July provided a wealth of televised sport to watch, particularly World Cup cricket, Wimbledon tennis, and The Open golf. July also saw quite a few MND-related medical visits. One of these was the re-arranged appointment to measure me up for an electric wheelchair. I hadn’t expected the opportunity to test drive one, nor to be tested on how well I could navigate around obstacles. It seemed quite easy until they said, ‘Now do it going backwards.’ That was a lot trickier!
We had our quarterly clinical-trial visit to Sheffield hospital this month. Last time we were there I was still walking with just a stick; this time we had to find the wheelchair access ramp from the multi-storey car park, which wasn’t easy. The main pedestrian exit included a flight of steps so we had to turn back. We soon found ourselves at the head of a small ‘wagon train’ of wheelchair users, following a helpful car park attendant who led us to the unmarked wheelchair exit.
The Neurologist at Sheffield’s main concern was my still-swollen ‘broken’ foot, despite being out of ‘the boot’ for several weeks. He thought I might need a diuretic but also that lack of use might be a contributor. He recommended seeing my GP. Back in Nottingham, the Physio from the Community Neurology Team also suspected lack of use. She prescribed some exercises and wants me to go for a walk round the house, albeit with walking frame, every two hours. The slow walk to the utility and back is hardly inspiring! So far, I have noticed no improvement so await the GP’s view next week.
Physically, not a lot appears to have changed in the last month. Holding and using a pen has become noticeably more difficult as my hand function slowly deteriorates, and getting up out of the wheelchair seems more difficult than it was, but there have been no noticeable ‘landmarks’ where something suddenly becomes impossible for me. That is always something to be grateful for.
The good news this month is that we found another buyer for our Cuckfield house. Sadly for them, our original buyers couldn’t find another buyer for their London flat. Our new buyer has nothing to sell. It means repeating all the searches etc., which takes time, but all seems to be going well.
In Nottingham, work has started on a new wheelchair-friendly patio and paths as a precursor to installing a fixed wheelchair ramp. Progress with the paving work has not been smooth and has become something of a soap opera in its own right.
Work was originally due to start on 3 July but Dean, a local self-employed specialist builder, had to postpone as he’d had to ‘let go’ one of his team and the other was on holiday that week. Over the weekend, Dean’s lorry skidded and damaged a car. The lorry had to go into the garage to be checked over, and then had to have some repairs carried out, so two more postponements moved us on to 15 July. Dean and his assistant, Gavin, duly turned up, complete with mini-excavator etc., as promised, but then disappeared on another job for most of the day, but at least we’d started!
Two days later, Gavin went off sick with a dental abscess, and over the following weekend, he was kicked out by his girlfriend and promptly disappeared! If Gavin didn’t reappear, Dean was hoping to recruit Gavin’s stepson but eventually Dean turned up with his own nephew. The nephew had a broken hand, so couldn’t do too much, but progress was made, until halted by the absurdly hot weather on 24/25 July (to be fair, Dean is 57, and it’s hard work), but all is now ready to begin laying the Indian sandstone; except that Dean’s builders merchant has run out! The next delivery was due on 31st, but didn’t arrive, so we hope for a resumption soon. You really couldn’t make it up!!