A Difficult Time

By the time we had celebrated Pauline's 65th birthday it seemed that all we had to do was work on her temporary brain damage to get things sorted out.   Little did we know how it would work out.   It was not long after that Pauline began to experience strong pain in her right hand and wrist.   We put this down to arthritis from which she has suffered for a number of years.   As it didn't respond to anti inflammatories Pauline visited the health centre.   Doctor Robin, (a retired GP who does a lot of locum work for our surgery and is the father of one of the partners) suggested it might be gout.   I was pleased because I knew how quickly I recovered from gout when I first experienced it 5 or 6 years ago.   However, we are talking about Pauline in this instance. She has a track record of  not always doing things the standard way.   For weeks there was no improvement.

During this time she took tablets for which the side effect was diarrhoea, and, boy, did she spend time in the bathroom!   Back she went to Doctor Robin who immediately prescribed something to take care of the trots.   But still there was no improvement to her symptoms.   To cut a long story short she was prescribed steroids which have brought down the inflammation in her arm and legs and the gout is coming under control.

However, during this period my cousin came to visit us and asked us to visit him and his wife at the place where they were staying.   Whilst there, Pauline suggested we went out for a short walk.   Within 5 minutes she had fallen when she missed the bottom one in a flight of steps.   I helped her up and the damage seemed to be a twisted ankle.   Within 3 days it was OK again, but a pain had started in her left leg towards the top.   Medical advice was to call at Stanley Hospital in Holyhead and borrow a walking stick.   We went and acquired the stick and hoped this would help.   By Monday, this week, the pain was still bad so Pauline decided to go to Ysbyty Gwynedd A & E department for further help.   On examination the doctor found it was muscular and advised her to keep on exercising and it would take about 2 months to improve.

So now the experience is watching her struggle to stand, to walk, sit down etc.   I just hope she will be better by the time we travel to Nelson to join old friends who used to worship in the two former Congregational churches there.   In the mean time I am continuing to act in full support.   There is some good news, though.   The temporary brain damage is almost gone and the only problem is memory.   Well, I have had a bad memory for decades so I am sure we can live with it!