2010 in Pictures

                                               
 2010
February
My first trip abroad.
Berlin via Amsterdam.

Thank you Hullah Tours

                                                       
April 3rd
I was humbled to receive a specially minted Knaresborough Maundy Coin to celebrate the 800th giving of the first coins in 1210 by King John in Knaresborough.
My citation was for "Services to Knaresborough Players and the Frazer Theatre including spearheadingPhase 1 of the development of the project, and continued fund raising"

October 10th
                                                                          Celebrating our eldest son's wedding.                                                 

                                                                          A perfect week-end

New Years Eve

Celebrating the New Year with a 1920's party.



Birthdays and Christmas

Birthdays at our house fall in late Autumn. The year that this happened, my father would be 91 and my husband 60.

I had planned a party for the 60th, but this was cancelled. My family came home for the week-end for low key celebrations. What a change - no partying!!!

My father had moved into a residential home during the spring and this meant that he was now well cared for. I had visited him every 2/3 weeks at "our house" prior to this move. It didn't stop me feeling as though I should see him more often, but I now couldn't drive and relied heavily on my husband.
Week-ends for us was a catch up of things that were left during the week and to prepare for the following week.
So we didn't get across as often as I would have wanted or liked.

We asked our family to make alternate arrangements for Christmas which they duly did. It felt peculiar not to have anyone around but it was the first and only time that this occurred.

My husband and I travelled to the residential home to spend time AND Christmas lunch with my father, sister and her husband. A complete but very welcome change for us.

Adjustments to be made

The first few months continued to be one of development .

Eventually, I could manage the noise levels in M & S and the like, but could not manage crowds and people walking in front and around me.

Our families live across the Pennines, some 50 miles away and this was a journey of winding roads. We didn't get across as often as we would have liked, but when we did I found that I couldn't manage this journey, one that we had done countless times over the previous 21 years.
The twisty roads and the car headlights all seemed to affect my head and so we had to take the straight road, the M62!! Was there no end to what was affected?

A very good friend  invited me to her evening wedding reception which would be "a grand affair", sadly we declined as at that time I couldn't face the crowds and noise.

Eventually, after persevering, I found that I could travel upwards on an escalator, downwards came much later.

The only shower that I could safely manage was in the loft, so we re-fitted our house bathroom to incorporate a shower cubicle.

Steps at the back of the house proved challenging and so these too have been altered.

Minor and major adjustments were made to allow me to live an ordinary life.

Initial Weeks at Home

My physio at hospital began on 24th September 2009.
This is still  "work in progress" and the physio, to me, seemed to be systematically opening up muscles to get them working again. I would do work at home in between to try and keep the momentum going.

My teeth had also been affected as had my taste. I had two visits to the dentist to make sure that all was in order. Thankfully no problems were identified, but even now I am careful to chose from a menu wisely, instead of having what I perhaps would really like.

I  had regular checks with my G.P. for the first two or three months. This also served as the re-assurance that I sought.

My husband and family would take me to places for a change of scenery. We firstly tried Marks and Spencer's in Harrogate. Lunchtimes there seemed to be very busy as well as being a creche for new mums. I found the noise suffocating and asked to leave. Stores seemed so busy and overpowering and I couldn't handle this, mmm this had been the norm previously.

Eventually, it was time for me to be alone at home. (Family returned home and husband now back at work.) My husband would oversee my washing and dressing and leave a sandwich for my lunch and everything to hand.  Friends would call around and I also had all their phone numbers. We tried to cover for every eventuality.
Simple things like re-positioning the kettle made a huge difference.

The routine that was now the daily norm was vastly different. We would plan meals and my husband would try and prepare tea - courtesy of the slow-cooker. He seemed to accept all of this as the norm: uncomplaining and just accepted his new roles.

I have recently heard a stroke described as a punctuation mark in life - yes - a full stop. Perhaps that is too harsh, maybe it's more of a comma, but for a very long pause.

Dicharge

August 12th 2009 6.30 p.m, was the exact time I left the care of Oakdale Ward at Harrogate Hospital after six weeks of care.

Now it was time to face the big world and adjust to life at home. Everyone needed to adjust and the bulk of this fell to my husband.

The house seemed quite large and now with many pitfalls. I slept in the back bedroom and all was ready for me including a commode for overnight. I could not get in/out/sit up in bed unaided. How weak my back muscles were.
So, when I needed anything I simply shouted! For the first couple of weeks sleeping proved difficult, I just was too scared to sleep in case anything happened to me.

After breakfast in bed I would shower in the loft. I was helped upstairs and seen to be safe sitting on my shower stool and then assisted with my dressing.

It seemed strange not to be able to do as much as I would have wanted, sitting down is not in my nature. Meals were made, shopping had to be done as had the washing. In fact all the routine daily chores were done by my husband. How very frustrating it all was. He beavered all day long whilst I just had to sit around.
All of this seemed very unfair.

An Occupational Therapist visited and assessed any further needs, she arranged for a splint to be made. This was "custom made" and was to be worn to keep me fingers open. I wore it on and off throughout the day as well as overnight initially.  To date I wear it overnight - at least for 11 hours.

The Physio and Occupational Therapist from the ward visited me at home two or three times. They had me outside walking down the road and watched as I made a cuppa. We discussed the layout of the house and any further help that I thought that I may need.

The Community Physio visited on three occasions and did exercises with me. I would sit on the settee with a dining chair in front of me as she advised of different exercises to do. Probably other types of work also, but I cannot remember the specifics.

 It was now that the Stroke Association Coordinator began her visits to the house. She was able to advise on benefits, aids, services, and prompts such as "now you can start light dusting" and how good it was to have her continuity. Someone who knew how stroke patients felt and to be able to re-assure.

I feel very fortunate to have had the continuity, virtually un-broken, from ward to home.

My husband was off work for the first three weeks of my returning home, my eldest son came for the next two and my other son after that.

Pre - Discharge

Date of Discharge Agreed: 21st Aug

Two tests that I also had were:

Heart Echo Scan - this was taken on the Ward by a mobile scanner.

An X-Ray of my Right leg as it had begun to swell up after 3/4 weeks, but it was found to be ok and so I had to sit with my right leg up and supported by a foot stool.

Around ten days before discharge the Pharmacist visited and explained about my medication. I was asked if I was confident enough to take control. I was issued with a laminated sheet of my prescription drugs and the times at which they were taken. OK, when the nurses came with the "sweetie trolley" I had now to tell them what I wanted.
So far so good, I was then issued with a "weekly" tablet box which meant that I had to learn how to use it and load the drugs in the boxes at the correct times. Success!

I was taken on a home visit by the Physio and Occupational Therapist. On a sunny afternoon I was taken by taxi - how peculiar it all seemed - being in a wheelchair and pushed up a ramp!
The house looked bright and very clean. My husband had taken up the kitchen mat and I smelt the polish that he had cleaned the leather suite with. Suddenly, the house looked challenging.

I was asked to make a cup of tea for us and we discussed the layout of the kitchen. I also had to walk up and down the stairs, something which I had been shown how to do by the Physio's in hospital.

Showering was discussed and at that time the only shower that I could manage was in the loft! So we agreed that I would breakfast upstairs and the go up to the loft for my daily shower. This would be the "most economical and efficient" way for me to manage.


We then discussed what aids I would need. I seem to remember giving the response, "As little as possible as I don't want to be an invalid".

Before I was discharged they had arranged for hand rails on the stairs, a stool to sit on in the shower, a perching stool for bathroom/kitchen use, a two tier trolley to move items around and a wheelchair.

My how things had changed for all of us.

Visits

Chatting is my passion and so the visits were always welcome.

My husband continued to go to work whilst I was an in-patient but he was always at the ward at 6pm prompt, Mon - Fri.  Friends continued to visit, one turning up on the afternoon of my discharge day.

I am not exactly sure when I was allowed to have visits away from the ward. My husband would arrive for evening visiting and we would leave the ward and meet family and friends either in the garden or the WRVS Cafe at the front of the hospital.

Being in the garden on a warm summers evening seemed so tranquil, some evenings my husband would push me around the "block". The Knaresborough Road and Wetherby Road AND the dreaded magic roundabout seemed so unreal and so busy. On occasions friends would walk around the block with us.


Being out of the ward's environment was so different and it was a step nearer to going home. I looked forward to this change of scenery and fresh air.

One person who visited looked at me and simply said, "You look just the same". Of course I did, I was me, it never occurred to me that I may look any different! I may have sounded slightly different when I got tired or over-enthusiastic.

I just say two things to people:

Having the Stroke is easy, it's the recovery that is hard. You must be doggedly determined to get better.
Life has not ended, it's now just a different way of life.