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JAYNE WITH A WHY |
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January 2006 . : On My Perch at Night, I'm Reading A Book On My Kindle: .
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007UPDATE ON THE LITTLE GREY HAIRED OLD LADY - aka - GRANDMAAfter doing a spot of retail therapy in Marina Mall recently, Grandma said she felt light-headed. We'd stopped at Cafe Lips for a rejuvenating coffee, before setting off for home. Unlike her, she rested her head on her arms for a few minutes. She was in a cold sweat & said that she didn't think she could walk to the taxi rank. I am truly blessed to know the Manager of Marina Mall, so I gave him a quick call to ask if he could organise me a wheelchair for Grandma. Within minutes, the wheelchair arrived, but Grandma's condition seemed to be deteriorating rapidly. Her light-headedness progressed into a small siezure & she lost consciousness for a short while. I asked the Manager of Cafe Lips to please call an ambulance for me. Whilst he was doing this, Grandma had another siezure & I have to admit, it scared the crap out of me. I thought she'd had a stroke. Several minutes passed (which felt like hours) before Grandma sort of came back to earth. Her eyes were glazed over & she couldn't seem to move from the slumped position she was in. She definitely wasn't with it, that much I do know. With the aid of the cafe manager, the mall head of security & a mall guard, we eventually managed to get Grandma into a wheelchair & down to the basement parking level, where the ambulance had just pulled in. She was seen to initially in the privacy of an office & then transported to the ambulance. Her blood pressure was dangerously low. She was put on an IV of saline & then taken to sheikh khalifa medical city. Over the following 5hrs, poor grandma was poked & prodded, x-rayed & scanned. The doctors were incredibly thorough. Blood tests revealed nothing, the chest x-ray was clear & a CAT scan revealed 2 brain cells swimming around in a big open space, so all was normal there. A Specialist in Internal Medicine examined her & told us that in all probability, there wasn't enough blood getting to Grandma's brain. Her bronchial tubes were constricted, which wasn't helping her oxygen levels, so she was ORDERED to cut down on smoking. By the time she was discharged, Grandma was just about back to her old self & apologising for all the fuss she'd created. We told her to get off the cross, cos some other poor bugger needed the wood. She is now forbidden to smoke in her room & has also been grounded. For once, she's actually admitted she doesn't want to do anything, except rest. She can potter about in the apartment, but she's no longer allowed to help with the housework. (Bugger, I'll have to employ a slave now.) (If any of the anti-smoking brigade want to climb in, do me a favour & use your energy elsewhere. Grandma has been smoking for nigh on 50yrs & she has made the choice of quality over quantity. It's HER life & HER choice.) I would like to thank Nadeem, as well as the Manager of Lips Cafe, the Chief of Security, the Ambulance Service & finally all the staff & doctors at sheikh khalifa medical city. You are all stars in every sense of the word. Mike & I are eternally grateful for your attention, concern & help. To the gathering of females who sat gawking open-mouthed, at the next table to us in Cafe Lips: Next time, take a fucking photo. It lasts a hellova lot longer than staring.  
Following on from my previous post, I asked my good friend kaya if her eldest daughter (hereafter known as Kaya Jnr) if she would like to come with me to the rehab centre. Kaya Jnr is a few months short of her 12th birthday. She's a bright cookie & way ahead of her years, even if I say so myself. (Quote her mother: "She's 11 going on 27" - but that's a whole different story in itself!) Kaya Jnr does very well at school & admitted she's disappointed when her grades drop to around 90%. (OMG - thinking back to my high school days, when I'd be ecstatic to get 70%!) She enjoys reading & writing, so after agreeing to come with me, I asked her to put her experience in writing for me, in the form of an essay............(right kiddo, here's your homework.......and you thought school was finished?) Over the months, I've seen volunteers come to the rehab centre & after the first visit, never return. I've heard the expression "It's too upsetting" said several times. Bearing this in mind, I explained in as honest terms as possible to Kaya Jnr, that some of the patients might be slightly shocking in appearance. If she found her visit upsetting & wanted to leave, she must tell me. In her 'essay' she wrote that she was scared initially, but calmed the moment she saw all the smiling faces. Let me tell you something - this child - remember, she is still a child, was full of enthusiasm & for the time she spent with me, asked a constant stream of questions. It was difficult to answer most of the time, as the 'music therapy' class is really noisy, but I tried to reply to everything. Kaya Jnr never once found any of the patients appearance disturbing and without any prompting from me, named 'Gummi Bear' as her favourite! Taken from a rough draft, this is the final paragraph of Kaya Jnr's essay, which she wrote for me: 'Leaving the ward after an hour, it left a thought in my mind: Many of us end the day complaining about how cruel and unfair life is. Seeing them (the Veggies) opened my eyes. Even though they were weaker than us, physically & mentally, they were stronger emotionally. They were grateful to what God gave them, unlike us who complain non-stop about not having something. Maybe life isn't so bad after all for us (all). It left an impression on my heart, which said we are all equal.' Makes you think hey?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007A BIT OF A CRISISI had a bit of a crisis yesterday. Grandma had 2 small seizures & was rushed to hospital. I'll do a full post later. She's OK, but scared the living daylights out of me & Hubs. Normal blogging will resume when my insanity returns.
Friday, June 22, 2007LOOKING THROUGH DIFFERENT EYES : PART 1 - MY EYESMany readers know that I'm a volunteer at a local rehabilitation centre. I'm well into my second year of doing this & despite the odd hiccup, still enjoy my time with those whom I (perhaps others may feel unkindly) refer to as The Veggies. I'm a cynical ratbag sometimes, but I'm also a realist. The patients that I deal with are vegetables, with little or no physical mobility & only the occasional few brain cells functioning. My eyes see twisted bodies, unco-ordinated limbs, uncontrollable bodily functions*. My eyes see unnecessary items like flat-screen wall mounted TV's in the wards. Veggies don't know the difference between a flat-screen or standard TV - what they see, if indeed they can see, are moving pictures with accompanied noise. The 'minders' of patients sit around bored, talking amongst themselves & enjoying flat-screen TV's. Although I have never witnessed any form of cruelty, I constantly see the indifference shown. Compassion simply does not exist - particularly from the 'minders' - & I defy anyone to prove me wrong. Nursing staff do their jobs without enthusiasm & those that were well liked & respected, are now leaving in droves, for reasons unknown. My eyes do see a heap of negativity, which saddens me, but after reading reports of the recent 'find' of abused mentally/physically handicapped children in Iraq, I am incredibly grateful that my veggies are treated like royalty in comparison. My eyes see the dimmest of lights going on when a patient recognises me - I see the smile break out on a patients face & the excitement surface as their recognisable tunes are played on the cassette tape player. My eyes see the gentleness in a patients face, which would in any other situation, scare off a person, with thoughts of 'whoa.....monster'. They also see the confusion in the eyes of a man that has his arm strapped to his wheelchair. He sucked his thumb, but despite not being able to understand why his arm/hand is now immobilised, understands that he simply can't get his hand to his mouth any more. His other arm is rigid & cannot function at all. I see, in his eyes, the confusion & his unspoken thoughts of 'why?'. My eyes see the pain in the tear filled eyes of a man who cannot move more than one arm & his head. His legs have been splinted (again) & he is in extreme pain. He must remain that way for two gruelling hours, under instruction from the physiotherapist. I'd like to know WHY this treatment is so necessary, when the patient is unable to move or use his legs in any way. His cries of pain haunted me for days. My eyes see the recognition the veggies give me........when Gummi Bear hugs me (a recent development!) & says "mummaaaa" or Sexy Eyes gives me the coyest of smiles when I wink at him (haram!) & High 5 shoots his arm up into the air the minute I say "High 5!". I may walk or prance around the ward, warbling to the memorised tunes & banging a tambourine like someone with a serious affliction herself(!), but when my eyes see the smiles, I am rewarded with more than the monetary wealth of the world.  For illustrative purposes only * 99% of the patients wear nappies/diapers. There is one however, who is mentally retarded but perfectly physically able, that takes great delight by going out into the garden, hoisting his thobe up & enjoying a slash. This is followed by a sometimes rather involved inspection of his 'tools' & a repeat performance of the whole process.** ** Not that I've stood & watched, you understand!
Monday, June 18, 2007DIDJA MISS ME?The laptop still has the nadgers, but it's clinging on for dear life, which means I'll use it until it REALLY dies on me.......in other words, it'll have a painful death, cos I'll probably beat the living crap out of it. My waterwork problem has finally abated & I can now squeeze a kidney without feeling like something-or-someone is trying to wrench 5m of razor wire from my kidneys to my bladder. It's now Hubs' turn to be poorly.............he's got shingles, which he is dealing with very bravely bless him. The weight loss is progressing - to date 9.8kg & counting. Grandma is on her countdown (when she can remember) to seeing Spadge, Shans & Chikkin, and we have stopped short of pasting a sign to her forehead stating that Dublin is NOT in England. She keeps saying she's going to see the kids & then tells us of all the restrictions of flying to England. I gave her (another) geography lesson yesterday & at last, I think she's grasping the idea that she won't be going anywhere near England. (Note: if any passengers notice a little grey haired old lady, looking totally gormless & in dire need of a stiff brandy, asking why Dublin isn't near Heathrow, kindly point her back to her seat, with a pat on the head & sympathetic mutterings of "there there".)Hubs & I have started going to a Pub Quiz, held at a local hotel on a Monday night. We've only been twice, but so far we - along with team-mates M&M - have won 2 rounds of drink, golf lessons for 6 people & a meal for 2 at the Sheraton. Great fun! Life is back to normal! So didja miss me hmmmm?
Friday, June 08, 2007OUT OF ORDER (TEMPORARILY)Due to my laptop having a really bad case of the nadgers & myself having an extremely painful case of I.I.W. (Infection Involving Waterworks), this Blog is now under medical supervision, by both the Dokotela & Laptop Specialist. I think we'll both survive..............................................
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