News of Jack

[pberggren1]

My heart goes out to you Jack. You moan all you want on here. That is what we are here for.

[Col 23]

Hello Jack I hope this reply finds you feeling a bit better and the pain has eased. Vent all you want sometimes just sharing can distract from where we are at for a little while.
Sending a gentle hug to you
Col 23

[Sangye]

Jack, no apologies for moaning.... I hope you can get better pain control since it's really holding you back. Functioning at home is so much more difficult! Have you thought about using a walker instead of crutches? It might keep a lot of the pressure off your hands and use less energy. I have no idea which one is appropriate, though--just thought I'd make the suggestion. When I had excruciating pain last year in one ankle and was too weak to use crutches, I could use a walker. I sure hope you get help quickly, my friend.

[DEE]

sorry to hear your not so good today Jack
ive had telephone appointments with my gp when ive not been able to get out off bed and he has prescribed meds i needed or visited because he need to do so
they usallay give me an appointment like this when they are fully booked so i can have contact with the gp the same day
hope you feel alittle better soon DEE x

[Jack]

Thanks for all the support guys! It really is proving to be harder than I had imagined being at home and I feel guilty about asking everyone to do things for me. I don't want my family to waste their lives caring for me, it was bad enough before my fall.

Sangye - I have a walker that I can rest my arms on, but I'm trying to move on from this. It is very cumbersome and only really suitable if you can hardly move at all. The trick with using the crutches is to put more weight on my foot so pain killers should work, I hope.

elephant - the main reason for my appointment with the doc is to get my INR checked. I came home quite suddenly, almost signing myself out because I had had enough so there was no time to arrange for a home blood test. My doc will now need to organise this for me.

[Sangye]

Jack, have you ever asked your family how they feel about taking care of you?

[Jack]

Eldest daughter - shuts herself off from the situation and pretends everything is normal. If I want something, I'll have to wait.

Youngest daughter - a natural carer, but that is not what I want her to be! She likes sick animals and old people and tends to do things because she would feel guilty if she did not.

Wife - this is not what she had planned for her life and makes this obvious. I'm sure that it is only all our past history together that makes her stick with it. She is not a natural nurse, but feels that it is a sort of duty to look after me.

I've got to become independent again!

[Sangye]

Well that sucks. My mom put my step-father through hell by making him feel like a burden. He was 20 years older than her when they married and was in extremely poor health already. I loved him dearly and am still haunted by how much he suffered from her dutiful "care." When I got sick she and my only sibling took off by the third month. I was bedridden and had $25 in the bank, but it was still less painful than enduring what she did to my stepfather and what she had already done to me for the first 3 months.

I'm sorry, Jack. I wish I could be there to help you. You're going to get stronger, though. This is temporary.

[Jack]

Don't get me wrong, it is not that anyone here is a bad person, it is just that the role of carer does not come naturally to everyone. The atmosphere in our house is fairly good most of the time and it is probably for the best that I feel that I have to do as much as possible for myself.

[elephant]

My husband has become numb, to all the stuff that comes up. Thankfully I am not bedridden now... last year though I had family with me for two months...could not do anything for anyone except myself.
Sorry, to here that Jack and Sangye.