I can't think of two nastier or crueller diseases, one robs the mind of its memories and slowly destroys the memories of the relatives as they watch the sufferer drift away, the other slowly destroys the body and makes you wish for a swift end for your loved ones so that they no longer suffer.
Add to the mix the totally inept National Health Service and you really have a roller coaster ride ahead of you.
For the last couple of days we have been in Bristol trying to sort out hospital/hospice care and trying to push the NHS into doing something/anything to help.
Salvatore is suffering with cancer in the area between his bladder and back passage. This was diagnosed on Christmas Eve, he was suffering before this date and in fact he was already very frail and infirm. However the local GP, a Dr Parrot, refused to admit him to hospital saying he was very capable of staying at home and looking after Lucia, his wife, and administering the drugs that help with her Alzheimer’s, despite the very obvious, well obvious to everyone including the district nurse and the palliative care nurse, that he was incapable of looking after himself let alone looking after Lucia.
We stayed with them all over Christmas to make sure they were ok and for large parts they were ok but we had to return to work as did other relatives which meant leaving Salvatore and Lucia to do what the Doctor thought was capable of them.
Cut to Sunday and we get a phone call from Lucia’s visitor saying he was very concerned about Salvatore as he seemed to be “fitting”. We called for an ambulance and rushed down and spent 4 hours in the Bristol Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency department and to be fair the care there was very good. After some investigation the on duty Doctor decided he had pneumonia and gave him paracetamol and antibiotics which bought his temperature down and stopped his agitation (twisting, gnawing and involuntary noises) and making him a little more coherent.
He was then transferred to a ward for the rest of the night and we were promised that he would be fine and that no they didn’t need his medication as they had a full history and had everything they needed right there.
We went back to Salvatore and Lucia’s house where Lucia was being looked after by her carer, a very nice chap called Ben, and eventually went to bed around 2am.
Monday morning, before we can get to the hospital, we get a call from a visiting Aunt saying that Salvatore had been moved from the ward he was placed in to a new one and that he had not had any medication (remember he is in pain from the cancer and the pneumonia and confused from his high temperature and the original cancer drugs) and that the night before, because he was agitated, they had given him antipsychotic drugs to knock him out! His ward is over crowded, 1 nurse and 1 nursing assistant to 10 beds and everyone passing the buck!
To say we are angry would be an understatement!
Its high time I made a comment on the fantastic run the boys in Royal Blue are having.
13 games unbeaten, 12 of them in the prem has lifted us to the lofty position of 8th in the prem, just a few points from safety and with £40 million burning a hole in Alex's pocket who would bet on us doing what all the pundits said we would do and go straight back down?
However, the last Blues team to have a run like this did just that, back in 1908 Blues had a run of 11 games unbeaten and were still relegated.
Well I don't think that will happen this time but i guess you never know.
Alex McLeish has been awarded Premiership Manager of the month. this normally brings with it a string of bad results, but, so far, this has not happened.
Our last game saw us with a very creditable draw against Man Utd, in fact I felt we were unlucky not to win so perhaps the curse as kicked in.
KRO
Praise the lord! the evil empire that owned Birmingham City FC has finally gone!
No matter that they have moved us from the old third division to the prem, no matter that they changed the old St Andies from a cattle shed to a new (unfinished)stadium and no matter that they bought us a nice few wins over the Villa, I am just pleased the poison porn pedallers have left the building!
I could not stand the moaning about the fans, the fact that they practically wanted us to worship them like little diddy gods for what they did (and made a nice little earner from it), that they whored our club out to the highest bidder (yellow card sponsored by Hollywood Signs) that they promised much and failed at the last turn (unfinished stadium) and that they lied so often! Promising this player or that player during the summer transfer window just to bump up season ticket sales only for them to vanish like dust.
Well, all I can now say is Welcome Carson Yeung! I prey that you will treat the Blues with honour and how you would treat a much loved if a little dysfunctional member of your own family.
KRO
Bloody work! What a bloody pain in the arse!
I have spent the last two year negotiating with the local council about taking on the lease of a piece of land in the area I work, which would mean it was safe from developers, we could pursue those who carryout criminal damage and we could continue to use the site for our environmental projects (and it would allow us to pursue much needed funding). Only to be told that the neighbourhood manager has recommended to the council that another organisation take it over instead!!!!!
Now I really believe this is political, this person has been trying to get the Environmental Trust for a few years now and whilst we had a local resident who was very active and very much respected he was held at bay. Unfortunately last year she died and he has been sticking little knives in since.
I don't know his motivation for this but I think it must be on the lines of wanting to bring environmental issues, monitoring, education and conservation in house to the Housing trust.
Weekend
Had a fab weekend, in the most parts, met up with a friend for a drink on Sunday, Blues won and went out on a "Run" with the midland scooter club on Sunday. It was enough to lift the spirits, well until bed time when the political situation once more reared its ugly head and stopped me from sleeping.
Madame Tussauds unveil Abbott And Costello Dummies!
Ah what ever happened to Jilted John? Probably married with 2.2 kids now and perhaps no longer a moron.
Speaking of morons what is Gordon Brown up to? Now I know he is not as bad as Silvio "drop your knickers" Berlusconi with his ineptitude but he is trying bless him.
First he refused to comment on the repatriation of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi then it was leaked (or rather trumpeted) that before hand he had more or less approved that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi should go free! Now I agreed with his release, I think it shows humanity but Gordon did his old trick of dilliying and dallying and strike me down he has done it again, this time over the victims of IRA bombings suing for compensation from the Libyan government. This time he really should have kept his trap shut. Firstly he says its inappropriate to comment on this then says he is offering support! The man is quite obviously in intense internal turmoil. I bet he must take a good two hours in the morning to make up his mind about what to wear to the office.
A few issues are thrown up by this, firstly that he shouldn't comment on anything if he is likely to change his mind and secondly, by giving his backing what further support is he going to give to the victims of the protestant terrorists? Or the discrimination that was fostered under successive governments since partition of Ireland? The discrimination of the Catholics really is one of the main driving forces behind the (at the time) success of the IRA. Is he going to support them in their claims for compensation?
I think not.
I just wish this man would go, let the labour party sort itself out and get someone to lead it that had an ounce of sense! Before its too late!
Today we visited a National Trust property in Birmingham called the Birmingham Back to Back’s. This was an interesting and humbling (if that’s not too trite a word) experience. Firstly, the reason I found it humbling, my mothers side of the family lived in a back to back just up the road from there. They lived there at the turn of the 19th Century, were button/badge workers and had 3 generations living in the house, one grand parent, mother and father, five children and a lodger. So there were 9 people living in 3 or more likely 2 rooms, working a 70 hour week and having no running water and sharing an outside loo (well bucket) with up to around 60 other people. So to see this and to know how comfortable we live now is humbling.
The interesting part is, I guess, a voyeuristic one, to see first hand how the poor lived is, I feel, far more interesting than visiting a stately home. To see how they decorated the rooms, how they cooked and lived their lives. How they coped without privacy, entertained themselves and how their hard lives shortened their lives. I would have been an old man at my age, if I had lived that long.
It was interesting to see that they flavoured their food with spices such as cloves, star anise and nutmeg. I wonder what they would have thought of our bland English food that is served up in many homes today?
Bedrooms packed with children and even in one house we saw the children’s bedroom was shared (with a blanket acting as a separator) an unmarried couple lodging with the family (total people sleeping in the room – 6, 4 children sleeping top to toe in a bed).
Strangely the 1840 home, which housed a Jewish family and in fact the area was the Jewish quarter for much of its life, was despite the lack of modern trappings more homely than the 1930’s home that had electricity and running water.
I really would recommend a visit if possible, the lady taking us round was very well informed and entertaining.
Got home this evening to discover that the Internet is down and not working. This is the second time in a couple of months that it has played up. The 12 month contract we have with them is looking a long one.
But how are you writing this? I hear you cry! Well, with the old trusted mobile phone, a length of cable and bingo you have the Internet and quicker than the old dial up service used to be :)
Off to see the Birmingham Back to Backs tomorrow, which is interesting to me as some of my great grand parents lived there (or very near by) at the turn of the 19th/20th century. They were 3 generations all living in a couple of rooms and working as badge enamel workers. See! brummy to the very core!