It's been a mixed bag of a week, which has seen us on the road again traveling from one side of the country to another on various missions as well as being grounded at home, fighting infections....
...After some gentle persuasion (aka a lot of nagging) Steve finally agreed to try some antibiotic eye drops to tackle the conjunctivitis which plagued him at the start of last week. Thankfully, the drops worked quickly, and he was fine to drive to Heathrow airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning where we picked up son Jack on his return from a holiday in New Zealand.
Although we all needed a nap later that day (Jack adjusting to jet lag and us to compensate for the very early start), it was lovely to enjoy a meal out together that evening and hear about the New Zealand adventures.
Although the antibiotic drops sorted out Steve's eye infection, the cough lingered on. In spite of that, we travelled west to Bristol on Thursday to take Jack back to his house, pick up the last item of furniture from Steve's mum's old house to sell on eBay and say what will probably be our last farewell, now that the house sale approaches completion.
By the time we returned to Oxford later that day, we were both feeling shattered. Steve's cough returned. I couldn't stop sneezing. Neither of us had the energy to do anything much and that's how things stayed for the next couple of days - grounded at home, sleeping or resting most of the time as we have tried to recover from this nasty bug is that has laid us both low.
However, we were up and on the road again on Sunday morning, this time traveling east for Easter to spend the day with daughter Katie and her partner Ed and deliver a few things for the new flat in London, which is now taking shape very nicely.
No hard work for us this time, just lunch out (they are lucky to live in an area with a good choice of eateries in easy walking distance) followed by a stroll around Finsbury Park (a wonderful asset, so close to the flat) and back in time to watch the Boat Race on TV. Well done Oxford!
The visit rounded off lingering over a delicious home-cooked meal before we headed west, back to Oxford tired but happy.
Although I'm still sneezing occasionally, my cold seems to be well on the way out. However, it's been over a week now since Steve's cough started and it hasn't really improved much. Although he hasn't been too bad by day, at least once, often twice a night, Steve has woken up and felt the need to clear his chest and the same again around 6.30 am, so we haven't had a good night's sleep for over a week. In these circumstances, perhaps it's not surprising that we have both felt tired during the day.
It's a productive cough to use the medical term - yellow muck to you and me! Clearly an infection of some sort. All the loud coughing makes me slightly nervous that the pleural lining around his lungs which were stuck back together again by the pleurodesis operation (aka the "talc" op) after the fluid was drained back in 2009, will spring apart with the effort.
Time to turn on the powers of persuasion (ie start nagging again) and insist that he gets an appointment to see the GP when the surgery reopens tomorrow after the extended Easter break.
In the meantime, other plans are on hold. I'm reluctant to make travel and other arrangements until I know that Steve is on the mend. Even insurance companies who specialize in those with pre-existing medical conditions won't insure people who have had chemotherapy so recently without charging more than the cost of the holiday itself. We will just have to wait until we feel confident enough to book and take off at the last minute.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, enjoy what is left of the Easter holiday even if, like us, you are simply taking it easy....
...After some gentle persuasion (aka a lot of nagging) Steve finally agreed to try some antibiotic eye drops to tackle the conjunctivitis which plagued him at the start of last week. Thankfully, the drops worked quickly, and he was fine to drive to Heathrow airport in the early hours of Wednesday morning where we picked up son Jack on his return from a holiday in New Zealand.
Although we all needed a nap later that day (Jack adjusting to jet lag and us to compensate for the very early start), it was lovely to enjoy a meal out together that evening and hear about the New Zealand adventures.
Although the antibiotic drops sorted out Steve's eye infection, the cough lingered on. In spite of that, we travelled west to Bristol on Thursday to take Jack back to his house, pick up the last item of furniture from Steve's mum's old house to sell on eBay and say what will probably be our last farewell, now that the house sale approaches completion.
By the time we returned to Oxford later that day, we were both feeling shattered. Steve's cough returned. I couldn't stop sneezing. Neither of us had the energy to do anything much and that's how things stayed for the next couple of days - grounded at home, sleeping or resting most of the time as we have tried to recover from this nasty bug is that has laid us both low.
However, we were up and on the road again on Sunday morning, this time traveling east for Easter to spend the day with daughter Katie and her partner Ed and deliver a few things for the new flat in London, which is now taking shape very nicely.
No hard work for us this time, just lunch out (they are lucky to live in an area with a good choice of eateries in easy walking distance) followed by a stroll around Finsbury Park (a wonderful asset, so close to the flat) and back in time to watch the Boat Race on TV. Well done Oxford!
The visit rounded off lingering over a delicious home-cooked meal before we headed west, back to Oxford tired but happy.
Although I'm still sneezing occasionally, my cold seems to be well on the way out. However, it's been over a week now since Steve's cough started and it hasn't really improved much. Although he hasn't been too bad by day, at least once, often twice a night, Steve has woken up and felt the need to clear his chest and the same again around 6.30 am, so we haven't had a good night's sleep for over a week. In these circumstances, perhaps it's not surprising that we have both felt tired during the day.
It's a productive cough to use the medical term - yellow muck to you and me! Clearly an infection of some sort. All the loud coughing makes me slightly nervous that the pleural lining around his lungs which were stuck back together again by the pleurodesis operation (aka the "talc" op) after the fluid was drained back in 2009, will spring apart with the effort.
Time to turn on the powers of persuasion (ie start nagging again) and insist that he gets an appointment to see the GP when the surgery reopens tomorrow after the extended Easter break.
In the meantime, other plans are on hold. I'm reluctant to make travel and other arrangements until I know that Steve is on the mend. Even insurance companies who specialize in those with pre-existing medical conditions won't insure people who have had chemotherapy so recently without charging more than the cost of the holiday itself. We will just have to wait until we feel confident enough to book and take off at the last minute.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, enjoy what is left of the Easter holiday even if, like us, you are simply taking it easy....
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Steve, get that chest infection sorted, last year I nagged Ray for ages before he did anything by which time it had turned into pneumonia!
ReplyDeleteAmanda