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Author Topic: Private BattlesI  (Read 1253 times)

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Varche

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Private BattlesI
« 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
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STEMO

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #1 on: 21 January 2024, 22:30:16 »

Life is like a box of chocolates...........


Sounds like you got all the plain ones with a miniscule piece of rotten almond in the middle.
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STEMO

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #2 on: 21 January 2024, 22:40:47 »

And...as for only a dog...there are members of my family I would sacrifice to keep my dog.
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Doctor Gollum

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #3 on: 21 January 2024, 22:42:26 »

Life certainly knows how to kick people in the badgers.

Your ex pat acquaintance sounds alot like my former next door neighbour. I hope for his sake your acquaintance doesn't linger on much more.

The dog whilst very distressing needs some context, he's already had 11 years more thanks to you and that's something to be proud of. It won't help with the inevitable but you will take solace from it.

Hurry up slowly should be taught from an early age. Nothing positive ever comes from rushing.

I trust that in light of all of these goings on you have taken the time to sit down with your wife and set out a what if plan and are both on exactly the same page re details and practicalities.

The reason I say that isn't to be depressing, but my Dad went at 70. Persistent cough from early March, loss of energy etc. Didn't see the doctor until he couldn't breathe. In September. Spent a few days in Kirkwall hospital before being flown to Aberdeen. Diagnosed with pneumonia and a chest infection. Pumped full of antibiotics by a consultant and sent home after two weeks. Spent October not really improving. Mid November wakes up unable to breathe. Flown directly to Aberdeen where they ran tests. He was dead within 2 days. Turns out that his lungs were riddled with scar tissue and had basically stopped working. Should the consultant he saw in September have spotted it? Probably, and it's possible that Dad knew but neglected to mention it even to his wife*. Would it have saved him? Probably not for long.

* The point of that particular tale, get your shit together and make sure a responsible adult knows what your intentions are along with all the practical details utilities/care requirements/property deeds/banking etc, because it might just be the last useful thing a person does. It took her nearly two years to get everything squared away and she only lived in Scotland.
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Raeturbo

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #4 on: 21 January 2024, 23:29:43 »

Good on you for all the help you’ve given 👍 use the experience to prepare yourselves for your ‘old age’ as now you know how hard it can be even for people trying their best👍 hope things get better very soon for you.
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YZ250

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #5 on: 25 January 2024, 13:20:35 »

I first used this expression back in October.

Little did I know then how our lives would unravel since………..

I know only too well that life can give us a right good kicking at times, and I’ll admit that it nearly broke me.  ::)
Six years of early hours (2am, 3am) calls several nights a week from Careline saying that one of my parents had pressed their buzzer alarm and could I check on them as they were basically getting fed up of sending first responders out, so could I check that help was really needed as I lived just three miles away. I went to visit them before work, after work and weekends. Both were bed bound and eventually got dementia so if they had a toilet related accident between carers visits, I had to wash them, dress them and strip and change the bedding. It’s not something a son should be doing but I did it for them. In 2022 I walked out into their garden and looked up at the sky. I silently begged for help as it was near to killing me, and my prayers were answered with …….. me having two failing heart valves, two lots of major heart surgery and bacteria in my blood.  ::)  ;D  After spending three months in hospital I was eventually discharged, and my parents then died a few months apart.
So yeh, life can be cruel to us and I’m sure that it hasn’t finished kicking me yet. Have I learnt anything from it, do what you want to do while you can, because one day you won’t be able to. 
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Keith ABS

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #6 on: 25 January 2024, 19:16:14 »

I first used this expression back in October.

Little did I know then how our lives would unravel since………..

I know only too well that life can give us a right good kicking at times, and I’ll admit that it nearly broke me.  ::)
Six years of early hours (2am, 3am) calls several nights a week from Careline saying that one of my parents had pressed their buzzer alarm and could I check on them as they were basically getting fed up of sending first responders out, so could I check that help was really needed as I lived just three miles away. I went to visit them before work, after work and weekends. Both were bed bound and eventually got dementia so if they had a toilet related accident between carers visits, I had to wash them, dress them and strip and change the bedding. It’s not something a son should be doing but I did it for them. In 2022 I walked out into their garden and looked up at the sky. I silently begged for help as it was near to killing me, and my prayers were answered with …….. me having two failing heart valves, two lots of major heart surgery and bacteria in my blood.  ::)  ;D  After spending three months in hospital I was eventually discharged, and my parents then died a few months apart.
So yeh, life can be cruel to us and I’m sure that it hasn’t finished kicking me yet. Have I learnt anything from it, do what you want to do while you can, because one day you won’t be able to.

So true YZ
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Varche

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #7 on: 25 January 2024, 19:33:55 »

You are right. This year we are going into overdrive on making memories.

We have our affairs in order but there are one or two things we need to do.

Been a few developments. Our dog’s health deteriorated quite rapidly over the last weekend. So much for weeks or months. We decided during Sunday night that we needed to have him put down. He couldnt even walk to go and have a pee or lift his leg. Never seen that on a male dog. Monday morning rang the local vet- already out treating sheep. So lifted him in the car and off to local town . All three vets not working Monday morning…….. So rang our vet in Granada. Hour away for an appointment . Vet had difficulty finding a leg vein! But eventually he was gone. Totally horrible experience. For ten years he has been an integral part of our every day life - going everywhere with us..One plus is we now have a much bigger pool of rented accommodation available and places we can go to are much more.  Anyway we are coming to terms with his demise.

The 82 year old expat in hospital is a a different bag. He is on daily dialisys to try and kick start his kidneys. Not eating but drinking copious alcohol each day has improved his look. However the hospital warn he is likely to get pneumonia.

We have been trying to get his deceased wifes will but it is like running through treacle Getting his is slightly more impossible. Half a dozen of us are having a conflab tomorrow to agree a way forward. Eg get a paid solicitor involved. He might solve the impasse by getting a notary to visit the hospital…… Wills, inheritence is slightly differen5 here. For example tax and dues are paid within six months and she died five weeks ago.

YZ250. What a truly horrible situation. My brothers youngest sons wife died at start of Covid from a treatable  illness, leaving husband with two children. Sister in law has run herself into the ground trying to help ever since. .I sincerely hope life improves for you from now on.

This has all confirmed we need to put our house up for sale this Spring. Time for a new chapter and make loads more memories. Onwards and upwards.
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Sir Tigger KC

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #8 on: 25 January 2024, 20:26:57 »

So rang our vet in Granada. Hour away for an appointment . Vet had difficulty finding a leg vein! But eventually he was gone. Totally horrible experience.

Sorry to hear about your dog, but glad to hear you stayed with him.

I read an article the other day that a lot of people drop the dog off at the vets and go as they can't face the inevitable. The dog is left at an unfamiliar place or a place with bad memories, with unfamiliar people who may or may not be kind and reassuring.  When what the dog really needs at that time is its owner by its side for that reassurance.  :(
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STEMO

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #9 on: 25 January 2024, 20:37:16 »

So rang our vet in Granada. Hour away for an appointment . Vet had difficulty finding a leg vein! But eventually he was gone. Totally horrible experience.

Sorry to hear about your dog, but glad to hear you stayed with him.

I read an article the other day that a lot of people drop the dog off at the vets and go as they can't face the inevitable. The dog is left at an unfamiliar place or a place with bad memories, with unfamiliar people who may or may not be kind and reassuring.  When what the dog really needs at that time is its owner by its side for that reassurance.  :(
Yep. I looked poppy straight in the eyes as she went, she was sat on the wife's knee. Very sad but she had eleven great years.

I made sure she was on wife's knee, not mine, as they tend to let go as the anaesthetic takes effect. We didn't bring her home, that would have been too painful. We let the vets look after that side of things.
It does get better, Varche, and your dog had a great life. We lasted 8 months till we got Kenny, but it's highly likely he'll see me off.


To be perfectly honest, I grieved more over that dog than I did my brother who died around the same time. Don't know what that makes me, but I hardly saw him and he arranged one of these quick cremation things. He died on Friday and the ashes were dropped off at mums on the Monday.

I have moved on, as you will if you don't try to do everything at once.
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Jimbob

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #10 on: 26 January 2024, 07:46:00 »

Sorry for what youre going through, saw this the other day, seems quite apt...


Varche

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #11 on: 26 January 2024, 08:22:20 »

Very good!
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STEMO

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Re: Private BattlesI
« Reply #12 on: 26 January 2024, 11:30:35 »

Perfect, Jimbob  :'(
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