Hello out there. Yes, Dafad is still in the land of the living and I have been amazed at how many folk seem to miss the posts about what is happening up and around my local area.
This "post stroke" experience has been a strange one and I really didn't want to write about it, because I have suffered far less than some of those that I met in the hospital. So I don't really feel that I have much to maunder on about. But as a good friend said to me in a phone conversation recently, that folk need to know that Dafad is still here and coping.
Also to maybe write about how even a mini stroke can have such a big impact on life.
Having thought about it, I have to admit that he is right and maybe I need to share with others some of the problems that are associated with how even a small stroke can affect ones life. I was up beat when I came out of hospital, if you look back to March 1st, the day after I was released from hospital and, with friends, I (rather quietly) celebrated St David's day! I felt so good (just out of hospital) and felt I was doing really rather well.
But then the recovery journey began, more tests were to follow and as I was unable to drive, I had to rely on the generous hearted, retired farmer friend of mine (yes ... some farmers do retire!) Luckily his son and his wife are regenerating a farm which nearly ended up non productive as my friend, nearing the grand old age of 80 needed two hip replacements and as they were non forth coming, he eventually reduced his flock to zero.
Now those are sad days for any farmer to have to face ... but ... the good news is that the farm now has a wonderful couple restocking the land with good old Welsh Mountain and Texel breeds and thank goodness have had a good lambing. From what I hear there has been no sign of the dreaded Schmallenburg virus effecting our mountain lambing. Phew!
Dafad here has not been out and about much except to various hospital appointments.
One of which saw me fitted with little heart monitors for twenty four hours. I was told that I couldn't have a bath, a shower or ... get this ... go swimming! As if I would with all those wires running between the nipple like attachments and the monitor box tucked discreetly away in my clothing. Not that I had the energy to want to go for a dip anyway!
And no folks I don't mean a sheep dip. However, it was just good to be out of the house and especially good to be driven over the mountain road and to see the local scenery.
On our way back, looking at the sky, I insisted we stopped so I could take photographs.
It may not seem much to all you out there, but just to breathe in the mountain air and look around my favourite stomping grounds was just a moment better than any tablets I take.
That was two weeks ago and amazingly as it may seem, our national flower, the lovely yellow daffodil, was still just in bud along the mountain road. "Down country" as we refer to the land around Abergavenny they were blooming really well and at the hospital in a respite area of the grounds there was a carpet of brightly coloured crocus under the trees.
So, for me "days out" at the moment are almost always medically related, boring really, which is why I have been so loathe to write about all this on Dafad's Days. Anyway ...
I have been put under pressure by genuine friends to at least write something about how even a mini stroke has greatly changed my life. I have seen others so worse off than me, that I feel in one way, I have very little to complain about. I think the daft dog suffers more than me due to the fact that he, like me misses the mountain scenery (and smells) but is unable to fully understand why our life has suddenly changed. But ... having written that, he is incredibly patient with me. A smart minded Border Collie, he has been very patient.
I may call him "the mad mutt" or "the daft dog" but he is incredibly intelligent. In a way it is sad that having crepitus of the joints, he suffers too, but ... had he been trained as a working collie from a pup, he would now be one very frustrated dog, unable to work.
So ... in our own strange way we are well suited to each other. A pair of crocks!
Anyway I've maundered on for far too long and just hope that I will see other sunsets ...
I have been put under pressure by genuine friends to at least write something about how even a mini stroke has greatly changed my life. I have seen others so worse off than me, that I feel in one way, I have very little to complain about. I think the daft dog suffers more than me due to the fact that he, like me misses the mountain scenery (and smells) but is unable to fully understand why our life has suddenly changed. But ... having written that, he is incredibly patient with me. A smart minded Border Collie, he has been very patient.
I may call him "the mad mutt" or "the daft dog" but he is incredibly intelligent. In a way it is sad that having crepitus of the joints, he suffers too, but ... had he been trained as a working collie from a pup, he would now be one very frustrated dog, unable to work.
So ... in our own strange way we are well suited to each other. A pair of crocks!
Anyway I've maundered on for far too long and just hope that I will see other sunsets ...
like this lovely one across the Argoed.
For all those who are post stroke or who are relatives having to cope with a family member who has suffered from a stroke, however minor or major. I understand better.
Patience, though not always easy to find at times, is a huge part of the healing process.
