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« on: 21 January 2024, 20:51:48 »
I first used this expression back in October.
Little did I know then how our lives would unravel since. It started with a load of grief over my Dads daily care, ending in a complaint which still hasn’t been resolved.
Then some casual Brit friends we had a coffee with contacted us with a plea for help. Her health meant she couldnt get to the doctor could she have a lift. She was in and out of hospital ending with a double pneumonia diagnosis. Plus Covid caught in the hospital from the next bed ( two bed rooms) . Scan showed advanced metastasised lung cancer. Inoperable. She died just before xmas. Her husband at 82 ,, 12 years older) has very poor health and crucially did nothing around the house so knew no passwords, utility providers or where their wills were etc.When I say poor health he nearly lost his leg 15 months ago and has been having a dressing changed 3 times a week since. Cant cook. Cant speak Spanish. Friday gone he is back in hospital. Had two sessions on Dialysis
There is a very small group of us and other expats trying to help him with unravelling a mountain of admin translating, plus visiting, feeding his pets etc etc. no relatives.no money other than house equity and now his state pension. All told his situation is pretty poor.
I managed to write our 4x4 off just by forgetting to put the handbrake on whilst I got out to show how our dogs cancer had been cured. Lost quite a bit of money through carelessness.
In fact we have made quite a few duff decisions purely from being tired, rushed. We are fortunate that we can just take them on the chin and move on.
Perhaps the most crushing thing by far is more problems with our dog who is 11 and a half. He was abandonded age about 1 with a small heart problem and we rescued him from the countryside in a really bad state. A few years later he suffered a simple intrusion in his ear drum by a barbed grass seed . Our vet at the time claimed to have removed it all but hadnt. To cut a long story short he had to have a hole drilled into his skull ( bulla) to drain the mank and was left deaf , blind on that side of his head and face dead that side. He bounced back and was a great companion. We went away ( he travels everywhere with us due to separation anxiety) for New Year which was a disaster as he developed a problem which meant he couldnt stand up on New Years eve. New Years day we drove to our vet for emergency consultation and diagnosis. Back five days later as he was throwing up. They decided allergic to anti inflammatory. Still not happy with diagnosis , went back and they decided dog has advanced liver cancer that has spread to his lungs. That will explain the cough he has had for the last two years which failed to respond to various different treatment. We have a bag full of tablets and a weeks or possibly months timescale. Come back for THE injection when you judge his quality of life is … well you get the idea. Might be a lot quicker than that. Hasnt ate today, was sick and he is getter cuter at rejecting tablets. We are gutted even though it is only a dog.
Mrs V is ill with the wretched cough everyone ( except me ) has got. Been weeks. Spain has reintroduced masks in hospitals, GPs due to the big uptick in respiratory illness.
Anyway, enough there is more , I have rambled on. Roll on a return to better times