Blue Disabled Badge

Hi All, Just been given some good news. After the post had arrived this morning, I decided to phone my local council, to see if they had any news on my blue disabled badge that I appealed for. As I hadn't heard anything from them for two weeks and when I appealed they said it would be a week for them to contact me again..

I got through to a lovely man who put me on hold while he went and found out what was happening. He came back on the phone with a surprised voice saying that a letter had been sent out last week saying that............. I was successful with my appeal and I have been granted a blue disabled badge.

He said he didn't know what happened to the original letter but that he would send another one out straight away today for me and sorry I had to wait so long.

So I will wait and see what I have to do next.

Lets just say I am over the moon and hope now there is light at the end of a very long tunnel which I am travelling at the moment.

Love

Amanda.  xxxx

Hospital Appointments.

This week I have had to attend two hospital appointments, both which were booked last year so they were just check ups really.

First Appointment.

The first one was a visit to a cardiologist on Monday. (I have a thickening of the heart valve), We arrived at the cardiology dept and I was struck how clean it was. At reception I was given a number and told to wait for my number to be called, this bit makes it very impersonal and I don't know why it is done like that.
My number was called so Lucy and I went in the cubicle, I knew the routine as I had to have a ECG, before I saw the doctor. The health care assistant was lovely and both Lucy and I had a lovely chat to her. The ECG was done so we were asked to go back to the waiting room. Within a couple of minutes my name was called this time and I wasn't a number anymore. My blood pressure was taken and it was a bit high and again we got asked to go back to the waiting room, Within minutes my name was called again and we went into see the doctor.

My cardiologist is lovely and I think he was shocked how my mobility has gone down hill. Last time I saw him I was walking and took the bus etc...
After moaning to him why I was like this and how fed up I was (I felt sorry for him it wasn't his fault), he told me some good news that my heart condition hadn't got any worse. He wished me luck in getting what I wanted and as we left the hospital , we knew that he couldn't help my plight but at least he was sympathetic.

 Second Appointment.

The second appointment was the biggy, this doctor I knew could help me he is my diabetic consultant, I have know this  doctor for ten years and when something has gone wrong with my health he has always taken control and got me the help I need.
Lucy and I got to hospital early and decided to go for a drink in the hospital cafe and once she got me settled, she went to help a woman also in a wheelchair  to get settled as well. Once Lucy got the drinks for us and she had sat down I heard the woman that Lucy had helped tell the man who was with her," that a lady had helped her to get into the table", the man looked at Lucy and nodded and said "ok". Lucy had passed in their eyes.
When we had finished the drink we made our way to the clinic, this is where we find that our hospital isn't made for wheelchairs, twice we had to ask a woman in an electric wheelchair to move while I went in to get my blood pressure (blood pressure was high again) done and weight measured.

I was then called in to see the consultant, I think he knew what was going on, but he let me have my say and listened sympathetically to what I said. Then Lucy had her say about what she thought and that how  I am with my mobility was causing my health and diabetic care to go down hill. Everybody in the room including a junior doctor agreed and my consultant said he would have a word with who ever was going to deal with me, I have to find out who it is and phone the diabetic consultants secretary . The consultant came up to our expectations and we are both glad that we got him involved. Our new GP didn't think he would but I know him well and both Lucy and I knew he would help.

So that's the hospital appointments done and I have been treated with dignity, sympathy  and absolute care, so why can't the orthopaedic department treat me the same.

Take care

Amanda.

Writer's Block.

Well what can I say, I have writer's block this morning, can't think of anything to put.
 I went to the cardiologist yesterday with Lucy and everything is fine with my heart, the condition hasn't changed and I'm no worse and I see him again in two years.

Just the diabetic specialist to see on Thursday and thats my checks done.
I will tell more on Friday.

Keep safe.
Amanda.

The Telephone.

Isn't the telephone a wonderful invention!.
I spent mostly all morning on it yesterday, luckily enough it didn't cost me a penny.

Call One.

The first call was a free number to change an appointment I had for a health assessment. I have to take this to check that I can still get a sickness benefit that I am on at the moment. I phoned up last week to change the appointment that they had sent me and got told that they had no late appointments. However if I called back next week (Lucy is taking me so we have to have the late appointment as she works.)
then they should have some.
So that is what I do, the call is answered by a man who must've taken pity on me as I told him that my partner works and I need a late appointment as she has to bring me. He put me on hold and then came back and said "I can only give you this one appointment, 30 October 16.00 hrs, is that ok". I said that is fine thank you. I could've kissed him. As I got told later that day that late appointments are a very rare thing to get. So that was the first thing sorted.

Call Two.

The second call, was from my voluntary work,  they called me and it was pre-arranged, so I was ready for them. This call took half an hour, I was given some good news and also told that I was going to have a newbie with me on my shift this Saturday night. To say that is a bit of an honor and I accepted it quite willingly.

Call Three.

The third call was again pre-arranged and this was from the GP. This call was important as I had to tell her that I have got the Council involved in my care and update her on what they had done for me.
She seemed surprised at how I had gone downhill with my mobility and said that she would write to my consultant at Musgrove Hospital. This is going to be a surprise to him as he discharged me and sent me to Yoevil Hospital to see a consultant who couldn't help me and was rather abrupt as well.
Lucy has an appointment with the same GP tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'm going with her, so the GP can see that I am now in a wheelchair, though the GP's appointment is for Lucy and it is her time to see the doc. I have got an appointment booked to see the GP properly though in a couple of weeks.
The support team are coming tomorrow ( Wednesday) with a specialist physio to see me, they think he might be able to help but we shall have to see, I've seen loads of physio's and last one I saw just sent me to hydrotherapy because he didn't know what else to do with me.

So that's it for now, just one thought comes to me though, how on earth did people cope without the telephone?

Chat soon.

Mandy.
xxxx

Three Go On Holiday To Cornwall.

Hi everyone, I've finally finished writing up about our holiday in Cornwall, be warned though it is a long blog but I do hope you enjoy reading it.

Saturday.

Saturday started off well, Lucy and I went and had a healthy breakfast and then went to some shops to get  a couple of things.

We then went back home to wash and hoover the car, (Lucy washed the car and I hoovered as I can do this sitting down), Susan timed it well to arrive, just as lucy and I had finished, as she had a cup of tea, we finished packing.
Then we were off to Cornwall for our weeks holiday.
We arrived at the holiday destination which was called Hangar Manor, I must admit I was a little bit nervous how they would treat us as it is a family orientated place and having two T girls turn up with a cripple was a bit different for them.
I need not have worried, the receptionist didn't bat an eyelid and we were given loads of paperwork to take away with us to our cottage. The cottage was great and was very clean, everything that was needed was there. So we settled down for the night and looked forward to Sunday.

Sunday.

After a fantastic breakfast cooked by Lucy, we made our way to St Austell indoor market world, we were looking forward to this and all of us were in a calm mood as we set off. Apart from getting lost and nearly ending up at the Eden Project the journey went well.

We entered the car park and got a parking space easily and then the nightmare began the place was packed and Lucy had to take over pushing me as some stupid people got in the way and one bloke got his heels clipped by my wheelchair foot pads. We manged to look at some stalls but found most of the stuff very expensive.  We spent about an hour looking round but didn't buy anything and left a bit disappointed.

We then went into the town of St Austell and I found it a nice relaxed place after the girls had found a Costa coffee shop had a coffee and me a hot chocolate we explored the place a bit the weather wasn't great and I was happy that I had brought my waterproofs with me. After looking looking round the shopping centre we found this lovely painted mural on a wall and took some photo's of it.

Getting wet but we had to take some photo's of this mural. With Susan

With Lucy

After the photo's we decided to make our way back to the cottage and settle down for the evening.

Monday.

We had all had had a normal breakfast and were going to Truro this morning, again the weather wasn't very nice again, so we quickly found a parking space in the shopping centre. We had a bit of fun in Marks and Spencers, we couldn't find the toilets and spent about ten minutes looking for them only to find that they were right next to the lift where we had started from. The girls decided that they  had to have their coffee fix, so we found the cafe and poor Lucy then had to wait for about 20 minutes to get it. After they had their coffee we then went to explore. Truro wasn't very wheelchair friendly but we all managed to have a good time. The only problem I had was when I was wheeling myself round a shop one of the push rims that I use to propel the chair broke and from then on Lucy or Susan had to push me round the shops. When we got back to the cottage the girls managed to fix it temporally until I could get one when we got back home.

Three girls having fun in Truro.

I've made a new friend.

Tuesday.

We were going to Newquay today so started off early. I'm not going to go into detail about it as we just had a look round and took some photo's. What I will say though is I don't think we will be going back there soon and I will definitely not be using the disabled toilets again enough said.

After Newquay we all wanted to have a look at a place called Healys Cornish Cyder Farm, we had found some literature about it in the cottage and it appealed to us especially the promise of a cream tea. So off we went and found the place. It wasn't wheelchair friendly due to it having cobbles everywhere which made it a very bumpy ride for me. The cream tea was calling though so Lucy pushed me up a ramp to the cafe and we settled down to have our treat.

The cream tea was to our liking and the homemade strawberry jam was lovely But their was one thing that spoilt it! birds were flying around inside and one bird decided to empty its bowels near Lucy so after that we decided to finish the cream tea and leave the cafe. To say that I had some food hygiene concerns after was right but none of us came down with anything so least said the better.

After the cafe we wandered round the farm, when we entered they said we could have a tour if we paid but we said we would walk round ourselves. The cobbles got quite bad for me so Lucy asked if I wanted to get out of the wheelchair and see a cart horse that was in stable so I hobbled around and said hello. The horse looked tired and at first I thought it was a stuffed one, until it moved and made me jump. Some photo's were taken, I hobbled back to the wheelchair and Lucy tipped me up on the back wheels to get me round the rest of the farm.

The farm had a shop so that was the next call, Lucy and Susan bought some cider and elderflower wine and after that we left and went back to the cottage and settled down for the night.

Getting a cuddle in Newquay

Say cheese !!!!!

Lucy demolishing a scone.

Patting a tired horse.

Wednesday.

This was a very strange day, the girls thought it would be a very good idea if they got some photo's on a beach somewhere But the weather was really bad it was raining and very windy and when we got to the beach I decided that I wasn't going to get out of the car and that I would let the two mad things go and have the pleasure of going out in the elements.
I could see what was going on and by the end of the photo session I was in hysterics, the two of them looked so funny being blown about and getting soaked and trying to smile. When they got back to the car I couldn't speak and tears were pouring from my eyes it took me at least ten minutes to calm down and I had tummy ache because I was laughing so much, needless to say I got no sympathy. I still chuckle now thinking about  it.

After that it was decided to go to Wadebridge  apart from Lucy shouting at a couple who wouldn't move for us and being nearly knocked over by a red van that was going too fast round a corner when we were crossing a road there is not much more to tell. Because it was still too early to go back to the cottage we went to Bodmin and had a walk round then went back to the cottage for the night.

Bodmin after the rain

Three cold girls

Thursday.

We went to Lands end today all I can say is what ripoff, If you want a picture of you and the sign you have to pay a large amount of money just for one picture. I have never been stared at or glared at as much in this place and I think the girls got some looks as well. we took a few photo's and I think, no I can say definitely some were taken of us. So we decided to leave. On the way back to the cottage Lucy went into a local shop and apparently the bloke on the counter didn't know how to take Lucy.

That night it was decided that we would go out for a meal at the Italian restaurant that was in the holiday park where we were at. Apart from some of the staff staring through the glass door at us all went well and we enjoyed our pizza's. Lucy and Susan ordered starters but I didn't and I was glad I decided this as the pizza was large and it nearly beat me.

After the meal we retired to the cottage as we had planned to go to Plymouth for the last day of the holiday.

Lands End

Friday.

Plymouth was a very bad nightmare, I will not go into details but Lucy had an argument and other things happened if you want to know more then go on to Lucy's website enough said.

Updates On The Home Front.

Since getting back home a lot has happened I have had handrails put in for help on the stairs, a bed rail to help me get out of bed, an aid to help me get off the toilet. I have my own support worker who has applied for me to get Disability Living Allowance, appealed on my behalf for a blue badge (which was refused because I didn't have her support).
 She has also put me on the waiting list for a new wheelchair. I got a call from her today (Friday) to tell me she has got something to help me get in and out of the bath and she is bringing a specialist physio with her when she visits me next Wednesday, she has also asked the GP to give me a ring next Monday so I can get her up to date with whats been happening and how my mobility has gone down hill and what Somerset care has done for me so far.
I am so shocked on what help I have received and what help that I can get in the future that I tell her everytime she rings to see if I am ok "THANK YOU".

Well that's all for now thanks for reading this massive blog.

Chat Soon.

Mandy.