Ah, Bonjour Bonjour mon petite chucky eggs, I am back to write the Blog today, and we have some catching up to do!
So, Monday. I had two meetings booked, one with SSAFA in the morning and another with a reporter and photographer from the Exeter Express and Echo newspaper. If you remember back to Sunday’s Blog, I said I had a busy day and that I would have something to write about. I was interested in the meeting with SSAFA, as I had been asking about the on line donating and as time was a tick tocking away and the day of the skydive was creeping ever closer, I hoped he would be able to throw some light on it. I was also very much looking forward to my interview with the press. They were wanting to run a story about my Battalion Welfare Team who had just won an award for their service. They of course were the very team who co ordinated help for my wife and children whilst I was in hospital and continue to stay in touch and offer assistance even now. As you can imagine, when I was asked if I would mind being interviewed about the Welfare teams involvement with my “case”, I jumped at the chance. I felt it was important on three main levels. To show the public, the T.A soldiers and the Regular Army that the T.A welfare system was in place and would be there for it’s serving personnel should they require it. To show the aforementioned that they would be able to perform as well as their Regular Army counterparts and to show whoever was interested that the “One Army” slogan we had all been hearing about was being taken very seriously. Especially by our Battalion.
So I was set to have a reasonably busy day of it and was looking forward to it. I went to bed on Sunday and said to my wife that I HAD to get up when she woke up and to not accept any sob stories. Monday morning, woke up, felt like absolute shite. I had a pounding headache again, my stomach felt like it was doing some mad spinny dance thing, I was sweating really the list goes on. My wife accepted my sob story as I apparently looked like crap so she left me for an hour. My Mother in Law came to the rescue as ever and took the kids to school and nursery as wifey was not happy about leaving me on my own. The problem is, I can not operate my stomach muscles. So if I lie on my back and feel sick, there is not much I can do to sit up. By the same token, the spasms I have can be such that I can not roll on to my side properly, although I am practicing trying to roll on to my side. So you can see why she was some what reluctant to leave me.
I got up and went to the bathroom where I promptly asked my wife for a bowl, now this wasn’t pleasant when I was able bodied but was horrible, almost frightening now I’m disabled. I decided I would have a bath and as I was shivering so badly, my wife put the heating on. It was now around 09.45 and I thought it best to cancel all appointments for the day. The press was easy but I could not get hold of the SSAFA representative. I continued to try but to no avail, and then the door bell rang, SSAFA had arrived. My wife explained the problem and we kept the meeting short, and keeping myself a good distance from the gentleman in case it was a bug. It was a short but informative meeting which told me all I needed to know and answered the questions I had been asking. We said our goodbyes and he left. I continued with my plan and had a nice hot bath.
After probably an hour, I got out of the bath and seriously felt a million dollars, to the point we un cancelled the press. They would now be calling instead of visiting, not the idea we had all had in mind, but at least we would talk. Not ten minutes had passed since we had called the press and my stomach emptied its contents in to the bowl.This was the point I thought it best to wrap up and go to bed. And that is where I stayed, asleep for the most part except when talking to the press. So that was Monday, a horrible day.
So Tuesday then. Woke up feeling a little better, or so I thought. I had my “Chucklebus” collected by the garage to get a couple of bits sorted ready to put it up for sale. An amazing little van that has done us proud. It got us mobile so I could get home from the spinal unit and out and about once we were out. It has also moved us from the house in to the bungalow just by tajing the rear seats out. It is brilliant and has low mileage. It is now hopefully going to get someone else mobile for a while until they, like me, outgrow it. So the “Chucklebus” went and one hour later my new “Chucklebus” was delivered. Just have to wait for the Vito to come back with the bill and then sell it.
I had an e mail from Mission Motorsport which was exciting, unfortunately I will have to wait until the new year to meet up with them as it is too close to my skydive to take any chances of injuries. Just pays sometimes to air on the side of caution so to speak. I also had a long chat to one of the main men of Op Nightingale inviting me to a meting next month. Some very interesting stuff was said, which may promote another interest and possibly occupy some of time if things work out. After those calls however I retired to bed again. My wife had taken a sample in to the doctor’s surgery in the morning after taking the kids to school and in very little time we were told via the telephone that had another urine infection. Now when I was able bodied, (a walker), I would probably pee a lot maybe feel a bit rough with a urine infection but holy crap, it put me to bed. Rough as a badgers ass doesn’t even come close. It is horrible. My wife picked up some antibiotics from the doctor which I have started to take with a marked improvement from Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say I had to cancel Maralyn again which I hate doing but she does understand which is nice. We shall see her again Friday all being well. So Tuesday was spent in bed again, so that was that.
Now today. Felt much better. Woke this morning to see my little girl looking at me, she obviously crawled in our bed last night bless her. The alarm went off for everyone to get up but the best my daughter could muster was to roll over and cuddle in to my wife. We went in to Taunton to collect my tax disc from my Vito as I needed to swap it for one for my new Chucklebus, and then proceeded to pick up my youngest daughters Birthday present from the shop. Its her Birthday this weekend. Once we had done this we headed back to Ilminster to quickly meet up with my Brother whose Birthday was today. After a quick chat and I gave him his gift we drove off to collect the kids from school. From there it was off to swimming lessons for the kids and then back home for me to have the massage on my legs which keeps them from staying “tight”. My kids pooped out to the fair with my Brother in Law and his girlfriend as I can not go on any rides, and I can;’t be left with my youngest on my own in case she walks off. I can’t catch her you see. Also, the ground is sodden and I believe there is a high degree of probability that I may get bogged in in my wheelchair! Aside from that, I have been sorting my donation webpage and catching up on things I wanted to do over the last couple of days.
I hope this gives you a catch up, and may my slightly better health continue as I don’t want to miss my skydive next week. If you have been interested in reading this blog and you belive that SSAFA and my wheelchair fund are worth supporting, then PLEASE visit www.justgiving.com/george-pas and give as much or as little as you can.
Until we see what tomorrow brings,
Goodnight all.