23rd April 2011 - Family Wedding

The 23rd April was the wedding of our niece, it was a fabulous week-end and the weather was just perfect the entire time.
My husband and I had to journey some 54 miles to our home town for the wedding. Friends came in before we set off to see that I was o.k. and arranged my fascinator for me.

When we arrived at the local parish church I met relatives and friends that I hadn't seen for some time. They remarked at how my walking had improved and even said that "it was the best that they had seen me looking since my stroke". Praise indeed for all the people who are and have been instrumental in my recovery.

It was a further 30 minutes drive to the reception and somewhere to finally relax in the glorious surroundings. A lot of catching up to do with some people, I was reminded, that I hadn't seen for 30 years.
People remarked on how well I was"doing and coping with fortitude".

I enjoyed the occasion and seemed to have less hang-up's about eating my meal and even managed one dance, as I had done at our eldest son's wedding some 6 months previously.

The following day we sat on the hotel terrace until early afternoon before returning to the family home and again just sat outside basking in glorious sunshine before it was time to return home. All the travelling, heat and standing more than usual made my right foot badly swollen: but to have enjoyed such a wonderful, happy occasion AND to have received encouraging comments seems a small price to pay.

Dancing to Black Eyed Peas, "I Gotta Feeling"

   

Maybe I'll dance again to this at our youngest son's wedding in August!

Stroke Awareness Day 2011

                                 May 10th 2011 is Stroke Awareness Day 

Could you recognise the symptoms of a stoke?    Would you know what to do?

Do you know how how to reduce your chances of a stroke?

Do you know what FAST is?


http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns/current_campaigns/my_stroke_victory/

Self Reliance

For those people who are reading the blog I am sure that you know me to 
be a very determined person. I have had a job for the last 16 years in a 
male dominated environment and occasionally it was a case of "stand up 
to be heard" and I guess that this goes some way to explain my "firm but 
fair" attitude. I always thought of myself as being and determined.

I am, and have been, resolute in the belief that I will beat the stroke and 
get better. Progress isn't even - there are still dark days, fed up days, and days of sheer 
frustration. The worst part of having the stroke has been losing my self-reliance.

How frustrating to be able to sweep up but not be able to manage to 
put the waste in the dustpan and not being able to take the vacuum cleaner 
upstairs; how frustrating to find the wheelie bin the wrong way round 
meaning that I cannot use it as I cannot open the lid. The list of "frustrations" is quite wide and varied: on bad days still needing help to be dressed and undressed, needing help to get in and out of the bath, simple domestic chores that I now cannot do and not being able to go out when I would like to.

All the simple things that I had taken for granted can be obstacles that 
now have to be overcome.

One of the most testing changes to my life, at present, is still having 
to rely on others so much. I am used to being independent and doing 
things when I wanted to, but now I often need a lot of help for what many people take for granted as simple tasks.

Week-end Away & Turkey 2010

In May 2010 we went away for the week-end to Weardale, Nr. Alton. Our sons and prospective daughters-in law had bought this as a present for my husband's 60th birthday.

http://www.touristnetuk.com/ne/durham/towns/weardale.htm

We travelled to a fabulous farmhouse, arriving early on Friday afternoon. It was a complete indulgence for us, especially my husband who had absolutely nothing to do all the time we were there.
The meals had been planned and food taken accordingly and for evening entertainment we played board games
The weather was warm and sunny the whole week-end and all we could see from the farmhouse was rolling countryside. The only sounds to be heard were that of lambs and birds. What a tonic.

Turkey
In September we went abroad on our own for the first time. We chose Calis Beach in Turkey as it is an area that we know, it is flat and is renowned for its spectacular sunsets.

Olu Deniz

Calis Beach

Hotel Oykun

                               
The hotel that we stayed at was carefully chosen as it is a small family run hotel which is only a very short distance to the sea front.We were meticulous in our planning and chose to fly from a small local airport and  pre-booked seats.

All went well for the first five days: It was a most welcome break for my husband who could enjoy a very well-earned spell of relaxation. The weather, hotel and its location couldn't have been better and each evening we went to the seafront to watch the magnificent sunset.
Then horror of all horrors: whilst we were out on a boat trip I became most unwell and for the majority of the trip needed the loo. What a long day this turned out to be with no provision to leave early.

Once back at the hotel my husband spoke to staff and immeadiately went by taxi to the nearest large town to the duty chemist for all manner of tablets. I couldn't keep anything inside my body - not even water - but I know that I had to keep drinking to avoid de-hydration. How poorly I was and so afraid that I wouldn't manage the flight home which was in 36hours.

We hastily arranged for wheel-chair assistance at the airport and also to have our seats swapped for the flight home. Thankfully all went well, but we were so happy to be back in the UK. The G.P. was called and arranged for tests to be done,(I had been unlucky to have picked up some kind of bug/virus) it took around three weeks before I began to eat and I lost quite a lot of weight.


This taught us quite a lot - it doesn't matter how much planning, you cannot anticipate everything. We are now certainly more aware of medical extras that would have proved useful in this situation.