Our next weekend away is in August and then Turkey and Tinsel in November - Yorkshire this year.   We have lots of days out marked in the diary, mostly on  Sundays.   I have several days out when I will leave Ron at home alone.   I leave his lunch and a couple of flasks and he manages quite well.

We still have the physio come every 3 or 4 weeks.   Not sure how much longer we will do this as the main thing she does is restore Ron's enthusiasm especially if she is able to witness something new he has worked on during her absence.  There has been quite a lot of improvement in the left hand, he is beginning to be able to grip.   It is 3 1/2 years now and he is still able to improve - amazing.

I wish I was able to say the same about my own physical fitness, compared to when this all started when I was very fit and active for my age, I am now very unfit, my garden looks like a jungle and after a half hour's gardening I am exhausted.   I think about having some personal training but I find it difficult to commit to a time as I am always busy just doing the necessary things.To cap it all on Saturday I fell over and I have bruised my ribs.

I have run out of things to say and I am off to watch the end of Homes Under the Hammer.

2018

Well here we are Spring is here and nearly the start of the classic car motoring season as long as the Beast from the East stays tucked up in his den.

We are experiencing a difficult time at present as Ron is having a bad time with panic attacks and has lost all confidence in his ability to do things.  We have got two weekends away booked for the end of April and at the moment I am dreading it.  I would not want to cancel as this would be even worse for Ron's confidence.  We must press on and hope for the best.  We have been to the GP on the advice of our Physio and she has given Ron a prescription for some meds but I believe they take some time to kick in.  There seemed to be a slight improvement but then we went out for a lunch with JDC yesterday and Ron froze in the doorway.  People are so kind and helpful but I do find it a bit difficult/embarrassing.   I can't believe we have regressed so much when we were making such good progress.    I must remain positive I know we WILL get back to where we were but it is difficult.
I hope I will be back with a more positive post shortly.

18.12.17 another Christmas beckons

We have had another good year with our car club friends. We started as usual with the Welsh weekend  . We took the Shadow and had no problems.  Our next weekend was JDC annual of course this was an outing for the Mark ten.  Then we had 4 days at Nidd hall a Warners with good friends Ann and John Lear -an outing for the S type. Then we had a great time in Norfolk with Essex RREC.  Our final weekend was the turkey and tinsel in November.  This month we had the area 33 Christmas Dinner and we stayed overnight.  Still to come new year in Blackpool hopefully no more snow.

We continue to have Physio sessions approx every three weeks.  Ron's balance has improved 100 percent .  Ron does his Physio faithfully and he gets the results. Ron is now able to grip with his left hand and is able to walk the length of our living room with a 2 kilo weight in his left hand.  The winter weather causes a few problems because we are not able to get outside to practice walking.  We are trying to build up distance and stamina and so far we have got to 20 minutes.  Ron now uses a standard walking stick most of the time just saving the quad stick for those times he lacks confidence. Most of the time Ron can walk into the restaurants so we don't always need to get the scooter out which is a big help for me.

Ron still has periods when he feels exhausted we think that it is psychological but it is very real to Ron.  When he has these periods he loses his confidence and consequently his sense of balance and it must be so frustrating for him because it is very frustrating for me!

At the beginning of the year we decided that we would make a point of going out every Wednesday either to the pictures or to a restaurant for lunch and we stuck to it for a while but like all good intentions we fell by the wayside, we must reinstate this because it gave us something to look forward  to and life is pretty boring for Ron when there is nothing planned.  We go to all the mid week lunches arranged  by RREC in addition to the Sunday lunches with both clubs.

Well I think that has brought me up to date, I will try to make a point of doing a post regularly.

Summer update

I can't believe I last wrote in March.  Reading that last post I must have been having a down day, of course Ron was soon back to his usual self. Trying hard and making slow but steady progress and reading that post bring it back to me how much progress he has actually made.  He is now able to walk about 20steps without his stick and his latest achievement is walking, holding his quad stick off the ground just so it is there if he stumbles or feels unsafe but using this method he has been able to walk quite substantial distances.

We are still having Physio albeit every three weeks and Ron Is gradually getting tiny movements back in his hand.  It takes an enormous effort for his to close his fingers round a block of foam and after five Tries he is wacked however it is Progess.

So far this year we have only been to the Welsh weekend but have attended several Sunday events.  This weekend we are off to the JDC National weekend near Warwick - wroxall abbey.then on 14th we are joining John and Ann Lear at Warners Nidd Hal for 4 days.

I am keeping well but as I get older things do become more difficult.  I seem to tire quite quickly and I am disappointed that my general fitness has deteriorated however there's no time for me to attend any classes in fact there is no time to do all the necessary things so we will just make the best we can of things.  I will try and write more regularly.

Latest Situation

It's ages since I last wrote and Christmas and the New Year have been and gone.  We had a lovely day at Graham and Erica's house for Boxing Day.  Most of the family were there.  We missed Linda and Family who were having their own celebration in US.  The first Christmas I had ever spent without seeing Linda - aarh.   Our New Year was spent in the Hilton at St George's Park, Burton on Trent with just Ted and Pat for company.  Ron and I loved the hotel, Ted and Pat hated it - just goes to show horses for courses. 

We had a good night with Area 33 at their Christmas celebration and we won the hamper in the raffle.

As I mentioned our physio was off duty over Christmas and we had our first appointment of 2017 around the third week of January.   Up to then we had been doing Ron's exercises almost every day apart from those times when we went out.   However on was having one of his bouts of tiredness when she came and as usual he mentioned it to her and she suggested that if he was tired he should rest, listen to his body and not do the exercises until he was not tired.  In my opinion this was not the right thing for Ron at this times because he took the rest of the week off and the consequence of this is that he has gone back in fitness and capability - I think he has lost almost a year.  He now gets tired out after his usual exercises and he is not able to walk more than a few steps when we are out, previously he would walk into a restaurant but now he drives his scooter in.   The physio has written to our GP and we need to make an appointment to discuss this.  Ron just seems to have completely lost his confidence and his fitness.   We have had several instances when he has frozen which he has not done for ages.

I am very distressed about this but I can't let my feelings show.  The past few days Ron is trying to do his exercises every day and hopefully this will help but I fear that all his muscles have become weak even his good working ones.

Ron does not appear to be depressed and we are sticking to our resolutions to have a day out each week.  We have been to the cinema twice to see Lion and Hidden Figures both of which we thoroughly enjoyed and we have been out for meals.  This week we went to a garden centre, shopped for some new shoes for Ron and also had lunch out.

We have received some good news as Ron is now getting the higher rate of benefit.  At least now this covers the cost of the physio.

We will both be pleased when the better weather arrives as it is easier to have a walk outside when the sun is shining and Ron is able to sit outside and watch the fish.  Plus when it is warmer it is easier to visit people and we can sit in their garden if the house is difficult to access.

I am able to get out to my clubs  and I have booked a couple of coach trips for later in the year.

I hope the next time I write it will be with better news.

Update at last

I have not written anything for a long time because there did not seem to be anything much to report.
However I understand there are still people who read this so here goes.

As mentioned in the last post we did go to the Area 33 weekend , a lovely hotel in the centre of Stratford on Avon.  Ron and I decided to walk/ride to a butterfly farm which we both enjoyed this was on the Saturday on the Sunday we joined the rest of the members on a visit to Gaydon. We were lucky with the weather for the whole weekend.  No problems in the hotel and Ron did quite a lot of walking.  Great fun with the other members.  We did manage to leave Ron's stick behind at Gaydon but fortunately Peter was able to bring it back.

We returned on Monday and on Tuesday I went on a coach trip to Windsor with U3A.  There was an exhibition of the Queen's clothes which I enjoyed.

About this time we reduced our private Physio to fortnightly,Ron has made quite good progress with the help of this Physio but as she says it is what you do on your own between sessions that makes the difference. Since then at the end of November the Physio needed to have some time off so we will resume in the new year.  I do think that it is very useful to have the input from the physio although Ron is very good about doing his exercises.  Also it is good to have a financial break as it is 80 per session.

At the beginning of November we went to Crewe Hall for our annual get together known as theTurkey ad Tinsel.  We had a great time in the hotel with some good entertainment but had a horrendous journey home as our Cloud broke down on our journey home.   We had stopped at the services on M6 Toll and as we went down the slip road the car gave up the ghost.   We had to phone the breakdown services and after an hour they came and loaded the car and we managed to get Ron up the very high steps into the cab but this truck did not have enough hours to take us home so he returned us to the services where we had to wait for another truck.   Fortunately three meaty truckers lifted Ron out of the first truck.  We left the hotel at 10.10 am and arrived home at 10,15pm.  For the technically inclined because Ron did not want any wires showing when we had the electronic ignition put in the wire was put into trunking carrying the HT leads and this had caused the wiring to short out.  All sorted out now.

At the end of November we went to Chester/North Wales    To celebrate Gary and Norma's 60th wedding anniversary, another nice time with friends and we too the modern Jag so no car problems thank goodness

No more outings until 17th December when we have an overnight stay following Area 33 Christmas Dinner.

I don't think that there has been any major breakthrough with Ron although other people say they can see improvements and he is gradually getting more independent.   He is still convinced he will continue to improve so to that end we are plodding on.

Happy  Christmas to anyone who reads this - stay well.

I may write some more in the New Year.

Autumn

Autumn is here, so we are told.  Yesterday 28th September we had a lovely summer day and fortunately I was able to find time to garden.
It is 6 weeks since I last wrote a report so here goes.  The main thing that has happened as far as Ron is concerned is that we have started the private Physio .  Today will be our fifth session including the assessment.  We really think she is helping and seems to be very insightful as to Ron's problems.   She thinks his main problem is with his balance so many of the exercises are to address this.  We have been religiously doing all the exercises every day.   We originally agreed to try 6 sessions and then re-assess the situation (at 80 per session it is not cheap).   I think that more sessions would be helpful but we will wait and see and go by her advice, I trust her to give impartial advice.

We went to Hyde Hall and had a good time lots of cars to look at and friends to chat to.  No time for me to enjoy the gardens but maybe we will fit in a visit another time.
Sept 3rd was the date of a barbecue at Graham and Erica's house - this was mainly for Graham's maternal relatives.  It was a very nice day with around 40 people some I have met before and some that I have never seen before.  The weather unfortunately did not play the game as it poured with rain during the afternoon but fortunately Graham had foreseen this and there were two large gazebos.  The following day we went to Capel Manor with RREC, the weather stayed fine which was fortunate as we took a picnic.

The following weekend we planted the winter baskets (pansies).

Then the following weekend we went to Lancashire for a JEC. Mark 10 rally.  We took the opportunity to visit our good friends John and Carolyn Smith who live in the area.  Very kindly our friends Ted and Pat Kelly joined us for the afternoon.
We were lucky enough to win some prizes at the Mark Ten Rally, Best interior, best bodywork and best in show.   All Ron's hard work in previous times is still giving results and I am so pleased for him.    Our. Stay at the hotel was traumatic as on Sunday we were just ready to go down for dinner and when we got to the lift it was out of order, eventually thanks to our good friends John and Lindy Stevenson Ron was taken downstairs on an instrument of torture called an evac-chair.   We were then given a room on the ground floor for our final night.

Last weekend we went to Warren Car Show on Sunday and had a good day although no other members of our car club were there.

That sums up our month.  I am pleased to report that Ron is getting a lot of benefit from his Physio .

In two weeks we have a weekend away with our local JDC club we are going to Warwickshire and visiting Gaydon.

Our cars have been receiving tlc from John  Deed, electronic ignition, new otter switches, new tyres hopefully they will all be better for it.