‘Flaming June’ is finally living up to its epithet at the very end of the month, but otherwise it has been a pretty awful month, weather wise. Our daughter, Fiona, had a ‘big’ birthday early in the month so we hosted a celebratory family BBQ on 2nd. It was a showery afternoon, which kept most people indoors, but with sufficient dry periods for the children to have a run-around in the garden.
My main planned outing of the month was also a victim of the weather. We had tickets for the Nottingham Open Tennis on 11th, with a front-row wheelchair space booked for me, and a disabled parking space reserved. Sadly, on the day, it rained….and rained….and rained. Not a ball was struck. It did look like the Cricket World Cup was also going to be badly affected, too, with 4 matches rained off early on, but the rest of the games survived the rain, so I have spent many happy hours this month engrossed in televised cricket.
The good news this month is that ‘the boot’ is off. The broken foot remains remarkably swollen, and ‘twinges’ from the ankle mean I don’t dare walk on it without the security of the walking frame; but my fatigue level prevents me walking far anyway. Most of my time, now, is spent in the wheelchair.
Much of the focus in my recent blogs has been on my misadventures resulting from the unreliability of my legs. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of my hands has continued to deteriorate steadily. Nothing happens suddenly with MND but sometimes it appears that way when the deterioration reaches a point where, seemingly suddenly, you can no longer do something you’ve always done. A few weeks ago, for example, I found I could no longer push tablets out of blister packs. Instead, I have to slit the foil covering and peel it back to extract a tablet.
My left hand is now permanently clenched as I can’t straighten any of the fingers, although I can grip things still if, say, a fork is put into my hand. My right hand is a little better. The index finger still functions, allowing me to type, and I can partially straighten the middle and ring fingers, so I can still grip a beer or wine glass, but getting dressed/undressed is difficult without assistance from Doreen.
The Cuckfield house went back on the market early in the month. We soon had some viewings, and two offers, but for much less than the asking price, and well below the price agreed with the previous prospective buyers, who are still keen to proceed if they can find another buyer for their London flat. It has all gone quiet again now, so we are still waiting.
We have never taken much notice of Father’s Day but this year Fiona invited us for a family lunch at a local Italian restaurant. Doreen has become quite expert at setting up the portable wheelchair ramp at the front door, and once I’m in the car, folding the wheelchair and putting it in the back. But on our return from a lovely meal, after pulling into the drive, and lifting the wheelchair out onto the pavement, and despite being completely sober, Doreen couldn’t open it up. After struggling for quite a while, with me sitting impotently in the passenger seat, Doreen was joined by our neighbour’s daughter who had been visiting her parents. The two of them continued to struggle and then a passing family with two small children joined in. By this stage, the crowd outside our house was such that I was beginning to fear police intervention for an unlawful assembly but, eventually, between them, they sorted it out and I was able to get out of the car and into the house. Good job my bladder wasn’t full!