Last Wednesday evening, exactly five weeks to the day from when she was rushed to
hospital by ambulance, I turned up to collect my good lady wife from Hawkhurst Community Hospital,
and brought her back home.
It’s been a lengthy and at times, very draining experience;
obviously far more so for her than for me, but the effects of nightly hospital visits,
combined with work and running the household, have all added up leaving me
needing to recharge my batteries as well.
I therefore took Thursday and Friday off from work,
partially to recuperate, but more importantly to help Mrs PBT’s readjust to
life at home and get her used to being away from the hospital routine.
She didn’t need much encouragement with regard to the latter,
and she is coping well with getting around again; although there’ll be no long
walks in the country for a wee while. I’ve also taken this opportunity to get
my car looked at, as it was knocking up an additional 200 miles a week! The
bathroom project is also being dusted off, although it will be several weeks
before either of us are ready to face the upheaval which goes with a major renovation.
I also want to reconnect with the world outside of immediate
family and work, and get back out visiting a few pubs and attending the odd
CAMRA meeting. It’s been eight weeks since I last attended a CAMRA function,
and that was our Christmas meal at the Brecknock Arms, so I’m itching to get
back into the swing of things again.
This weekend our local rugby club, Tonbridge Juddians held
their annual Winter Beer Festival. With Eileen only a couple of days out of
hospital, it would have been both inappropriate and rather uncaring for me to
have gone charging off to the TJ’s clubhouse for an afternoon, but to be honest
a crowded festival, with people jostling for space, and nowhere to sit down, is not the sort of re-introduction to the world of beer I am looking for at
the moment.
Instead, a few quiet pints, in an equally quiet pub, with a
couple of close friends is much more in
line with what I’m looking for at the moment, so I will try and arrange
something along these lines for next week. In the meantime it’s just good to
have the family unit back together again under the same roof.
6 comments:
That's the best news I've heard this week, Paul. Take care of Eileen and treat yourself well too !
"In the meantime it’s just good to have the family unit back together again under the same roof."
Yup, the essence of family. :)
"Instead, a few quiet pints, in an equally quiet pub, with a couple of close friends is much more in line with what I’m looking for at the moment,"
Can't argue with that. Much prefer that myself. :)
As Martin said, very good news indeed.
Cheers
PS - "as it was knocking up an additional 200 miles a week!"
Pfft. I do that for my job about once a week. ;)
Great news about herself Paul.
Let me know when you're feeling fully rested as we haven't had a decent Brexit barney for a while.😂
Caretaking while working is not easy. Don't short change yourself. Patient and caretaker both require a lot of effort.
Thanks Martin, I will follow your advice. Enjoy your break in Malta, and looking forward to a full report on your return.
Thank-you as well, Russ. As you say “the essence of family”. I was forgetting that 200 miles is nothing as far as North America is concerned, but roads in the UK are often clogged with traffic, and my journey over to Maidstone, which is just over 15 miles, was sometimes taking 40 minutes!
Thank-you too, Syd. Think we’ll leave Brexit for a while, especially as the government are making such a hash of it.
Wise words, Dave. The caretaking is progressing well, but it’s back to work in the morning, so we’ll see how it goes then.
"but roads in the UK are often clogged with traffic, and my journey over to Maidstone, which is just over 15 miles, was sometimes taking 40 minutes!"
Ugh, forget what I said then. My 93 mile trip (door to door) to Nanaimo usually only takes 90 minutes. :)
Cheers
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