By Gillian
This stay in the hospice has given us both a bit of a break. Chris is being professionally nursed, his condition monitored and his medication adjusted, in remarkably pleasant and peaceful surroundings, and I am having some welcome respite from being totally responsible for him. Much as I love him, I feel as if I’ve been permanently “on duty” for the last seven months, needing to be alert to deal with problems any time of the day or night. And it’s exhausting.
I’m sleeping marginally better than last week, because I don’t have to sleep with one ear open for him throwing up. And today I was able to go to a meeting at our company headquarters to brief my customer on progress on the big bid I’m working on – which I could not possibly have considered doing if he was being this ill at home. So I felt able to pull my weight at work, which is important to me. A colleague picked me up from home this morning, and Chris actually phoned me from the hospice to check I was up and dressed, so that I didn’t repeat last time’s near-disaster. That was really thoughtful of him.
He had a CT-scan today, from the top of his head to the tops of his legs. We should get the results next week, and we hope that will provide something for the clinicians to work on to get on top of both the symptoms and the cause.
{ 8 } Comments
Hi Gillian, glad to hear you are trying to make the most of the rest. Good luck with the CT scan results – I hope they provide something conclusive to help tune Chris’s treatment.
Chris,
For a long time I have been meaning to say that I think about you every day even though I post very rarely.
There’s a ‘default’ time for me when I come out of Guarlford towards Malvern where I image your house lies. I don’t even know if its visible from here but I think the pub is where we had the DTG Christmas do once and I remember that your place was close to this (in fact I don’t want to hear about it if your house cant be seen from here 😉 ). At that time I think about you and what you must be facing, and try empathise – I imagine that most of your thoughts are with Gillian.
As well as this personal ritual your often name turns up at work as somebody who could do something if you were still there, or in a reflection of how something would be different if you could contribute.
But mostly you turn up incidental talk with people who know you but never, or only rarely, posted here. As I guess you must be well aware the posts here are just the tip of ice-burg.
Yours,
N.
N, you can’t imagine how touched I am by your comment. Thank you very much,
Chris.
Dear Chris and Gillian, I hope you are comfortable in the hospice (Chris) it sounds like a nice place, and able to get some much deserved rest (Gillian) – all the best – we are thinking of you both, Elly and Family x
Hello, I’m a member of LibriVox. I’ve always enjoyed Chris’s voice, whenever I’ve happened upon it. I didn’t realise he was ill. I’m very sorry to find out that he’s so unwell. My thoughts and best wishes are with both of you.
All the best,
Lucy
Hi Chris,
Let us know if you’re up to having your peace disturbed by visitors this weekend, or beyond 😉
Best wishes,
David.
Chris,
Its just the way it is 🙂 Shed a tear? Go on admit it – if you do I will!
You must be feeling a bit better again if you are home now. Hope the comforts of home are easing things for you further.
Best,
N.
Chris,
Perhaps your not back yet – thought you were out early for good behaviour – but from David’s post just now perhaps Gillian posts as proxy or you’ve sneaked some technology in with you. Hope you are feeling better where ever you are.
Just noticed that the icons are consistent for users – do you pick these for us or is it some script?
Yours
N
Chris and Gillian, hello from us. This is a very tough time and we just wish there was a majiic wand to wave to make it all go away. Chris, I hope so much that between the horribleness there is time for a wry laugh at the human race. I am reading abook about the origins of football in Brazil (not being a footballing fan as you know) and I am at the part where they descibe variations of football that are officially recognised as sport (own rules, governing body etc) in Brazil, including: table-top fooball with buttons, sitting-room football, autofootball and back-garden football (for those rich enough to have a half-sized pitch). The ingenuity of the human race is extraordinary. Thinking about you both. P n C