Soop's welcoming kitchen for kindly caring folk...

Doodle re the gardening I think the reality of it all is starting to sink in and that there are certain things he can do and those he can't do he can direct others to do. I think it says a lot about both of us that I got to the point of accepting and doing that faster than Himself has done, perhaps that is a girl thing?! Maybe I am just naturally a director?
Sadly, our gardening friend is very unwell at present so he can't help currently. When he was working in the garden he never made Himself think that he was actually disabled and they used to do things 'together' in a particularly kindly way. Now it is costing a fortune to get professionals in rather than it being done for 'love and peanuts' and that seems to have hit Himself in a different way, making him think quite deeply about how special the relationship with his friend actually is. Money is not the issue but the support mentally was beyond price. We always did appreciate our gardening friend but never more so than now. We are supporting him now and trying to help him, hoping that he gets better, hopefully faster too, so that they can get bsck to 'normality'. There are some very special people about and we need to look after them!

I am having to be careful what I am doing currently as I am having terrific back problems which are making sleep very difficult. I am now losing feeling in the other leg and foot and experiencing such pain. I suppose I am going to have to reconsider the surgery but the chances of success are not as high as I could wish, I am praying for a miracle as thst would be my best option. Anyone else having issues with a collapsing spine and with advice to offer?

Dear Synonymous, I wish with all my heart that I could offer more than kind words to support you through your ordeal. The spine is such a complex structure. When it works, it is a miracle of "engineering", when it begins to wear away, it is an ongoing nightmare. If surgery could improve your quality of life, even slightly, I would suggest that you consider it to be an option worth talking through with the experts.
My rectal hernia surgery will not guarantee a positive outcome. It may, in fact, cause additional side effects. Yet, I feel duty bound (to myself) to have it done.
I'm sending you all the positive vibes that I can muster.

Hello all. Absolutely what soop says, Syn (sorry typed that so won’t miss-spell!). Once you have all the info you owe it to yourself to look at the best chances of improvement. Hope I can say, only tongue in cheek because I’m the world’s worst, maybe disintegrating spine, back pain and gardening are never going to be best mates! ?. So, do try to be sensible (at least most of the time!)

Having a lucky day here - our electric toothbrush is now refusing to charge up. The guarantee expires the day after tomorrow. We’re off to the store this p.m. Was I in a tizz when I looked at the receipt and rushed to see what is today’s date.......

Have an easy afternoon, whatever your plan

Hugs from French ?? France

Synonymous it sounds like you are having a terrible time just now. ? Although I can't help, I can sympathise. Soop you too have health problems so ? for you too. And for anyone who is suffering.

Grandmabatty It is surprising how comforting kind words can be. Thank you. x

Grandmafrench Happy electric toothbrush shopping.
I've not achieved an awful lot today. Although I have polished and washed the floors. I was about to read my book, made a wee bit of headway, lovely neighbour popped in for a "quick chat".

Logging off. Time to help prepare the evening meal. The weather is humid and I find that it is also draining of one's energy.

Thinking of you all. Be kind to yourselves.

Thank you so much for kind words, I agree with soop that it is very comforting. I have become accustomed to saying "I'm fine" because it is nothing visible and just too complicated. Himself has such visible problems - its quite enough to be going on with.
TOYA

Synonymous it is good to hear your DH has such a good friend. Perhaps it might help your DH to know that he can support his friend for a change. Good friends are precious.
Reading your second post, do you think it’s wise to be helping out in the garden? I am sorry to hear you are in pain and having problems. No advice, sorry, just my very best wishes.
Grandmafrench I once took an iron back to the store on the last day of warranty. They gave me a new one. I was very impressed. ?
TOYA ?

Synonymous I tell soop often enough to rest and you really should as well. Gardening is the last thing you should be doing.

Susan I hope you and DH have made the correct decision-it really is too much for the pair of you.

Yesterday I had to make an emergency dental appointment- one week's time. I suppose I should be thankful because a few months ago I would be here in pain with no light at the end of the tunnel.
TOYA

dear Doodle - and you got your iron because you were right. Do you recall the phrase "the customer is always right" ?
Well that's a phrase that nobody has said in France. EVER.
You could write a book on the cunning wheezes they come up with to get you out of the shop and onto someone else's to do list!

However, today was relatively straightforward. We were given a receipt after he did actually listen to the problem and then told that we will hear about a repair or replacement 'within 15 days' - that literally translated means, 'you'll need to phone us after a couple of weeks because we'll have forgotten all about it'. So.....we have bought two new toothbrushes and will wait, patiently. Customer service at its best!

Charley how miserable, please hang in there. Tooth problems are horrid especially when you have to wait. Hope, at least, pain doesn't stop you from sleeping.

Grandamafrench thankfully not a lot does. It is mainly gums as opposed to teeth at present. I hate dentists but I cannot wait for next Monday!

Charley,I have decided that we should stay at home especially now we have been told we can watch the funeral by a link that will be sent to us.DH still feeling undecided but you are right,it would be too much for us.

I hope you are managing to keep on top of the tooth pain and get some rest tonight.

Synonomous, I agree with everyone who has said that you really shouldn’t be gardening.I hope you too manage to get some sleep tonight.

TOYA

I’m pleased you’ve decided to stay home susan, you will be there in spirit and can feel a part of the goodbye through the video link. Exhausting yourselves truly wouldn’t benefit anyone.

That sounds painful charley, hope there is some relief after your appointment on Monday.

Please take it easy synonymous, that gap between instinct and what is sensible can trip us up.

Mr C’s successful (5 minute) visit to audiology today means he can hear again. One of us thinks that’s a positive thing .

Take care everyone, it seems a dangerous world out there

Synonymous my Mum had surgery on her spine well into her 80s, which made a tremendous difference to her. She ended up with a ladder kind of structure to reinforce her lower back. She recovered relatively quickly but was a most awful patient!

Synonymous if you do decide to have back surgery please choose your surgeon carefully and only have somebody who does zilch else but backs or better still, a neurosurgeon.

Susan the world and his wife is in a car in London at present because few want to use public transport. Covid 19 rates have risen again- it really would be safer to stay at home. Anything more I can do to persuade your DH?!
TOYA

Thank you for the concern but I am truly doing very little as I just can't. I just organise the help we need. My main new gardener is very aware of my problems and insists that the most I should do is put on a big sun hat, take my basket and secateurs and cut myself some flowers and only cut off dead heads if I don't need to stretch. She makes me laugh! That is often more than I can do anyway and rarely do anything as much as that. I 'work' on the phone trying to organise whatever help I can. One of my friends used to call me the chief of the 'heckareyou' tribe because I am always asking where all the help are!
I have put off ringing the doc as it is all so pesky difficult currently and even thinking about it steals my energy- so how pathetic is that? I suppose I just kmow how this will go medically and have so much on my plate atm that I don't feel I can.
My little sis comes for a fortnight next Wednesday and will help me to move us and everything else out of our bedroom to get ready for the ensuite being made into a wet room. This is supposed to happen before the end of the month and DD arrives then too! I have furniture to get shot of and the young couple who want it have no way of getting it home now that our gardener friend is so unwell. I often tell myself that I cannot take on every problem and need to encourage others to get on with it but that is not easy either. If the furniture doesn't go DD's furniture can't be moved in so I suppose I need to give the couple a deadline and then get the British Heart Foundation to take it.. There we are, just need to chat it over with my kitchen friends and a solution suddenly comes!

Took me ages to write that so crossed posts Charleyg but that is a very good point so thank you. I don't think I was aware that you would be able to choose on the NHS but then I have been trying not to think about it at all!

Good Afternoon.......just.......from West Wales where I am pleased to add the sun is making a welcome appearance, following a day of grey mist.

Always good to pay a visit into this sanctuary, although rather upset at hearing that life continues to be so problematic Synonymous.
Although there will be continued hurdles of varying heights and depths to cross, your man has achieved virtually the unthinkable...........but sadly very often overcoming still only brings further glitches.
Being the avid gardeners you once were, of course the accident,your move, and the creating of a new garden does not quite work hand in hand.
Your helper certainly has been a great uplift,but here again sadly, there are life`s glitches making problems.
Obviously you will have been overdoing things yourself and sadly, the picture of a lady in a billowing hat,basket and secateurs cutting flowers for the house is the ideal...............but so often far from what happens.
Rest of course very often is the buzz word, but having overcome so many of life`s bigger problems, it is never easy to hand over now,although quite obviously this would be sensible.
Anyway how fortunate are we all for the comforting posts and loving care shown by so many visiting Soop`s Kitchen.
I can but wish you continued blessings,knowing very well,you will overcome,perhaps not exactly as you would wish............but you both will get there!

Whilst Soop you are the heartbeat that keeps our sanctuary open and welcoming,we all come back and have our say,however bad things are and never mind how long the gap............you always welcome us with open arms.

A very wise decision Susan as I dread to think what travelling in some areas maybe like,and with this dreaded virus creeping upwards........ safety and home certainly seem the safest place to be.
Friends headed off to Portmeirion in Mid Wales for a few days break,yet actually failed to get into the Village............such were the crowds...........with social distancing long forgotten.

I know exactly what you mean Cornergran your man again hearing follwing an audiology clinic visit!!!!!
Time to duck perhaps!!

Commiserations CharleyG,hopefully your misery will be a thing of the past...soon.

Life is beginning to open up again in our Extra Care Sheltered Housing, although quite frankly many of the services have badly slipped since Lockdown......we continue to stay semi shielding and that is where we shall stay.
Hoping of course for an early respite, with a vaccine being available,although this morning there certainly seemed to be a question this may not even happen.
Our ray of hope vanishing would be hugely disappointing to put it mildly.

Thinking of you all and sending oodles of blessings your way,do please stay safe.

Susan We were able to "attend" the funeral of a close family member via a link arranged on our behalf. We felt very much a part of the service. We certainly could not have made the long journey from Scotland to the Midlands. You have made a wise choice.

Synonymous I understand how easy it seems to reply to the question - how are you? - with a - not so bad, when nothing could be further from the truth. The only person who knows the extent of the buggerations that I experience, is MacSporran. He helps to keep me sane. My love goes out to you.

corner I had to share the news of your husband's visit to audiology with my hard of hearing beloved man. We both chortled.

Charleyg Best get the dentist appointment over and done with. When you leave the surgery, you will feel a whole lot better than when you entered. Trust me.

Grandmafrench Us lot will organise a protest march, with banners, if your toothbrush repair isn't dealt with speedily and without further hassle.

Charley, please don't 'hate dentists'! Some of them - maybe most of them - are lovely people. Mine is a dishy young man and I would be proud if I were his mother! He is also a big expert on root canals. Learn to love your dentist!
Syn, I feel quite dizzy reading about the number of balls you're keeping in the air. Rather you than me. Take good care of yourself and have a 'sit down' when you feel the need.

Whispering. I quite like my dentist! Though he did break one if our best glasses last night!

anno

kitty Ditto!

Log off time. I've finished reading 'Set In Stone' by Robert Goddard for the second time. It still managed to keep me guessing.

I am thinking of you all - especially those of you who are needing extra tender loving care.

I shall be back in our kitchen tomorrow. Try to behave

Afternoon all,

Sorry I have been absent.

I wish my dentist would just open appointments Anno , I'm quite desperate and although I feel i have an urgent issue the dentist triage doesn't seem to agree . I am very disheartened by the whole thing.

I'm just sending my best wishes to all - I have lost all impetus so will try and do better :-)

xx

Nanny&G oh, you have my sympathy. Nothing worse than someone being Nurse in the Middle if she has no empathy or maybe a lot of common sense! Would Mr N&G be any good 'phoning on your behalf ? It often works better if you have an advocate to plead your case and he could simply ask for the best time to actually speak to the Dentist! Very important etc.,!

I one had what looked like a piece of copper piping fixing around my tooth - an unfinished job. I was told by the Dentist's Wife that I would have to wait 2 weeks for an appointment when I phoned in tears because my tongue was covered in ulcers from the jagged edge of the copper where he had cut and fitted it. She refused to give me an earlier appointment and we went away for a planned weekend. I could barely speak or eat. My DH phoned whilst we were away and spoke to the Dentist himself and I had an appointment on my return. When I opened my mouth, the Dentist almost fell over. He couldn't apologise enough...he was mortified and quite upset at what he had done. And, of course, he didn't know! He said always always speak directly to the Dentist if you have real difficulties. Hope you have some luck. (If not, maybe pop around to Kitty's? - But take your own glass!)

So glad you're safe Panache and still full of wise words, of course. One day this Covid Siege will end and we'll be afforded the freedom of the streets when and where we like. Won't that be fun. In the meantime, treasuring each day and being determined to suck the best out of life is all we have. Let's do it!

Soop you are funny - not just any old demonstration, but banners too? My toothbrush situation will hopefully be resolved quicker than my tumble dryer (which took 9 months); but I shall let you all know so that, if necessary, diaries can be synchronised and Grans'r'Us can book a crossing to come out here and picket on my behalf. (At least the weather will be nice!) Thanks in advance.

Glad the Audiology Dept., entertained you, Corner - you certainly entertained us. Hope that DH can embrace all the new sounds now! Synonymous It's not that hard to organise things when you leave others to get on with their own arrangements. If they really want new furniture, people really need to make a bit of an effort, but when you impose your own timescale you're not going to be the one involved in or left with their problems. That's important. It'll be so exciting when the new wet room is finished, up and running, and your DD is installed. You may even find another pair of hands about the place is a distinct advantage. Have a good evening and please rest that back!!

N&G, I'm so cross on your behalf that you can't get a dentist's appointment. I know that they can't take as many patients per day as usual because of the need to sanitise the rooms, but they might keep an emergency hour each day. I think that was the case when my crowned front tooth fell out! I was seen pronto.
DS1 has Whatsapped from Turkey. He and his partner have taken a chance on that since it wasn't mentioned in the Govt's lists for quarantining. I hope the risk pays off. Not sure I'd have taken it.
I had a haircut yesterday and thought she had taken off too much on top and not enough at the back. However, when I brushed it this morning it had bounced back and I have forgiven my hairdresser!