Saturday 19 January 2008

Ups and Downs

Life continues to be quite eventful. In the past week I have:

  • Received money from the social fund to carry out alterations to my storage space to house a wheelchair/scooter.
  • Nearly bought a scooter, only to be told by a mechanic at the 11th hour that what seemed like a bargain was in fact, well, quite possibly not. Beware machines with hard-to-obtain parts.
  • Looked around at other scooters...my advocate now reckons it is legitimate for me to apply to the social fund for the money for one. This in my book is a massive indictment of NHS care. But needs must.
  • Had my home support service cancelled. Why? Because I now have a PA. I was told 'the Government won't pay twice'. Wrong. One package is part of my NHS careplan, the other is social services provision, of sorts. Formal complaint number three now in operation.
  • Spent a lot of time resting, tired of writing letters.
  • Devised and had approved my withdrawal schedule. Prescription next week.
  • Started with a new therapist. Am feeling a bit tired of dwelling on how shit everything is so next week I will be suggesting to him that we pretend my life is totally fantastic. Just to give me a break. I will be discussing my recent winter holiday in Mauritius and the several nights out on the piss I've just enjoyed. Fuck all this complex grief traumatic manic reaction stress syndrome bollocks.
So, as you can tell I've really enjoyed this week. Still, money for alterations is good. A shed has been duly ordered so I can have the outhouse for scooter storage. My son is over the moon as he equates sheds with happiness. Our old, old house (the one before last) had a shed. Those were the days before all the complex traumatic and so on. I see a shed not as a retrograde step so much as a restitution of a symbol of contentment. May we both spend many happy hours pottering in there. It will not, as my son has requested, be painted in army camouflage green. I don't care if his friend's shed is. This is a shed for the housing of gardening equipment and a potting bench, not machine guns and grenades. Peace.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great news on the shed and I hope you manage to get just the right scooter for you! I haven't found the courage for one yet...I'm sticking with my manual wheelchair for now, see how things go this year! {{{HUGS}}} and love to you. I hope you have a nice weekend :o)

The Goldfish said...

I was wondering how Tuesday's appointment had gone - I'd composed half an e-mail to that effect when I read this (that's the extent of my letter-writing just now). Also very glad that you seem to be moving closer to getting some new wheels, even if you were disappointed this week. Hope everything else works out very shortly.

A friend and I often discuss the idea of having a blog about our imaginary lives as social butterflies...

D Phoenix said...

wow, you've started the new year with a bang (and a bit of vomit). i hope you'll soon be shedding the virus, shedding a scooter and shedding those nasty meds. swearing helps, i think!

seahorse said...

Talj: scooters are nippy little numbers, and I know what you mean about courage. But it may be worth finding your nearest dealership to try some out, just to see if it would make things easier. Of course, you may find you're doing just fine with your current chair.

Goldfish: Fabulous. A blog where you can be as pissed as a fart without drinking a drop.

Donimo: haven't I just. Grrr. It wasn't exactly what I had planned but Christmas was good. Did I see you over at Ouch? It's all gone very white and trendy at their blog. I like it! And your first posts have been good reads. I'm just starting to get about a bit more on the internet after a few weeks of feeling less than up to it, so will be popping by there more often.