MND can get in the sea

In the weeks since the last blog, we've been busy doing some really worthwhile and positive things, but unfortunately in the days in between, I have been feeling very sad, frustrated and annoyed with my situation.  We will start with a positive – I received the results of the biopsy I had taken of my nose.  I had a persistently bleeding area which looked suspicious of skin cancer, but the results came back as sun-damage only and since having the area removed, I have had no further problems.  This is a relief as it was liable to bleed at every knock and when other people are getting you dressed, they may not always remember to take particular care not to touch it with jumpers etc. Another positive came in the form of a parcel from John which contained a signed Derby County FC shirt!  As Alice took the photo of me holding it up, she noted I was already wearing a Derby top and scarf, so this really completed the look! So, although there is plenty of good, th...

I've had a fortnight of sleeping downstairs in my new bedroom now and it's going very well. Alice surprised me with some Derby County duvet covers and they're keeping me cosy.  It's certainly quiet. Alice's room is at the front of the house and when she asks me if I heard a car alarm going off, a cat scrap, a fox screeching, or an owl hooting in the woods opposite, I say that I didn't. My room is at the back and there is very little noise in the back gardens that overlook my new abode.  With my strength and mobility compromised, the profile bed is very helpful. I can use the handrails to turn over in bed to my preferred foetal position, and I can raise it to assist getting out of bed in the morning. The end of summer rain showers that we've had in Britain have been rattling on the flat roof, which is quite comforting when I'm tucked up in the warmth of my bed. Teddy hasn't slept on the bed with me yet, he just waits until I'm up - che...

There hasn't been much Teddy the cat talk recently in this blog, mainly as he has settled into a summer routine of finding some shade to snooze, prowling the neighbourhood, interacting with other cats until dusk, and sleeping indoors overnight. No naughty antics like getting stuck somewhere, biting our visitors, or running around the house in the middle of the night. There has been no news to tell really, but this week he has been back in the headlines.  He brought a vole indoors one evening, and after a game of hide and seek around the house, the poor little rodent managed to get behind our fireplace, with Teddy trying to sniff him out. Alice wasn't going to go anywhere near the action, and I am absolutely no use from my wheelchair, so we had to call Matthew and Fin to come over and rescue the petrified vole. It took them over an hour to get to our furry little friend, with Alice screeching out orders, me listening from another room, and Teddy waiting outside impatiently, read...

#mndcangetinthesea went on a cruise!  Alice and I spent a week in Spain, Portugal, Guernsey, the Atlantic and the English channel aboard P&O's Ventura. The weather was hot, and we ate very well, enjoyed the shows, quizzes, talks, and late night rhubarb bellinis in the piano bar. We didn't get off in Vigo as we have already been there so we took advantage of the quiet ship to visit the spa and sunbathe on the deck. Lisbon was nice, if a little urban, St Peter's Point was much like many other sailing towns, but Porto was beautiful, and by far our favourite. The banks of the Douro are dotted with red tiled white houses, and the cable car up to the bridge, gave us amazing picturesque views up and down the river.  Unfortunately we couldn't book an accessible room, so we had to take the manual wheelchair, which didn't fit through the cabin door, so Alice had to help me in, then go and fold up the chair and bring it in. S...