8 Months

Baby M is 8 months tomorrow. Looking fab yeah. At the vets today she was 29.4kg and she's 61 cms, shall we say a top size female! LOL 

Just for reference

https://talistails.blogspot.com/2024/03/8-months-weights-and-measure.html 

Luther's Not Well - Update

 

It never rains but it pours is the saying. Poor Luther is on the drip at the vets. I gathered something was wrong with him yesterday, and I shut him in a dog crate in the kitchen overnight. He had a huge bladder blockage, which I hope is now cleared. I'll try and find time to update this post later. 

**Not good news, he's got kidney failure. 50-50 if he makes it. They are keeping him in.**

Confusion

 1/4 -Mixed feeling for me today, there is talk that Steve will be home by the end of the week. As much as I want him home, the OT still hasn't been back and nothing has been done here to help Steve when he gets home. What I was concerned about today was that he seemed vacant and not concentrating at all, he also mentioned a cat on the bed, very odd! If he's still the same tomorrow I'll ask someone. 

2/4 - Last night things got worse, garbled messages on WhatsApp and Messenger, repetitive phone calls and odd conversations. He was telling me he didn't know why he was there and that he needed to get a man to Spain. He'd rung his daughter 6 times in 10 mins and had rung his sister telling her he was lost on the corridor and couldn't find his bed. He eventually told me to go away and hung up. I spoke to two nurses and explained the confusion, but they hadn't noticed anything wrong with him. I swear it's too late for April fool so something was not right ... probably the cocktail of mediation! Anyway I'm going in this morning as I need clarification, Steve is perfectly coherent today, but they really need to listen to what went on there yesterday!  

During my visit I spoke to a doctor about last nights calls and confusion, he says there is no infection, and he considered it to be opioid induced confusion, the pain therapist doesn't agree as Steve has been on morphine for so long, but she has no answers either.

I've just had a call from Steve, he has been diagnosed with low sodium levels and is on a drip for12 hrs. Could this have caused the confusion? I don't know! Anyway, his right leg is now also swollen and the doctor wants it raised to see if that will help, if not it'll be Nora Batty's stockings!

Steve Updates

29/3  - Though the surgery was a success, things haven't been going to plan. Steve has been in crippling, unbearable pain which the medical team have not been able to control as he was already on strong painkillers just to get through every day life. He has sadly also developed hospital acquired pneumonia, which has hampered his recovery further, and he's now on IV antibiotics as well as a cocktail of painkillers. I miss him so much and hope every day for better news.

1/4 - Yesterday, finally did bring better news, the pneumonia is under control and the pain had reduced just a fraction. Steve had managed, with assistance, to get to his feet and take about a dozen steps. He is eating a little better, but not drinking enough water which is not healthy for him. 

Orin and Siska are back together, which makes life so much easier. With the stops and starts at the beginning, not knowing where she was at in her season didn't help, I had to go with Orin's experience and his attitude towards me yesterday gave me an idea that I was now the most important bitch in his life again!!! 

Steve had decided that he would "fix" the benches in the yard and give them one more season, but hell they owe us nothing. I haven't told him yet but Fron Goch delivered two new ones last week and Frank assembled them for me. When Steve comes home he'll have to spend sometime in the extension, (bathroom and bedroom) but they lead straight into the yard, so maybe he will be able to spend a little time now sitting out. Here's hoping. We need a chair for the bedroom, the bed may have to be raised ... and he may need a thick cushion for other chairs in the house. I kind of though when he's able to get into the living room and into his chair that I could put a puppy pen around him, sounds daft I know but keeping him safe is paramount. 

Bottom photo - Steve with Mikey on one of the old benches, when it was new in July 2016 - not long before we lost Mikey. 

It's Not Getting Any Easier

Steve is really having a hard time, he's in excruciating pain, which is not believed to be directly connected to the hip. I've been googling, as I do, and a trapped/damaged nerve is a possibility, as is an infection because of the temperature spike yesterday. Following the spike they had taken bloods, but said the wound/scar was healing nicely. Steve is a very stoic man, he's lived with pain since his accident when he was 11, that's why the severity of this pain is obvious to all who know him.

Last night he really put me through the ringer, we always have a goodnight chat at 10pm, but last night he didn't answer. Between WhatsApp and Messenger, I must have phoned a dozen times, and by midnight I was really overthinking. After numerous calls to the ward, in the end I got through and was reassured that he was fast asleep and had been since about 9pm. When we spoke at 7am Steve was in severe pain and kept saying how hot and ill he was, I insisted he asked for help, but 9am he phoned me back and seemed himself again, by lunchtime he was in agony again. Anyway, he's gone for the MRI now and I'll get everyone fed so I can be over there about the time he gets back

I took this photo because that white flower is in full bloom, (of course I don't know what it is) it's one of his favourites and he's missing it this year! 

 

Kids

So Proud Of Her Work

She makes me laugh.

News

I've been inundated with messages asking how Steve is several times a day, hence me asking him if I could post on Facebook to keep people in the loop, I was surprised he agreed without quibble or question. 

My Facebook post - "Writing with Mr S' permission. Some of you know that Steve fell in the yard on Thursday and was unable to get up. After 4 hrs of lying in a cold, dark, windy, smoky yard (Yes the night of the fire) the paramedics came. He was taken to the hospital and had broken his hip. He had surgery on Saturday and due to the trauma and his mobility issues he will probably be in for a while. 

Thanks to all my lovely friends and family for their messages and I'm sorry it's taking me a while to answer everyone, but as everything else is going wrong too, I'm constantly chasing my tail. Siska is in full season making things hard, Beti has it on her due to lack of exercise and has emptied a cupboard, shredded the contents and shredded a rug. I've had a sheep in the top field two days in a row and today had to ask the farmer to come and get her, and the gate into the yard fell off its hinges. "Someone" (Ok Beti) got through the fencing in the garden and into the planted area, and now I've got toothache! LOL  Anyway, I really appreciate the messages and I'll update here as often as I can ... Thanks to everyone who are helping me with fencing and gates and generally keeping me sane .. ish!!!!"

Steve is still struggling, because he's been on morphine for so many years, his body is used to it and they are having difficulty getting his pain under control. He's still not up on his feet yet, before he can come home he'll need to be able to stand, walk with an aid and go up two steps. It is suggested that he initially stay in the bedroom and bathroom here, but now I'm not sure if the bed will be high enough or whether it will put the new hip at risk. They have given me a form to fill and I've got measurements to take before I go in today.

Siska is now on the peak of her season and life is difficult with Orin and Zeus. They both did eat this
morning, but initially considered not bothering. Orin started to sing about 5.30 am ... He may be Blanik Kyriacos, but he's no George Michael. 

Beti has been naughty, nothing major, but finding she wasn't in the garden the other day had my heart racing. Still she's as entertaining as every and she was very proud of her handy work emptying the cupboard in the utility room, and the new oblong rug is now square! Thanks to Ian who came to sort out the fencing in the garden for me. I couldn't believe that the yard gate decided to pick this week to fall off the wall. The wood holding it there simply crumpled, again friends came to the rescue, thank you Darryl. 

The farmer who came to pick up the sheep was very pleasant, not someone I've seen before, but in getting her out of the field he knocked more of the wall down than the sheep did coming in. Linda and I put our Bob the builder hats on this morning and blocked the gap as best as we could. I'm not attempting to rebuild the wall, knowing my luck at the moment I'd probably drop a large stone on my foot, break a finger, or something, but it will have to be sorted as the fallen rocks now give the sheep a ramp to walk up! 

Friends have been marvellous, even offering to come up and walk Beti for me. That is kind, but we have fields and as long as we can keep the sheep out then they have enough for now. Though Mum's mobility is now poor I did manage to take her with me to see Steve yesterday and my brother is coming up at the weekend so he'll visit too. I don't think Steve would be comfortable seeing many people, as is his nature, but it must help to see close friends and family. 

I will try to keep the blog up to date, but I guess posts will be less frequent now. 

And Still They Continue

Steve

Yesterday at around 4pm Steve fell in the yard, it became obvious pretty soon that something was seriously wrong and I rang 999. Steve was in excruciating pain, I've only heard him scream in pain once before and last night was horrendous. It took 4 hours for the ambulance to arrive, in that time it got cold, dark, windy and the air filled with smoke from the fire on Cilgwyn Mountain.

Steve has broken the ball and shattered the socket of his right hip, his good leg, or it was. He's having surgery tomorrow and I fear it will be a long way back and  I'll have a lot of  "nursing" to do. I don't begrudge it, I love him, but selfishly I'm sad it looks like I may have to cancel all my plans for April, well early April at least.