Black Dog 10

Hi all x

Sorry haven’t been here for few days, don’t have UTI, seems the muscle wastage in my legs has now reached my pelvis , this took time to accept.

Please my friends keep walking and make your husbands keep
walking, I am paying the price of withdrawing from the outside
world , don’t do the same x

Nonnie- hope you are able to persuade your DH to get out a bit more. I understand how he feels as I was very reluctant but we have been getting out more and I,m enjoying it. Otherwise we are wasting precious time and need to do things while we can.
Doodle - an iPad stand is a good idea for your DH. We have all used our devices more in lockdown and it does affect your posture. I always put 2 cushions under mine but a stand sounds great. Hope it helps . Had a nice walk today and eventually the sun came out- where has our Summer gone?
Annie- good news you don’t have a UTI but sorry that your muscle wastage has deteriorated so much. I,m so grateful that I am able to walk well and really believe in the saying Use it or Lose it!, I do wish you were able to get out in the world again- your wheelchair could make that happen if you had the right help. Sending a big hug
Had a visit from my GD yesterday and she is dealing with her sadness so well. It’s so hard when there is nothing we can do to make it better.
Love to all x

Ellie Anne sorry your anniversary wasn’t so much of a celebration. I hope you are pleased with your new haircut.
I like a bob, much easier to handle.
Annie that is not good news. Are you in pain? Is there anything that can be done for you to be more comfortable. Don’t blame yourself for your predicament. You couldn’t go outside. Sometimes there are things we just cannot do. But I do blame the NHS for not taking better care of you. So long without any help and when they do promise something it is always tomorrow and never today. Take care x
Scaredycat you are right. We need to do things while we can. As Annie says, keep moving. Good to hear your GD is coping. So sad when those we love hurt.
Hope all have a good night’s sleep. Take care all x

Puzzled

Looks like some have misunderstood my posts on BlackDog 9.
Definitely NOT trying to force anyone to be cheerful.
The idea was to be supportive, and suggest that when down, thinking of an achievement can help to lift the mood.
"Nothing succeeds like success" and all that.

When things look black, remembering a success can help to lighten the mood
The darkest time is just before dawn.
So the rest of us try to bring the lightening sky forward..

Seems fine advice to me

Doodle that sounds like a good idea, posture can play a big part in back pain but back pain could be the cause of the posture. If you ever find out let me know so I can cure DH

BlueSky they say opposites attract! Glad to hear you enjoyed the sea.

Scardycat DH sees his consultant on Friday after which I will not accept any excuses . He has just stopped the serious pain meds because he wants to have a drink with DS tonight while watching the football.

So hard when a loved one has such pain.

This is the one time of year when I watch daytime TV. Now going to sit and watch Dan Evans and will him on.

Ellie Anne worth the effort to get the hair done I hope.

Annie good advice, use it or lose it.

Hello all.
What a day. ?. Decided to take some clothes to the charity shop and some textiles (old fabric things) to the recycling bins.
Looked up where the local council had a textile bin and we parked in the nearest car park at Sainsbury’s and walked from there. Firstly we walked through the park as the bins were supposed to be in the road the other side of the park. No bins. Then we walked down the nearest 2 or 3 roads, no bins. Then we saw a sign that said recycle centre. Followed the arrow only to find ourselves at a COVID testing centre instead. By this time we’d been walking about 40 minutes carrying bags of things for recycling. At this point we decided to go back to the car. Walked all the way back to Sainsbury’s car park and there, just outside the entrance ………was a textiles bin ?. We didn’t see it on the way out.
Had a scam text message from Royal Mail this morning telling me they had an item which had unpaid postage on it. So easy to be conned these days.
Nonnie DH is a bit better today I think. The ibuprofen seem to be helping.
Annie hope you and all the BDG are ok. Take care all x

Hi all x

I posted yesterday and it isn’t here, damn iPad.

Not a good day yesterday Doodle I did say walk but you went
over the top didn’t you x

I have some firm coming this morning to measure up all things
connected to the heating, pipes , radiators etc, ?

My mini tornado had her results , she got a 1st , when I think of the three years she has had I had hopes of a 2-1. She is coming to see me tomorrow.

How is everyone ?

Doodle they moved those bins when you were not looking . Not that I want to stop you walking but did you know many charity shops will take old clothes for recycling. We used to have one which would take absolutely anything except old duvets and currently have one which will even take those. Old books get pulped, not sure if they can do anything with electricals, haven't asked.

I've had that scam from RM and also from DHL.

WELL DONE MT!! And proud Grandma too.

Yet another mini drama hre. Noticed a big bruise on my calf where I have varicose veins. Looked at NHS website, told me I would bleed to death! Rang 111, they got a medic to call me, she suggested it could be the statins I have just started taking and not to take them again until I had a blood test for low platelets. Told me to speak to GP within 12 hours. Rang surgery, they said a GP would call me at 1830 and also booked me a blood test for 16th July. Clearly not urgent then. GP rang and said to carry on taking statins, look out for more bruising and carry on as normal until the blood test! I am so grateful I don't have health anxiety like so many of you. I simply wouldn't cope with all that has happened in the last 10 days. I think my people anxiety is easier to cope with.

Morning all x
Nonnie yes good job you don’t have health anxiety! I’ve got it at the moment as further to my stomach ultrasound 8 months ago, (!) they now want to do a MRI. Well I’ve been beside myself scouring the net but not reassurance there.
Annie congratulations to your MT! You must be so proud!
Hope you’ll all have a pleasant afternoon x

Afternoon everybody.
Nonnie- I hope your DH enjoyed the football last night as much as we did - it was brilliant. All my family love football and our Whats App group nearly exploded. Such a boost for the country .
As you say it’s a good job you don,t have health anxiety with all you have had to cope with lately. Thank goodness there doesn’t appear any urgency from your surgery. I panic if I find something the size of a pin head that wasn’t there the day before!!
Annie - how proud you must be of your MT - what a result. She has such strength of character to manage that after all that has happened. I hope you have a lovely time with her today.
Blue Sky - try and stay away from Dr Google ! I,m a fine one to talk but it really does help if you can distract yourself from it. Have another lovely day by the sea when the sun shines!
Wishing all BDG a pleasant eveningxx

Well done to your granddaughter Annie. What was she studying?
I feel like I’m an awful moan when I read the posts and see how difficult things are for so many people.
I’ve been out walking today . I’m so thankful I can do that. And trying to tidy up the garden.
But somehow the dark clouds still get into your mind no matter how much you tell yourself that you are very fortunate.
If only there was a magic pill!

As you will have noticed, Humduh your comment (with which I agree) has been ignored. This is a very closed thread - only certain views are allowed.

Well done MT You must be very proud Annie
Sorry to hear about your hip.
Please look after yourself.

Oh Annie I am so pleased for your MT. You must be so proud of her having achieved that after all she has been through. Wonderful news. ?
Have you got troubles with your heating?
Nonnie we do take clothes to the charity shop but the textiles were bits of cloth, an old duvet cover and some of DHs old socks. We have lots of charity shops round here and do our best to keep them fully stocked ?
DH and I both bruise easily. Dh in particular. His arms are black and blue.
Bluesky if it’s taken them 8 months to contact you I wouldn’t think it was serious. They often do follow up scans just to make sure things are ok. My neighbour has had 3 breast scans two biopsies and a CT scan before being told there was nothing of concern and being discharged. Hard as it is, please try not to worry.
scaredycat glad you enjoyed the football. Not our thing but nice for those who enjoy it to get a win. Hope you have a good evening too.
Ellie Anne there is no such thing as moaning on this thread. No one here expects you to be full of beans if you’re not.
That’s what all the other threads are for. This is one for those who are having worries so never fear you are always welcome here.
Polly we are not a closed thread nor are we ignoring anyone.
It is hard to explain but there are many threads people can go on to chat with others or to mention a particular worry.
What we don’t want to do here is to tell people who post, pull your socks up. Come on be happy, it may never happen.
Those comments can be on other threads with no problem.
What we try to do here is to say you can come on and be depressed /sad or anxious and talk about it with others who have been through the same. Some people can’t cope with being told to look on the bright side of life or others are worse off then you.
There has never been anyone who has been excluded from this thread all are welcome. In my time posting here there have been many, many people who have been on this thread, got support and moved on. Others dip in and out. Sorry if it’s hard to understand that, we don’t mean to exclude anyone but don’t know what else to say. I will go back and look at the posts but I’m sure I replied as did some others.

Well Polly I’ve been back through the posts and I think you will find that several of us replied to Puzzled and explained our thoughts, I wished him well in reapplying for his driving licence. Annie and I and others replied to you.
I see no reason to reply to Humduh as I assumed the response was to Puzzler. We had already replied to Puzzler ourselves so no reason to reply again to someone who has presumably read our response.
Not quite sure why you think that is wrong, if Humduh was trying to engage then just copying someone else’s post and saying seems fine advice to me doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone is expected to respond surely.
Sorry we seem to have upset you for some reason but we are trying to respond as best we can.

Doodle thank you you are right of course. I just get myself in a right panic mode. The problem is I didn’t have a follow up sooner because we were back in full pandemic. Will now try to book an appointment as soon as possible and I’ll go from there. Thanks again. Goodnight all x

Hi all x

As someone who has been on Black Dog threads from day 1, and this thread is the 11th thread , that’s a lotta posts, and so many lovely people have posted and all have been welcomed.

I would like to draw attention to the O/P, the words ‘understanding and sharing’, understanding of mental health
problems is so important, many with mental health problems
have loving families but this doesn’t mean their families understand.

We ‘don’t do’ Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life on this
thread . We understand , support , share and care for all who
have anxiety, depression, OCD, phobias, because we KNOW
how these affect day to day living, we know because we experience these , and everyone has always been welcomed to
join with us and know they are not alone.

Well said Annie there have been many who’ve come to this thread for a bit of understanding in hard times.

Polly if you ever feel you need to chat you you would be welcome. I realise our type of help is perhaps not what you are looking for but nevertheless you would always receive support here. I hope your Daughter is getting the help and support she needs and you have someone to talk to and share your worries with.

Evening all. Been a warm day here.
Very lazy day today, not done much. Thought I’d make bubble and squeak for dinner but decided to be lazy and do it in the blender . Has anyone else ever tried bubble and squeak purée …..not good.
Not going out over the weekend. It’s too busy here by the river so many out and about.
Annie how have you been today? Is everyone ok?

BlueSky understandable but maybe they won't find anything nasty? I think they might have done it sooner if they thought there was something to worry about. Hope it is soon.

Scardycat I can see why you chose your name it must be so hard to cope with that HA.

Ellie Anne no magic pill but perhaps you would feel far worse if you didn't go for those walks and keep busy? I suggest that because those are the things which keep me going at times.

Polly12 Wed 30-Jun-21 21:21:30 I don't recognise your statement and I have been here a very long time. Has it occurred to you that you are being very judgemental? Not something the BDG is familiar with. And what Doodle said so well.

Sorry Doodle must have put it badly, ours take rags etc, I keep a bag for just those which I give them separately. Those odd socks which appear from time to time go in.

Oooh, sounds like B & S smoothie is not a success! Haven't had B & S for ages, might buy some cabbage just for that.

Boys night again tonight. To celebrate DH being signed off completely for his knee I bought pork pies and pork scrachings for them to eat during the match. I never eat or buy such things so I hope they appreciate it.

Annie good to reiterate that.

Keeping busy does help me. I walked this morning but felt a bit weary. Maybe due to being wakened up through the night with terrible cramp.
Other days I could walk for miles.
For some reason I always feel lower at weekends especially Saturday which is weird because since lockdown my week day activities have been cancelled.

Hello all
Doodle - Ooh Bubble and squeak purée - yuk? We had a warm day yesterday but rain again today - still walked though I really miss it if I don’t go. Hope you have a nice restful weekend.
Nonnie - you are right walks and keeping busy definitely help at those times when you can’t turn your head off. Hope your boys night is a success it sounds fun. We,ll be glued to the tele tonight- how I wish my Dad was alive to watch these big football occasions. It was him who gave me my love of the game. Your boys will love those porky treats.
Ellie Anne- sorry you had cramp it is so painful isn’t it. Hope you have a better walk tomorrow . Weekends can be bad and can feel,like everyone else is having a better time- not true but that’s what it feels like sometimes. I hope you can soon start the activities you enjoy again.
Annie- hope you are ok today
Love to all

Nonnie I’m not a football fan but if you’re serving pork pies I may pop over. I have a very savoury tooth. Far prefer salt to chocolate but neither are good for you. Your DH being signed off is a good cause for celebration.
Ellie Anne my DH suffers badly from cramp too. He takes Quinine for it. You could try some tonic water as there is quinine in that.
Scaredycat not sure about a restful weekend, although we are not going out we are very busy having a tidy up. It’s amazing how much stuff you can acquire that you don’t need really. I see you are another football fan.
Annie hope you are ok.

Well I had a lovely surprise today. We have hundreds (possibly thousands) of photographs. Some from before I was born. I am trying to sort them into some sort of order and came across a small brown bag which had my name on it. When I looked inside it was photos of me as a child. Some with my brother and some with my mum and dad. I have a really bad memory but even so I cannot ever remember seeing these photos before. I know they belonged to my SIL as she had written on the back but whether I got them from her or her son after she died I do not know. It was so lovely to see a photo of me as a child with my mum and dad. I only have a handful. It made me quite emotional.
Hope you all have a good weekend. Take care x

Evening all x Guess you are all watching ‘the match?’ I’m not usually a football fan but I’ve watched most of the Euro 2020 matches. We would normally be on holiday somewhere in Europe and the atmosphere would be fantastic! Still things are getting a bit more what they used to be.
Doodle I have a box of old photos retrieved from my parents’ house with photos of me as a child, also mum and dad as a young couple. Such precious memories.
I’m finding this warmer weather uncomfortable, again must be a combination of my medication and getting older, as it never used to bother me.
Hope you are all having a peaceful night x