Frank - part five
the emerald isle
 | Ireland, the land of rain, derelict old buildings, Guinness, sheep, mountains, peat bogs, rain, green fields, hurling, cows, high prices, tractors, rain, myths and legends, devoted Catholics, stunning scenery, four wheel drives, friendly people, oh, and did I mention? - it rains quite a lot.I have come to love it here.I first came more than 20 years ago. My lasting memory then was, it was very green. |
, but that is not to say I have given up on Spain. I went there in the first place for the sunshine, but after the better part of 20 years, the novelty has worn off, especially during July and August, when the heat is relentless, and to be honest, the country was not too kind to me, for reasons explained.
Lisa had (still has) a rented house in Co. Dublin. Because of owning so many pets, which are not permitted there, her daughter, Becky lived in a small cottage in Knock, Co. Mayo with the 'furries'. It was decided that this would be a better location to start the ball rolling, so I moved in there and got the paperwork under way in May, 2007.
I had two objectives, one to get medical treatment, the second to get financial help. However, the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly, and whilst I got a lot of help from certain people, others caused a great deal of trivial time wasting. All through this period Lisa constantly supported me, both morally and financially, whilst spending time between the cottage and the Dublin house where her grown-up children live.
The Knock cottage was hardly ideal, being very damp, and with other problems, but it was a lovely location and very remote, therefore safe for the pets, but internally was far from good to live in, so we moved to house outside of Ballandine, about 20kms away. This, although better in some ways also had many faults, and eventually, when the money-grabbing landlord tried to put the rent up to a totally unreasonable amount, moved on again to a small house in Rockfield, a little way outside of Knock.
This was quite a nice house and the landlady was most accommodating, but being situated right on a busy road, was dangerous for the animals, and as their well-being was a paramount consideration, this house was only viewed as a stop-gap.
During this almost 18-month period, a number of significant events occurred. First I registered with a doctor at Knock Medical Centre. He could not have been more helpful in not only getting the medical side moving, but also supporting me in other ways.
The centre also housed the office of the local Social Welfare Officer who was also very helpful, but unfortunately her immediate boss was far from equally so, and caused me many problems by thwarting my claim for disability allowance with petty objections. In the end, after a number of appeals and hearings, assistance from an organisation called FADE in Dublin, and taking my case to the Ombudsman's Office, things started to move, and for all the help I received from the 'nice' people, I shall always be most grateful. The rest?...well...I shall reserve comment, except than it undoubtedly ends in off.
Prior to moving to Ballandine, Lisa was struck down with a mysterious illness. Being a person who puts her faith in healing practices outside of conventional medicine she went down that route, but her condition was worsening by the day until she was almost unable to walk, and on my insistence, went to see my doctor friend. He considered she was suffering with the paralysing affliction known as Gillian Barre Syndrome, so she was immediately despatch to Galway hospital for tests.
Gillian Barre is a very serious condition, difficult to diagnose, but is basically where the body's immune system starts attacking itself. We looked up information on the Internet, and discovered there are various reasons why it can come about, and in Lisa's case, determined it was from mosquito bites she had received whilst in Spain.
Although rare, there are a lot of documented cases, and the most worrying aspect was that many people never fully recover, being left with affected mobility. Due to the doctor's skillful assessment, once confirmed, she was treated with three litres of enzyme drip, and reversal started within a few hours.
Fortunately she has made a full recovery, but it was a very worrying few weeks.
I had two objectives, one to get medical treatment, the second to get financial help. However, the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly, and whilst I got a lot of help from certain people, others caused a great deal of trivial time wasting. All through this period Lisa constantly supported me, both morally and financially, whilst spending time between the cottage and the Dublin house where her grown-up children live.
The Knock cottage was hardly ideal, being very damp, and with other problems, but it was a lovely location and very remote, therefore safe for the pets, but internally was far from good to live in, so we moved to house outside of Ballandine, about 20kms away. This, although better in some ways also had many faults, and eventually, when the money-grabbing landlord tried to put the rent up to a totally unreasonable amount, moved on again to a small house in Rockfield, a little way outside of Knock.
This was quite a nice house and the landlady was most accommodating, but being situated right on a busy road, was dangerous for the animals, and as their well-being was a paramount consideration, this house was only viewed as a stop-gap.
The centre also housed the office of the local Social Welfare Officer who was also very helpful, but unfortunately her immediate boss was far from equally so, and caused me many problems by thwarting my claim for disability allowance with petty objections. In the end, after a number of appeals and hearings, assistance from an organisation called FADE in Dublin, and taking my case to the Ombudsman's Office, things started to move, and for all the help I received from the 'nice' people, I shall always be most grateful. The rest?...well...I shall reserve comment, except than it undoubtedly ends in off.
Gillian Barre is a very serious condition, difficult to diagnose, but is basically where the body's immune system starts attacking itself. We looked up information on the Internet, and discovered there are various reasons why it can come about, and in Lisa's case, determined it was from mosquito bites she had received whilst in Spain.
Although rare, there are a lot of documented cases, and the most worrying aspect was that many people never fully recover, being left with affected mobility. Due to the doctor's skillful assessment, once confirmed, she was treated with three litres of enzyme drip, and reversal started within a few hours.
Fortunately she has made a full recovery, but it was a very worrying few weeks.
On January 2nd, 2008 I went into Co. Mayo Hospital in Castlebar for left hip replacement operation. There, an excellent team of surgeons, caring nursing staff, and physiotherapy girls I dubbed 'The Pain Sisters' all played their part in a most successful result, and I was out in seven days.
 | But that is only half the story. Lisa is a highly skilled Reiki Master,
and was sending me distance Reiki to speed the healing process, added
with her love, which made it that much stronger. It worked, but because
I did not know what to expect, was not sufficiently receptive to the
benefits it could produce.
|
Anecdote. There was chap in the next bed to me who had a similar operation the day after, and by the Thursday was only just getting to the bathroom using a Zimmer frame. When he asked how it was I was doing so well, and I explained about Lisa, he said "Hold my hand, I want some of that Reiki,", but of course not being a practitioner myself, it wasn't possible. However, I did hold his hand, and hopefully it had a placebo effect. I was certainly an inspiration to the patients who were in there at the time.
If anyone reading this is facing, or may in the future face a similar procedure, my advice is, whether you get Reiki help or not, grit your teeth, overcome the pain, and do the exercises. I watched three people die because they would not try, and simply gave up.
Since then I have returned to the Hospital for a carpel tunnel release operation on my hand, (probably brought about by having to use crutches for so long) and am due another on the other hand some time in the future. Further treatment to my left knee and right foot is imminent, fortunately injections and not operations. After that they will decide what is the best thing they can do with with my spine.
Apart from the broken hip joint, I also developed chronic arthritis, which can never be cured, only relieved, so this is why I am now registered as permanently disabled, but when it is considered this time last year I lived in a wheelchair, and now I am able to walk, albeit very short distances without the need for crutches, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to a lot of people, the greatest being to my wonderful partner, Lisa, who I adore beyond measure.
In
July this year my claim was finally approved and I started to receive
my 'pension'. However, it had taken so long to come through I was owed
a lot of back pay.
The department dealing with that side of things notified me I would have to wait three months before I could receive payment of the arrears because there was a back-log. This, I came to realise was simply delaying tactics for paying out what I was entitled, and every time I phoned asking how things were going, I was fobbed off with some flimsy excuse.
Once it went past the the three months I started stepping up my enquiries and although constantly assured I would have the cheque by the following Friday, it never ever came. Eventually I got back on to the Ombudsman's Office, and the people there, with whom I had established a rapport, did some influential leaning, and three days ago, (mid November), the cheque finally arrived.
On
July 30th I returned to the hospital for the second hip operation. This
time I was ready to receive Reiki, knowing it would work powerfully, if
I had the right mind-set. The operation again went perfectly, even
though my pelvis was all out of alignment which made the operation more difficult.
Anecdote.
You ain't 'ad one of them for a while.
Gloria had double hip replacement surgery done at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Spain - the place that diagnosed me with back strain. The first operation went fine; the second left her with one leg out of line and permanent lameness.
John, Polly's husband had a fall and broke his hip. The bone was pinned using key-hole surgery, but in doing so they cut away a large part of the leg muscle, leaving him with a huge indentation in his thigh, and he took a long time to recover. This was also carried out at the same hospital.
Not much of a recommend for the place. Sounds like a right bunch of tossers.
As mention earlier, when the left
leg femur bone separated, it became 4cms shorter than the right. The
first operation restored me to my previous normal height of 1m 88cm. Because
of the wear on the right side, and everything being lop-sided, now
(then), my right leg was shorter than the left, which was quite a weird
sensation at first.
The operation took place on the Monday, with Lisa's ministrations behind the scenes. Because I knew the exercises I was expected to do, I started them as soon as possible, ignoring the pain. I knew the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get started. On Tuesday afternoon, I got out of bed and was walking about the ward on my crutches. Almost unheard of, but such was my determination to achieve my aim to be home by the weekend. When the physio girls came round, they were astonished that I was even up, never mind standing at the window doing the advanced exercises. The doctors making their rounds were equally amazed.
By Wednesday I was walking up and down the corridor, and quite capable of doing all the exercises in full. Ridiculous as it may sound, in my own mind I was ready to go home.
It must be borne in mind that the physio girls have the final say when they consider you're ready to go home and you have to complete a 'test' - a lap of the corridors and up and down a flight of stairs. On Thursday when they came round in the afternoon, I said to Grace, "Come with me", and I strode off down the corridor, heading for the stairs.
Having passed their criteria I then had to convince the doctors I was ready to leave, but they were, I suppose understandably, concerned that I could easily overdo things through exuberence, and dislocate the new joint before it was fully set. Also it wasn't normal practice to even change the dressing until the fifth day after the operation, but because I kept on at all and sundry, on Friday they relented, I had the dressing changed and I was discharged. I believe I now hold the record for the fastest recovery from total hip replacement surgery in the history of Co. Mayo Hospital. I knew I could rely on the surgical staff to do their part, but it was Lisa who really gave me the extra to make my aim become reality.
You ain't 'ad one of them for a while.
Gloria had double hip replacement surgery done at the Costa del Sol Hospital in Spain - the place that diagnosed me with back strain. The first operation went fine; the second left her with one leg out of line and permanent lameness.
John, Polly's husband had a fall and broke his hip. The bone was pinned using key-hole surgery, but in doing so they cut away a large part of the leg muscle, leaving him with a huge indentation in his thigh, and he took a long time to recover. This was also carried out at the same hospital.
Not much of a recommend for the place. Sounds like a right bunch of tossers.
The operation took place on the Monday, with Lisa's ministrations behind the scenes. Because I knew the exercises I was expected to do, I started them as soon as possible, ignoring the pain. I knew the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get started. On Tuesday afternoon, I got out of bed and was walking about the ward on my crutches. Almost unheard of, but such was my determination to achieve my aim to be home by the weekend. When the physio girls came round, they were astonished that I was even up, never mind standing at the window doing the advanced exercises. The doctors making their rounds were equally amazed.
By Wednesday I was walking up and down the corridor, and quite capable of doing all the exercises in full. Ridiculous as it may sound, in my own mind I was ready to go home.
It must be borne in mind that the physio girls have the final say when they consider you're ready to go home and you have to complete a 'test' - a lap of the corridors and up and down a flight of stairs. On Thursday when they came round in the afternoon, I said to Grace, "Come with me", and I strode off down the corridor, heading for the stairs.
Having passed their criteria I then had to convince the doctors I was ready to leave, but they were, I suppose understandably, concerned that I could easily overdo things through exuberence, and dislocate the new joint before it was fully set. Also it wasn't normal practice to even change the dressing until the fifth day after the operation, but because I kept on at all and sundry, on Friday they relented, I had the dressing changed and I was discharged. I believe I now hold the record for the fastest recovery from total hip replacement surgery in the history of Co. Mayo Hospital. I knew I could rely on the surgical staff to do their part, but it was Lisa who really gave me the extra to make my aim become reality.
Reiki Natural Energy Healing is not regarded as some 'quack' practice. Many medical doctors, nurses, even nuns are acquiring the knowledge to use in their conventional work, and when the hospital staff found out about Lisa, agreed I was very fortunate to have this level of extra help.)
So, dear reader, that is my story. A precis of my life. There have been many more episodes that are part of it, but not significant enough to be included here in this relatively short account. At some point, I may add a page of more anecdotes. People seem to like hearing or reading about them.
I am looking forward to spending my remaining years in our somewhat amazing new home, and I hope you will find the rest of this site interesting and informative. If you have any comments, please use the email link.
I am looking forward to spending my remaining years in our somewhat amazing new home, and I hope you will find the rest of this site interesting and informative. If you have any comments, please use the email link.
If you would like to learn more about Gillian Barre and read people's personal stories, use the link below to go to the Google search page.
