Friday 31 July 2009

My Sincere Condolences

To the families of those injured in Burgos and the families of the Guardia killed in yesterdays bombings in Palma Nova, I send my sincere condolences and hope that those injured recover quickly.

It is so sad that innocent people get killed or injured for what is purported to be a 'cause'. I hate violence in any form and send my love and best wishes to all.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Preemies UK

While I've had to sit with my cat while she's undergoing 'cage rest' I needed something else to do apart from sitting with my laptop. Now Mick said why don't I knit a tea cosy for our teapot in the fifth wheeler and one to leave in our friends apartment in Spain that we always stay in each year.

So, after years of not picking up the needles I hunted for my 'knitting bag' and when I opened it I realised that there were two premature baby waistcoats and one blanket that I had been making before I took on working in London and longer hours. So I finished off the blanket and then searched for a charity that would forward the items to the hospitals that needed them.

Preemies UK is the one I decided on as I emailed them enquiring if they still required volunteers and received a reply within a couple of hours.

So now while the cat is unable to chase the wool I'm able to knit a few items for a worthy cause. Baby items are always so much fun to make and looking at their site which showed the prem babies actually wearing the items that were made gave me the enthusiasm to get into doing it again. So I give a thumbs up to Preemies UK for all the hard work that they are doing.

Oh and by the way I will make the tea cosy as soon as I get some wool :-)

Sun Deprivation

Well so much for this being a really hot summer in the UK!

I believe our summer happened over here while I was on holiday in Spain as I have been told that those two weeks were unbearably hot!!!

Since I've been back there has been so much rain, wind and grey sky that I'm convinced that this is no longer Great Britain but Grey Britain. In fact I've had to wear a jacket - IN JULY!!!

Can one get SAD during the summer months? Well I'm suffering from sun deprivation at the least....

Now I know they say that all the Brits do is talk about the weather, well I guess that's because our weather is normally so lousy. Today we do have a blue sky with a little bit of cloud but it seems that this year especially you can't have one decent day unless it's followed by several lousy ones... and the temperature is going to be roughly 19 C with clouds and rain coming later - where have the high temperatues disappeared to? Global warming - where?

Boy I wish I was back in Spain...........

Thursday 23 July 2009

Recovery countdown

Well my cat has had her operation. The vet said that she had never seen such a bad injury in that all the ligaments were ruptured not just one or two and nothing was supporting the two bones in the leg!

She has to stay at the vets until the weekend and then it is home for 2 weeks cage rest and then 4 weeks confined to the house. Apparently she will most definitely get arthritis and so they are putting her on medication for that and also they will give her an injection to encourage her to eat. She will also be left with a limp.

I guess her chasing her tail days are definitely over with!

As the fees mount up and up I guess some people would say I'm crazy, after all she is 11 years old and only a cat, but those animal lovers out there will understand and my credit card company will love me :-)

Sunday 19 July 2009

Update Two

Well Saysha has been home for 4 days. She hasn't had the operation yet because the bruising on her lungs was creating problems with her breathing, so the op is scheduled for this Wednesday. My daughter got a dog cage from her surgery for me to use and she has been confined to that.

Not a happy cat!!

However the medication I have been giving her on a daily basis has reduced the inflammation and she is now feeling distinctly better - as her miaowing will testify! Also her breathing is a lot better.

Hopefully after the operation on Wednesday, and again continued cage rest, she should make an almost full recovery. I believe that after this type of injury she will be prone to arthritis in that leg.

She is not very hungry - which is perhaps understandable considering she is not moving - and will only eat titbit's that I hand feed her.

Roll on the next few days.... or weeks.....

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Saysha Update

Well the x-rays are back. The good news is that she hasn't broken anything - the bad news is that she has ruptured all the ligaments behind the knee; every lobe in her lungs is bruised and there is some internal bleeding.

Thankfully all are hopefully not life-threatening and if she was a football player she would be on the bench resting for the 4-6 weeks. However she is a cat, so first of all she has to have an operation to put in fake ligaments (as they don't heal) and then she will have to have 'cage rest' for at least 6 weeks. Now that should be interesting for a cat that is used to having its freedom!

They should be performing the operation today but it depends on whether she is stable enough.

Oh and the estimated cost, so far, is £1,200....

Bang goes any hope of taking the van out for a week this year.

Que sera.

Monday 13 July 2009

Our pets are our family too

We got home from a birthday party last night to be informed by a neighbour that one of our cats was on his garage roof and apparently injured.

I got the stepladder out and climbed up to retrieve Saysha, our silver grey tabby, who was lying on the roof in distress.

When I was able to look at her closely and report to my daughter (she's a head vet nurse) on the phone I was able to see that her right hind leg was injured and she was unable to put any weight on it. Her breathing was a bit on the fast side and her left paw was missing a claw and scuffed. It seemed to indicate that she may well have been hit by a car.

Now if it had been our other cat, Garfie, then it would have been more expected as he is an outdoor cat and being an ex-stray he is used to roaming the streets and inspecting his patch.

Saysha, however, is a shy, timid, cat who likes to stay very close to home. Although not an indoor cat she rarely goes further than our neighbours garden. I always joke that she is more like a dog than a cat as she follows me around all the time and is very dependent rather than independent like most cats.

Now, after a visit to the vets, I am sitting waiting to hear the outcome. The initial observation by the vet is that she may well have a fractured leg or pelvis and she was taken away from me to undergo a spell in the vet's kennels where she will be given painkillers and await at least 2 x-rays. If there is a fracture then she will need an operation and a pin put into her small body.

The estimated cost so far is anything between £200 and £1,000 although this will all depend on the extent of the damage to her little body. The vet did say that if it was the leg and the cost was too high then a cheaper alternative would be amputation and that cats can manage quite happily on 3 legs! How could I even consider such a thing. When it comes down to it somehow we will manage. After all when you give birth to children you do not put a price on their health and nor can you on your pets for they are as much a part of your family, and life, as any human life form.

Lets hope she recovers fully.

Saturday 11 July 2009

Apple Cider Vinegar

I would just like to say that once again ACV has come to the rescue.

I have a disc in the top of my spine that is arthritic but most of the time it is fine. However this past week it has been inflammed and giving me hell. ACV has come to the rescue again. I've found that for me either drinking it with honey and hot water (yeuk) or taking ACV tablets it actually breaks down the crystalisation and thereby eases the headaches that they cause.

It takes a couple of days but you can actually feel the crystals breaking up :-)

So 2 tablets, 3 times a day, and now I'm beginning to feel human again.

Hell getting older is such a pain at times....

Thursday 9 July 2009

Verano 1975

Summer 1975.

Once again I am shocked by Cuentame.

In 1975 I had been married to my first husband for 2 years and there was just another 2 years to go before the birth of my daughter. I was living in that self-absorbed way that you do in your youth when the whole of your life revolves around your own little world and the biggest problems in your life are coming to terms with being married and coping with all the financial problems of having your first mortgage!

Meanwhile not so far away in Spain normal people were being rounded up and thrown in prison; interrogated or shot – for being accused of being Communists. Daily lists of people arrested or executed were being broadcast on the radio and people were living in fear.

How come I didn’t know; after all I was 21 years old.

Was I blind and deaf to any news of what was happening so close to home? Or was it simply that news was not leaking out from Spain. Or even worse, did the British government just not care?

Does ignorance of a fact give you a valid excuse not to feel ashamed! Well I do feel ashamed…