A Thrilling Adventure in Swansea

Hidden is the second novel by Emma Kavanagh and a brilliant whodunnit (so I can't say too much about it or I will spoil your fun). The story is told through a number of voices but mananges to unfold coherently with suspense and subtlety. as suspicion falls on different heads,     Seemingly unconnected happenings eventually combine to form a chilling, dangerous and dramatic climax.  It's a thrilling book, with believable and engaging and rounded characters in a well described setting.  I really enjoyed it and am now, having finished it, suffering a book hangover.  I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of  it: definitely a book to look out for.



The publishers describe the book thus:-  

HE'S WATCHING

A gunman is stalking the wards of a local hospital. He's unidentified and dangerous, and has to be located. Urgently.

Police Firearms Officer Aden McCarthy is tasked with tracking him down. Still troubled by the shooting of a schoolboy, Aden is determined to make amends by finding the gunman - before it's too late.

SHE'S WAITING

To psychologist Imogen, hospital should be a place of healing and safety - both for her, and her young niece who's been recently admitted. She's heard about the gunman, but he has little to do with her. Or has he?

As time ticks down, no one knows who the gunman's next target will be. But he's there. Hiding in plain sight. Far closer than anyone thinks...

The author, Emma, has this to say about her career (so far):-

I began my career a very long way from writing. I decided I wanted to be an author when I was five (I was that kind of kid!), and spent my entire childhood writing feverishly. But then, as I got older, something strange happened - I started listening to advice. You know one of the worst pieces of advice ever? Write what you know. What did I know? I was a kid. If I didn’t know anything, surely that also meant I had nothing to write about?

You know one of the other worst pieces of advice ever? Few people get to be authors. You need a stable career.

So, I set about choosing a stable career and rapidly fell into psychology. It was, in spite of the crummy advice, a love match. Psychology fascinated me then and fascinates me now. There is nothing more interesting to me than what drives the behaviour of my fellow humans. The problem was that, whilst I was learning about this new world, I had lost confidence in my old one, and so set writing aside in order to concentrate on a serious career.

I did my degree (great fun!) and my Phd (not so much fun) in psychology. Which was awesome. But I had officially run my course as a student and the time had come for me to pick my path again.

You see, in spite of all the advice, I just have never been comfortable walking the well trodden path. Nothing appealed to me. There were no jobs that I wanted to just walk in to. I remember telling a career advisor that I wanted to work with people in traumatic professions and help them to understand how the psychology of what they did affected their roles and their lives. I still remember the look of sympathy tinged with exasperation.

“I’m pretty sure there is no such job.” she replied.

She was right.

So I made one up.

I began my own consultancy business training police and military units on the psychology of critical incidents. I was twenty three, fresh from academia and green as grass. But I immersed myself in the world of policing and took every opportunity I could find to learn the job and learn what the challenges are. I discovered then that if you ask people to teach you about what they do every day, they can be extraordinarily generous. And because I was willing to learn, people were willing to listen. So my business took off.

I got to do pretty strange things. I have travelled across the UK, Europe and the US. I have taught group of three and groups of three hundred. I have designed live fire exercises for police firearms units. I have fired more than my fair share of weapons. I have been involved in crisis negotiations, have run about in muddy fields attempting to evade capture, have worked in some of the weirdest military bases in the world and generally had way more fun than anyone should have in work.

And then one day it occurred to me, I knew things now. Which meant that maybe, just maybe, I had something to write about. 

Emma Kavanagh has worked as a police psychologist and this gives her special insight into the world of criminal minds and crime solving, which she puts to excellent use here.

The book is due for publication by Century on 23rd April 2015 in hardback (£12.99) but if you fancy a free taster, here's a link to dip your toes in the water.  Enjoy!

This post should have appeared on 6th April as part of a blog tour hosted by CrimeThrillerGirl, but sadly a technical glitch caused me to be late to the party, for which many apologies. Thanks for the opportunity to take part - you might like to join me in tagging along the rest of the tour.

The Second Sister by Marie Bostwick

An agreeable visit to Wisconsin, to me an unfamiliar part of the USA.  Marie Bostwick's descriptions of life there in Door County make it tempting to plan a visit in the real world.  Life on the Lakes sounds delightful and real.

If you've had a very unhappy upbringing and have left behind your home town as soon as you can, what will it take to make you go back?  How truly satisfying is a life and career which give you no opportunities to sleep more than a few hours a night, make friends, or develop hobbies?  What will it take to make you visit your sister, in whose shadow you grew up in and who now makes you feel guilty?  These are the issues facing our heroine, Lucy Toomey, who has to make some choices and chooses to learn some patchwork and quilting on the way.

This is an enjoyable book by an author I've not encountered previously. It is a story of family, community, values, creativity and love and well worth choosing for a satisfying read.

Thrills in Bed

Nothing to do with the over-hyped 50 Shades stuff, but I've been spending a lot of time in bed with a nasty flu bug and, when not sleeping, books have been a great solace and good companions.

My most recent read was by Lisa Gardner, a psychological thriller named Crash and Burn.

This story kept me guessing, right to the end.  Clearly all is not as it seems when this psychological crime thriller opens on the scene of a nasty car accident and an injured but lucky-to-be-alive victim who is anxious for the safety of her missing companion - daughter? - Vero.   A police sniffer dog fails to find a trail other than Nicky's at the scene of the car wreck  at the bottom of a woodland ravine on a remote road in New Hampshire, USA.  Poor, concussed Nicky awakens in hospital to be confronted by a man she does not recognise - who says he is her husband.  There are so many layers to the plot and, as one mystery is apparently resolved, another is revealed. What is the truth about identity, crimes and victimhood?  Nicky is well described, as are the investigators involved in the case, who at times have to question whether there is a case at all.   It really is a jolly good, satisfying read.

A Familiar Landscape: Daughter

A marvellous book, "Daughter" is unbelievably good for a
first novel.  It was totally compelling and I've read it over three days and two nights, reluctant to put it down to do the other things I must.

Jane Shemilt's starting point has been what she knows: family life for two doctors (Dad a neurosurgeon, Mum a GP) living and working in Bristol.  However, she takes this normal family into a hellish situation that is every parents' nightmare, and charts its destructive effect.  Is anything ever what it seems?  How can we survive compound losses and tragedies?

The writing is poignant, insightful and engaging, the characters all too familiar and sympathetic, and the plot is finely wrought and well-paced.  Highly recommended, and I hope her next book is published soon!

Different Travels in my Magic Armchair - The Great British Knit Off

So, one way to travel in my magic armchair is by curling up with a good book.  I love to do so, and do so voraciously.

I the run-up to Christmas I read The Great Christmas Knit Off by Alexandra Brown and this is what I thought about it:-

A book full of comfort and joy: an absolute joy to read at Christmas, but this charming story of love, betrayal and starting again is an equal pleasure at any time of year.

A weekend in the countryside to escape London, where everything is going wrong for Sybil, leads to the chance to recover her spirits and find  new directions in life, both in work and in love.  Having myself experienced the therapeutic effect of knitting and the benefits of swapping capital living for a home in a country village, I enjoyed these aspects of the tale.  Sybil is fortunate to be taken into the hearts of the locals, and manages to make friends and save Hetty's House of Haberdashery from ruin and redevelopment by a neat bit of community work.  She also finds love again, and a whole new future.

I am looking forward to revisitng Tindledale in future stories - this is glorious and well-written escapism from a hard, cold world.

It's been a long time, baby...

I wanted to do a brain storm on the word singular, and then make a word cloud with the results.  I used wordle and got this.  Frustratingly, I couldn't determine how to make "Singular" the most significant, central and largest word in the collection.  Anyone know how to do this?

What do you think?  Click on the image to see it bigger in Wordle.

          title="Wordle: sugular 2">

             
My good pal Jordi over at Above the GWB told me that repeating the most important word several times was the way to embiggen it, so now you can see Mark 2 for my Singular Wordle.  Now, how can I make that image larger - anyone know, please???

Another journey

One journey I have been taking over the past few years has been that of learning to eat a diet and prepare food that is gluten free, having discovered the hard way that I am sensitive to gluten.  I'm not sure when this realization took place: maybe ten years ago?  I've not been definitively diagnosed as coeliac because I never wanted to go back on the gluten in order to test its effect on my body, and when I had a blood test, I had already been gluten-free for quite some time.

Gluten-free food has improved no end since the early days of my need for it.  Back then, the bread resembled Madeira cake more than bread and was really hard to swallow as it seemed to swell in the mouth, while gluten free pasta was inclined to disintegrate into a starch paste in its cooking water.  More recently it has been possible to cook gluten free penne al dente and the breads are much more palatable, although still prone to disintegrating into crumbs or transpiring to contain such large air holes that the slice falls apart and the filling of a sandwich is not contained.  I have had spells of trying to make my own bread, with and without a breadmaking machine.  I had a long love affair with spelt pastas and flours until those too seemed to cause my symptoms of sensitivity and I had to stop using them.

Earlier this summer I discovered a gluten-free baking course at the Waitrose Cookery School where Adriana Rabinovich taught a heartening session on making gluten-free pastry and bread.  She uses Dove's Farm Gluten Free White Flour for most of her recipes, and this is increasingly widely available in most supermarkets (though sadly not in our local Co-op).  I have been making my own bread, quiches and sweet fruit tarts since then, not often as I don't want to put on all the weight I have lost over the past 15 months, but enough to stay in practice and to feed visitors!  Earlier this month I attended a second of her workshops on Pizza and Pasta making, this time in Abingdon.  Today I have made some Buckwheat Lasagne, which I intend to serve for dinner tomorrow, but it's looking good.  Adriana has given me a lot more confidence in preparing good, gluten-free food which does not feel like a compromise and which will be willingly eaten by the rest of the family (because cooking "normal" food for everyone and something different for me is too much faff).  I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to benefit from her excellent teaching and hope I'll have future opportunities to learn more from her.

I recently visited a friend who gave me a Herman (Friendship Cake Starter), which was not gluten free, but by feeding this sourdough starter with gluten free flours, the gluten content should soon become infinitesimal, or maybe homeopathic...  My thoughts were not of using my Herman to make cake (lovely article here) but as a sourdough bread starter: other friends have been raving about theirs.

Today seemed the right day to proceed in my endeavour.  My Herman had reached critical mass, I had found a recipe (here) and had eaten all of my last loaf of bread, and the ingredients were all present in sufficient quantity in my larder.  

Well, when I say the ingredients, I did my own twist on the recipe and used 8oz of Buckwheat Flour and 7oz of Doves Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour in place of what the recipe specified.  I used most of my Herman mix, so my friends can rest easy, safe in the knowledge I will not be trying to pass on pots of the stuff (though it could probably be arranged, if anyone is desperate) - in fact, I may have to build up my Herman supply to keep up with my breadmaking requirements!

This recipe calls for baking the slowly risen bread in a Dutch Oven - which seems to be American for cast-iron casserole, and thus my trusty orange Le Creuset pot was called into service and preheated in the oven once the dough had risen.  Then the whole package was transferred from bowl to pot, still wrapped in a couple of tefal baking sheets (we'd run out of baking parchment) and put in the oven for an hour - it didn't seem quite there when I looked after the specified 45 minutes.

Look at that texture!  Isn't it beautiful?  And the flavour is really, really good.  My best beloved described it as having a slight tang of treacle, in a good way.

Now, the challenge is to eke it out rather than wolfing it down - I may well slice and freeze a good part of it, to be defrosted as required.  I am looking forward to sandwiches and toast from this loaf.  Herman certainly came up trumps for me on this occasion!

I'd love to know if anyone has a recipe for making their own starter/Herman/mother from scratch.
Oh, the satisfaction in making a loaf like this!

May in an English Garden

The wet weather which greyed out most of this month has allowed a lush abundance to greet the warm (sometimes hot) sun at May's end.

The wisteria on the archway has this year been absolutely gorgeous, like a glorious lace pelmet at the top of this viewpoint into the garden.

I'm glad the sunshine allowed us time to enjoy the flowers and the winds did not rip them untimely from their vines.  The scent, too, has been glorious, mixing with that of the Philadelphus and Choisya ternata.

The blousy lushness of the red paeonies does not last long but delights the eye, a reminder of the glory of roses still to come along on their heels.

The plants mound up into proud significance in the borders, painting their colours with fresh foliage and flowers.  There will be more, much more to enjoy as each day brings new delights.

I love reading

I really love reading and it is my local library that enables me to indulge this love without becoming bankrupt or running too quickly out of shelf space.  Today I finished a book by a new-to-me author, Deborah Crombie, which I am so happy to have stumbled across on my last library foray.  There were coincidences in the book to what I've been doing lately, and also pause for thought: how we can be divided by the same language.

For the last week, I have been visiting my childhood home in North-East London, staying with my Mum and helping to look after her while she had and recovered from a surgical procedure for a minor complaint.  My Mum is amazingly fit, well and independent in comparison with many of her contemporaries, but I thought she needed a little spoiling and coddling as she's the only parent I have these days and, besides, it was a good excuse to spend some time in her company.

On the way to her home, I made a couple of stops at places I have been longing to visit: Loop in Camden Passage, Islington (a wonderful wool shop I've bought from by internet shopping but never in person) and also The Shop (no web-site) just off Brick Lane, a delight for lovers of vintage clothing, linens, scarves and similar textile-y products.  This meant passing through areas redolent of my past life in London, as I attended university in Islington long, long ago, and then worked in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and also had friends living in the area. so it was quite the trip down memory lane, as well as providing the opportunity for some retail indulgence.

So, once at Mum's, I completed reading an excellent novel by Elly Griffiths (The Janus Stone) and started a new read, "Necessary as Blood" by Deborah Crombie.  The setting of this book was around Brick Lane and mentioned a number of places (eg Columbia Road Flower Market, Spitalfields) familiar to me.  It is a detective novel, the thirteenth in a series about Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, two London Police Detectives.  One of the main characters is a textile artist, which is also close to home.  It was a really goos read and a coincidence that it was set so close to areas I'd been to in the previous couple of days and known so well in the past.  The geographical setting is well researched, since Deborah Crombie, while having lived in the UK for periods in the past, is a Texan who lives there still.  There were a few incidences of dissonance in the text - phrases which did not feel very English, "Sit down, why don't you?" being an example of this.  The term "slipper chair" had me searching for a definition on the internet for all that I have studied upholstery - it does refer to an upholstered chair with a low seat and high back, such as might be used in a bedroom, but I've never heard the term before.  Also, a "pink dress shirt" comes across to a Brit as infinitely grander than the sort of smart shirt to be worn to the work it refers to.  I am nit-picking to mention these instances because it is an excellent book and I will look out for more examples of the writer's work.  It had an excellent plot which kept me guessing and interested, great characters and more depth than many books in the crime genre.  I'm really glad my library has introduced me to this series (and to Elly Griffiths, another great author).

View from the Coffee Shop at Whipps Cross Hospital

I returned home yesterday, as my Mum had much more energy and seemed ready to cope with life on her own again (but with my daughter staying during the week, as normal), but I'm hoping her recovery continues as well as it has started, and that I'll have the opportunity to visit again before long - she'll be working on her list of jobs for me already!

Back to Celebrate Mothering Sunday

I did not mean to take such extended leave from my blogging - but time passed, recovering from my operation, and my mojo was well and truly absent.  Then the usual winter thing happened with my health, and I had a small run of fluey bugs which put me into a state of semi-hibernation.  However, spring is coming and maybe my energy-sapping illness is regressing.  Time to get back into the swing of things: so here are some photos of flowers currently enhancing my life, indoors and out, which I photographed today.

I bought the lilies for painting, but they also take a good picture (they smell delicious, I wish I could share that too).

This is one of the lovely camellias blooming in the garden at the moment, under the still-bare branches of the walnut tree.

I nearly missed noticing these lovely tulips flowering in a couple of pots by the garden door.  I'm so glad to have noticed them because they are so pretty.

It's Mothering Sunday and I so appreciate the love and good wishes of my children, the cards and flowers, and the delicious meal my husband is cooking to celebrate the day.  I sent my Mum some freesias but she has been away at my sister's for the weekend, so she may not yet have received them or my card (which await her return, on her mantelpiece).

Long time, no see

It was not my intention to disappear off the face of blogland, but getting over a major operation and used to living with a bionic hip is extremely tiring.  Things are going well, even if I do keep overdoing it and needing to rest to recover from the pain from healing tissues.

I'll post a bit more soon, but thought I'd share news of a rather splendid blog giveaway, which you can see more of by clicking on the button below.  Silverpebble makes some lovely jewellery herself using silver clay and you can also link to her Etsy shop, if this interests you.  What is attractive is that you can fire your silver clay on an ordinary domestic gas hob, so no special kiln is necessary.  It certainly appeals to me.

Life goes on and my lovely husband has shared his latest virus with me, so I've had a day in bed to rest up.  My 15 year old son wants to go to a friend's house party this evening so we've been having a chat about appropriate and responsible behaviour at such events.  He sees it as a rite of passage and, of course, he is right.  I guess I'm old enough to have a youngest child going to teen parties as well as a new hip!

After the Operation - Day 8

It is exactly a week since I woke up in the recovery room following my hip surgery, and it is hard to believe that it is only that long.

My husband collected me from the hospital in my Zafira, which is high-seated, and getting in was not too difficult or painful: we used a plastic supermarket bag to help me slide in, and pulled it out from beneath me once I was in the right position and ready to do up my safety belt.  The ride was a little uncomfortable - not the bumpiness of the roads, but simply being sat in the same position for however long it took - maybe 40 minutes. I was able to get down from the car with only a little pain, and walked with my two sticks into the house, managing to negotiate the two steps in without a problem.

Since coming home, I have spent quite a lot of time snoozing, either upstairs or in a chair or on the sofa downstairs.  My lovely man very kindly went out and bought me a special cushion to help me sit and lie more comfortably, as I was getting a little sore on behind and heels.  I have been using pillows in bed to help get better support, either under my feet, knees, between my knees and to support my back.  I can only sleep on my back at the moment and pain prevents me rolling onto my side in my sleep.  The sofa is a little low but using the special cushion helps by raising me a bit more, and I can lie on it once I am upon it.

The stairs have not proven a problem, remembering to step up onto my operated leg but down onto my good leg.  I am so glad we had the walk-in shower installed as that is easy to manage to get access to.  We have a non-slip grip mat installed on the shower tray.  When I washed my hair on Saturday I moved my perching stool into the cubicle to sit upon, but normally I can stand comfortably long enough for a quick shower, and use the perching stool outside the shower to help me get dry.  I was provided with two loo frames as part of my care package, which certainly help with sitting upon and getting up from the toilet (one of which needed a seat raise as well, whereas the other was high enough not to requite one.

Sitting at the dining table is, for some reason, quite uncomfortable, even with the special cushion, but is manageable for the length of a meal - then I am very happy to move elsewhere to sit in more comfort.

I can dress independently, and it is just the compression socks which I need assistance to put on and take off.  I am taking care to wear loose, stretchy clothing so that no unnecessary pressure is put on my wound.

As far as walking goes, I have not yet ventured outside the house.  I am generally using my two sticks, and now am beginning to be able to use them in opposition (move one stick, then opposite leg and so on) rather than move both together, then walk bad leg then good leg into the space between them, then repeat).  I have used the walls and furniture for support when moving from bedroom to bathroom upstairs.  Clearly there has been a massive improvement in weight-bearing and balance since I was in hospital.

After the Operation - Day 4

So here I am, sitting in the Patients’ Lounge, waiting for my husband to arrive and take me home. My case and bags are beside me, and my bed bay Is being prepared for a new patient who is having a knee joint replacement this afternoon. I have my TTAs (prescribed medicines to take away), I’ve said my goodbyes to the lovely staff and my fellow ward-mates, and it’s like being in limbo! I am discharged but still in the care of the hospital until my husband arrives. For some reason I cannot connect to the hospital wi-fi any more so I’m typing this to post later.

Today I enjoyed another shower and dressed myself (apart from the compression socks, which I needed help with. A breakfast of very delicious vanilla flavoured prunes and a banana plus a mug of tea went down very well. I was a bit dozy and kept falling asleep, and I still experience a fair bit of pain after moving around, so was content to sit on my bed with my feet up. Ironically, I had finally learned how to use the bed controls yesterday evening, so could raise up the back as desired, and also the foot to help the circulation of my feet and legs, sticking carefully to the “no bending more than 90 degrees” rule to protect my healing hip. I wanted to rest while I could, in order to avoid my ankles swelling as they had yesterday after quite a lot of time on my feet.

My two fellow hip replacement on Monday patients are staying in a bit longer than me, probably to be discharged tomorrow. It was lovely to see them feeling much better and more mobile today. My next door neighbour managed the stairs with the supervision of the physiotherapist this morning, and thought she would go home today, but it was decided that the wound was still oozing enough to present a potential infection risk, and she would be better off in the hospital environment for another night. Both ladies had had blood transfusions last night, which really seemed to perk them up. The lady opposite me was today able to walk to the bathroom and back using a zimmer frame, so this meant that she no longer required catheterisation but she was not yet strong enough for walking further to perform the stairs test. The Consultant was hopeful that by tomorrow she would be able to do this and also maybe go home. She is 80 and my friend next door is in her sixties, so I guess I have age working in my favour.

Walking using the sticks has been going very well, and it feels so much more normal as I usually use two sticks outdoors due to my iffy balance. I’m happy not to have needed to learn how to use the crutches for support. The long reach grabber has been invaluable in helping me to retrieve various things which have gone flying, and the long-handled sponge certainly makes washing much easier. The other gadget I have found useful is the leg lifter, as it is hard to lift my operated-on leg still, but the long shoe horn and a device which I think helps to put on socks have not yet been necessary.

The ward seems a very safe and protected environment and it will be interesting to see how being at home feels, whether I will feel as safe and secure there or instead more vulnerable. Time will tell. I am expecting to feel very tired and to need a lot of rest for the first few days but might be wrong about this. Certainly being back in my own bed will be a delight.

The staff at the hospital have all been so delightful, charming and kind and all say they enjoy working there. Their assistance and attitude have contributed greatly to maintaining a positive attitude to recovery and I feel so fortunate to have been cared for here.

After the operation - Day 3, afternoon

Well, there's just been a ward round and, all being well, I can go home tomorrow!  Isn't this amazing?!  I am thrilled.

After the Operation - day 3 in the morning.

I slept really well last night, despite being woken for observations to be made, then I managed to go back to sleep until nearly eight.  Prunes and an apple for breakfast with a cup of tea.  Then I walked to the bathroom for my last specimen collection for output measurement, returned to my bedside and was asked if i wanted to shower.  This felt like a wonderful treat, so it was back to the bathroom and I managed to wash everything without difficulty - we have all been issued with a long-handled sponge.  I needed a little help drying my legs, but was able to dress myself entirely independently using the grabber we've all been given - great gadget, although I did need my compression socks to be put on for me.  I'm  now sat up in the chair beside my bed and am reasonably comfortable.  One of my ward mates is having problems with sickness and anaemia, and the other is not so well either.  We have a new admission coming in shortly to the bed which was vacated last night by a ladt who had a post-hip haematoma so was in for eight days.  No photo in this post - maybe later.  We are due to have our hips X-rayed this morning to ensure everything is OK.

Edited to add: Maddalena the physio just came and got me walking with my sticks - bypassing the crutches.  It went so well that we walked to the physiotherapy room and I managed to do the stairs using the two banisters there.  I'm as high as a kite with happiness at the moment with my new achievements, although my hip is more painful now.

After the Operation: Day 2

Didn't sleep badly once I got off last night, but activity on the ward woke me at six am, we all had bloods taken, and I felt too alert to go back to sleep.  Breakfast came, then the ward manager and head of nursing did a ward round, and then an anesthetist did a round, then my surgeon did one.  My dressing was changed and the wound cleaned and checked - it looks very tidy but is bigger than I first thought.We were waiting for the physiotherapist and I kept dozing off - I think the three of us operated on yesterday did this.  Eventually our physio de jour, Maddalena, arrived and one of us was got out of bed and sat up in her bedside chair.

Then, it was lunch time and afterwards it was my turn.  Initially it was hard to move my operated-on leg, but with the assistance of a leg-mover (see below) I managed to move it a bit, and practiced some exercises before I got off the bed.

Then it was the turn of the walking frame, and I managed to use it to walk as far as the bathroom and back to my bay, to sit in my bedside chair.  It wasn't as difficult as I had feared, nor as painful,  The most painful element was getting of  and onto the bed or chair, which I guess involved the most traumatized muscles.  But, I managed to do it!  So this meant the catheter could be removed, and I could be less encumbered.  It was tiring and so I managed to keep dozing off during the afternoon and was woken again for dinner which I ate on my chair.  I used the frame again to visit the bathroom and then ventured out of our room and down the corridor to the nurses station to tell them I had left them a gift in the bathroom (output is monitored for a while pot-op and post catheter0.).

I was heartily relieved when the drugs trolley came round and I was given this colourful collection of medications: analgesics, anticoagulant and a potassium supplement, as this morning's blood test showed I was a little deficient.  I'm back on the bed now, but really quite pleased with my progress today, and very thankful for all the messages of support I've received - it so helps morale.

After all the dozing during the day, I hope I will sleep well tonight, but I suspect I will!  It's been hard work.

After the operation: Day 1

Today was the day of my hip replacement here and I thought a post or few on my experiences might help others facing this procedure..
We had to arrive at 6am as I was first on the list.  The first hour was spent completing essential paperwork, including the selection of foods for my meals today and tomorrow, then setting up my laptop to log onto the free wi-fi here.  I also donned my attractive open-backed gown and hospital dressing gown, cutely accessorized with foam theatre slippers and a white compression stocking on my good leg (top tip: a small plastic bag placed over the foot helps the stocking on).  I walked down to the lift and go up to the theatre suite and into the preparation ward. It felt much better than being wheeled up. I went all low blood pressured and faint in preparation so my shy veins (thanks to the low BP) presented an extreme challenge to the anaesthetic nurses caring for me.  The anesthetist succeeded where two failed attempts had not, and I had my pretty pink cannula in situ
Now things went faster and I was equipped with a catheter, then the spinal needle was introduced into the  subarachnoid or intrathecal space of my spine, and soon my legs felt warm and numb.  I was carefully positioned for surgery, using various supports bolted to my trolley, before something was injected via my cannula which sent me gratefully to sleep.

I woke up maybe two hours later in recovery, where I was cared for attentively as my blood pressure was low.  I was grateful to have water and tea to drink, as apart from a couple of sips of water to help me swallow my usual morning medication, I'd had nothing since yesterday.  I felt alert, cheerful and in no pain at all.  my operated-on leg was velcroed to a wedge shaped cushion, to prevent rolling onto my side, especially   in my sleep.  Two hours later, my bed and I were returned to my windowed bay.

This is what I can see around me in my bed bay - it will enlarge if you click on it.  I have a personal telephone and TV with headphones, an automatic monitor for blood pressure, pulse and blood oxygen saturation levels, an automatic foot and calf  intermittent pressure massager to assist blood circulation in my lower limbs, in addition to free access to wi fi broadband.  I also have a standard bed table on which I place my laptop, meal trays, water bottle and glass, etc.  I also feel very lucky to have the only bed bay with a window: it may not be an especially scenic but I can see daylight and feel less cut off from the world.  It
is very conducive to a high morale, as are the phone and internet access.  I returned to the ward to numerous messages of support in my in-box and on Facebook.  I spoke on the phone to my elder daughter and husband, Facebook-Skyped my younger daughter in Denmark, who had not managed to sleep at all last night, and also my son.  I knew my mother would be out today, but was able to phone her this evening, and she sounded so relieved to hear me sounding so perky, and sent e-mails and facebook messages to others.

Here I am looking soooo glamourous!

The food is excellent!  I had an omelette with tuna and salad for lunch, followed by a nice crunchy apple and a cup of tea, while dinner was a fricassee of pork and celery in a herbed cream sauce, with long grain rice followed by a banana and another cuppa,  I have since enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate..

I  was thrilled to see my elder daughter and son-in-love and  they came bearing gifts: sadly the fresh flowers were not allowed on the ward so they had to go away again, but some lovely fresh fruit was permitted so I have fresh pineapple pieces, ripe figs and some nectarines or peaches and some chocolate (for the iron!) and almonds (for calcium).  I feel very spoiled.  Then my lovely husband and son arrived, the former looking exhausted after only 2 hours sleep last night.  We enjoyed catching up on the days events, and then they went off for a quick evening meal out before going to their homes for an early night.

So far, so good..  Today is a day of bedrest: physiotherapy.  I am still experiencing no pain despite n top-up analgesia.  I'm now beginning to feel a bit sleepy so I'll finsh this post here.  Thanks so much to my frins and family for their love, support. good wishes, kind thoughts and prayers: all very welcome and appreciated,

Sweet Peas

An essential part of my summer is the growing and harvesting of sweet peas.  They remind me of my father, a skilled sweet pea grower, in the garden and on the allotment.  I realised that I hadn't recorded this year's outstandingly colourful and perfumed display, and must admit that a fortnight's absence on holiday means that they have gone slightly over, though my husband is hopeful that we might be self-sufficient in sweet pea seeds for next year, and meanwhile we have started picking them again to enjoy indoors.

These, in my pretty jug bought on a trip to Dunster a few years ago, are decorating the living room window sill and their perfume is delighting me as I write.  The petals are so delicate yet so vibrant in colour, and I hope there will be a few more vases left to go before the end of the season.

Here are some of the plants, as seen from my living room window.

There are more at the bottom of the garden, cheek by jowl with our carrots,onions and garlic.
As someone said,
"A Garden is a thing of beauty
and a job forever".

Postcard from Paradise

This stunning paradise is Pelistry beach, on St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly, UK and I was lucky enough to be there last week to take this photograph. I'm missing this glorious paradise and so happy to be able to share it. If, like me, you need more of a Paradise fix, follow this link.

Skyline Sihouettes

These amazing skies were seen during a walk I took yesterday.

Aquatic Abstract

A Good Day for Wildlife

A remarkably friendly thrush decided to allow me a picture,

As well as two little sparrows

While this blue butterfly was sunbathing on an osteospermum

Just long enough to let me capture its image

before flying away.

Walking to Nowhere, and beyond.

One song I like is Paolo Nutini's "Last Request" which has the lines,

"Sure, I know we're going nowhere,

But one last time, let's go there...."

This afternoon we took the opportunity to walk to Nowhere, as evidenced by the signpost pictured above, but we did not stop there.  Further on, there was a cafe serving the luxuriously delicious ice creams produced by Roskilly's of Cornwall, with superb views in addition.

In fact, my indulgence was not ice cream, but iced yogurt - peach flavour.  It was so good, tangy and refreshing and not too sweet.  Not good for the diet, but what a treat!

Tea Party for Sparrows

Does Snow White live here?  It looks as if these sparrows are determined to clear up the remains of a delicious cream tea.

Maybe it's a good example of symbiotic existence.

The humans had disappeared inside for shelter from the elements, but the birds weren't about to let a few drops of rain spoil their al fresco meal.

Skies

They fascinate me, do skies.  Ever-changing, so many variations....

One day, there are the silken traceries of white against the blue.

The next, subtle irregular striations of grey, suddenly climbing steeply into a blurred mass.

We sat and sheltered from the rain, watching the lightening show whilst sipping iced tea and spicy ginger beer,

Wonder what skies await me and my camera today?