Catch up

It's way over time since I blogged.  Sorry about that, but here I am now.  Since I was last here I think I've got used to the idea of being discharged from the mental health services ... sort of, though I still haven't heard anything from health psychology.  Next week will be the four week marker since my GP said he'd refer me, so I guess if I haven't heard anything by then it might be an idea to get back to my GP and ask if he can chase it up, seeing as he'd said I should hear within four weeks.

I've been somewhat distracted from all the mental health stuff recently, which is probably no bad thing, except that the distraction has been carpal tunnel syndrome surgery on my left hand.  You may remember that I had the same surgery on the right hand at the beginning of December, which has pretty much healed now.  I can still feel some stiffness in the area of the surgery and some slightly altered sensation around the scar, but mostly it's pretty good and the scar is hardly visible.  I had the same operation done on the left hand last Thursday (15th March).  I had to be at the hospital for 8am so W, who was going to be looking after me in the immediate aftermath, came to stay on the Wednesday night.  We actually had a really lovely evening as we went for an early pizza at the Italian restaurant down the road - Vincenzo's (used to be called Peppy's) - before going to Northern Stage to see the comedian Chris Addison, who was very funny.  It was just what I needed to take my mind of the next day's surgery :o)

All went well with the surgery, although I had to wait until the end of the operating list because of being MRSA positive, so I didn't actually go down to theatre until just after midday.  However, I was back on the ward by 12.50pm and we were back home by 2pm!

As was the case when I had the surgery on my right hand, I've had quite a lot of pain, but I've mostly kept it under control with paracetamol, codeine, and nefopam.  Today has been the first day without the sling, and it's been great to have a bit more freedom, although my hand and arm have been quite achy.

So anyway, W was brilliant and looked after me wonderfully all day Thursday and she stayed until Friday evening.  My mum then came from Friday evening until Tuesday afternoon, and it was so lovely to spend some quality time with her while I'm not in hospital.  It was also very lovely to have her here on Mothering Sunday :o)  My dad came round for lunch on the Saturday as well, which was also very lovely.  Mum had made roasted red pepper and sweet potato soup, cheese scones, and courgette and cheese muffins, which were all delicious :o)  After we'd enjoyed the little feast the three of us went for a walk/trundle in one of the local parks, then came back for a cup of tea before Mum took Dad back home.  My parents split up when I was nine years old, and for many years they had a volatile relationship after that.  Lovely times with both my parents (especially just with the three of us) have been a rarity in my life, and it may well be something like thirty years since I've had such a lovely time with them on my own as I had on Saturday.  It felt special somehow.  My parents have known each other since they were sixteen years old, and I think they both enjoyed talking about those young days together...

I hope we can all do it again sometime.

Mum and I had been going to go out to a National Trust place on Sunday - to Gibside - but Mum had also wanted to catch up with one of her friends and the only time this friend could manage was sometime on Sunday afternoon.  Still, we went for a walk/trundle in the park and had a nice time together.  And on Monday evening we went to a talk at the university by Tess Gallagher, which was very interesting and good fun too.

During her stay here Mum did a lot of crochet, using one of two books that I gave her for Christmas.  She's been teaching herself and has learnt a lot in such a short time.  She's making various tray-cloths etc at the moment while she teaches herself and practises new stitches/patterns.  They're amazing, and she makes them so quickly.  It made me want to get on with some more cross-stitch.  I ended up buying several online, which were all delivered while Mum was here, and now I'm desperate to be getting on with them.  It's difficult with only one fully-functional hand, but I think I'm going to be giving it a go and seeing how I get on.  I'm impatient!

Mum went home on Tuesday and I'm missing her already.  It won't be long till I see her again though, as I'm going up to Edinburgh in a couple of weeks time for Easter :o)  I booked my train at the beginning of last week and J, my step-dad, has booked the ramp for me to be able to get into their house, so we're all set :o)

Things are still in progress regarding my grant application to Motability.  I've had a couple of phone calls from them, so I know they're considering my application, and I'm hoping that I might hear from them with an answer sometime next week.  I'll let you know when I know.

Well that's about it for now.  A bit of a catch up post.