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"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

My body isn't being good to me just now. The tooth-gap pain has spread to the whole side of my face, right up to the temple and affecting my eye - must be a minor infection. Add to that, my walking ability hasn't improved and now my remaining pain-free wrist has decided to join in with the rest of my joints, making holding a cup of tea, or a knife,or a wooden spoon for stirring my intended coconut porridge, or a walking stick, much more painful. I'm hoping this is all temporary and meantime I have upped the amount of codeine I'm taking with paracetemol. Hoping for the best. (Need an optimistic emoji here.)
 
Neil has just broken a tooth and used one of his small files from his toolbox to smooth it down a bit. He has been trying to get taken on by a dentist for a while, but the 2 practices here are not taking any new patients - he was deregistered from the one I go to when they reorganised and decided they couldn't keep on so many patients - that was a while ago but his teeth have been fine, so he didn't worry too much. But now - there isn't even a reserve list for when patients leave the practices. Another bad NHS issue for the Islands and Highlands - or maybe it's for the whole country. Not sure.
 
It's a ridiculous situation.
 
Dentists are ridiculously busy. I'm Private and the earliest appointment I could get was the end of October. Fortunately, it's just a check up. As for NHS dentistry, forget it! It goes back to the last promise of "free" dental treatment for anyone under ...
I can't honestly remember. What she omitted to say was it's impossible to get an appointment and they are having to wait months for a time limited appointment. Not much help in an emergency. We are in the same boat in the Central Belt - dentists are not taking on new NHS patients. It's been a problem for ages hence why we went private.
 
My neighbour did get to Harris and back. They had a lovely time but she said it rained all the time they were there. She did add that the locals said it has rained all summer on Harris. So that's where the rain went?
 
maglil55 said:
My neighbour did get to Harris and back. They had a lovely time but she said it rained all the time they were there. She did add that the locals said it has rained all summer on Harris. So that's where the rain went?
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It's not unusual for summer to be wet in Harris, although they do have the odd good day or so. Same here, in Lewis. But I think the last year or so has been a bit drier than usual. The thing is, summer here is usually cooler than on the mainland, even when it is sunny. 16 or 17 degrees is normal summer temperature here.
 
Private is not an option here - all the dentists are NHS and none of them will do private work. There used to be a school dental service when Neil and Alistair were youngsters - not that they were much good and I had to take them to the only dentists who would then do private work because of failures in that school provision. But now it seems that the only dentists on the Islands won't even take on new children.
 
maglil55 said:
It's a ridiculous situation.
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DIL's back is slightly better and she can move around at least. Alistair is still having to do everything though - DIY (they're in the middle of putting in a fire with a back boiler and remodelling the fireplace), cleaning, cooking, shopping, home laundry, commercial laundry, laundry deliveries all over the Island, laundry collections, his own work starting at 8 am), getting Em to school, or here when he has to go early so that she can have breakfast here before school. He's making heroic efforts and I can see he's exhausted. He was even before this, never having really recovered his strength after his gall bladder surgery. I'm afraid walking the dogs has taken a back seat at present and they are having to be put outside into the pen he built for them and no chance for a run meantime. Em's brother (16 now) has started a job so he's not able to be much help. With any luck we might be able to find a private physio who has a good reputation with this kind of injury. Apparently there is one but I'm still trying to track him down.
 
Our family isn't doing well at the moment. No phone call from my brother this week. Instead a call from his wife to say he is in hospital! He stubbed his big toe, getting out of the shower and managed to create a compound fracture. Of course, due to his heart surgery he is on a blood thinning medication and he bled. And bled. And bled. They couldn't stop it. SIL says their bathroom and bedroom looked like the scene of a massacre. Eventually, they made a dash to A&E but they couldn't stop it either. They were hoping to get him into theatre sometime during the night to try to fix it, but he has to have a blood transfusion now because he has lost so much. I daresay all will be well but he really has to try to be more careful. He knows that - he's been on Warfarin for 42 years, so he should know by now.
 
He was operated on at 9.30 last night - with only a local anaesthetic thank goodness. He's not allowed to get up yet, but will probably be allowed today and, hopefully, home later on today. So that will be fine.
 
They might need to prepare for a long haul. When I had sciatica last year (that's the stage before the disc actually slips) I was off my feet and in agony for a full two weeks, then pain and limited movement for a further 4. My physio refused to let me do any exercise until it had calmed down, then stretching exercises helped, and I continue to do them to keep it at bay again, but it was a long , frustrating, painful time
 
{{Hug button}}
 
My cleaning lady had a slipped disk some months ago and had quite a struggle to get a GP to refer her anywhere. Eventually she won and the GP referred her to the physiotherapy specialist at the local hospital. He did a very good job with her back and, although she has had some trouble recently, on the whole he improved it greatly.

Unfortunately DIL isn't being referred anywhere - just given pain killers again. She is managing to get up from the bed, but can't do very much. She is struggling to keep the laundry going, with Alistair's help but she keeps on ending up flat on her back again. She did a "night shift" last night - working through the night while the house slept. Alistair was wakened by a phone call at 6.00 this morning. It was DIL phoning from the laundry (2 rooms away). Her back had seized up and she couldn't move! So he had to go through and help her to bed. That meant Em had to get up early and come to me for breakfast and to get ready for school. That's not a problem but I wonder if DIL is doing her back any harm by trying to work through the pain. Pain is there for a reason - to let you know that you are harming your body - that's what I think anyway.
 
My favourite cartoonist has published a new poem and cartoon in remeberance of the late Queen Elizabeth.



That bought a smile to my face while eating breakfst this morning, as I had seen her from a distance passing by years ago, on one of her frequent visits to Australia.
 
Annb said:
Pain is there for a reason - to let you know that you are harming your body - that's what I think anyway.
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You are SO right. We must listen to our bodies and then we get on with them much better. Can DIL find a chiropractor? Painkillers only work on pain - they can't rectify damage.
 
We're searching to see if there is a chiropracteur within reach of us.

Edited to add: I see there is one in Stornoway, but no idea if he/she is any good.
 
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As you know my DIL is into Wild Swimming. They had been out Queensferry way, and were on their way back home, when they were waved over by police outriders. They happened to be ahead of the approaching cortege. Thankfully, they had time to park, get out of the car and watch. It was a short video she sent me but you can't upload it to the forum so I screenshot. She said it was very surreal.
 
Less than 3 weeks now before my holiday to your country, and already winning every overthinking contest!
Holiday and anxiety turns out to be a very interesting combination, especially with T1 thrown into the mix, which means some things actually do have to be thought through and triple checked.

Anyway, I now know the air pump powered by the car cigarette lighter socket works very well (less than 2 minutes to fill my air mattress), and my car battery is fine, car still started without issue after pumping my air mattress.

 
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Coming anywhere near the Hebrides, Antje? Love to see you, if you are. The Isle of Lewis is the northernmost island of the Hebrides and is reached by a ferry - which usually sails and only occasionally breaks down, unlike the one to the southern isles and Harris.
 
I'd love to visit you, and the Hebrides @Annb , and I'd love to try some creative/ridiculous recipes with Em, and I'd definitely want to meet the giant puppies-in-law!

But my holiday will mainly be inside the Harwich-Birmingham-London triangle, you're too far away to quickly pop over.
Sould I ever travel to your corner of the world, I'd need to have more time than just the couple of days between meeting friends in Birmingham and having to be back at the ferry in Harwich.

Still, this is my first 'real' holiday in some 25 years, who knows, maybe I'll like it so much I'll start planning another holiday right away, the Hebrides sound amazing!
 
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