Just a few more paintings

Back to the Back

Well would you believe it it's time again for the back jabs, and I'm ready for it the last time it was done it felt very good immediately however it did not last well and after 1 month it felt like it had not been done, so I made an appointment (after all the fuss I made about not needing one) to see the consultant.  He said not to panic sometimes for no reason the injections fail to work he said we should give it another try and he would increase the dosage and see what happens.  I had already gone through the saga of making sure I was on the repeaters list. I phoned and they said I could have a morning appointment for March which would have been early but within half an hour they had phoned back saying it was a mistake it should have been May so I disjointedly said ok but when they sent me the letter for the May appointment it was in the afternoon so I had to phone again to see if I could get a morning appointment no they hadn't got one told me to ring in about 2 weeks as they could not forward book any more appointments so I phoned one week later and got in on a morning appointment what a palaver.

Just a few paintings I did recently

My Dog Charlie

We had a house guest for December that is Charlie my dog did!  Gorgie is his name he is a Cavalier only of the Blenim sort not the tri colour like Charlie.  He came to stay while his mistress went on a cruise! a cruise for a month mind you !!! well Georgie was of course used to the best of everything including food, Georgie didn't take very kindly to Charlie's low fat dried up fat boy biscuits! no Georgie was used to best chicken breast or rump steak cooked of course with a delicious spicy gravy, Georgie's owner is Philopino and likes spicy food and so does Georgie.  So to compromise Charlie will get a little bit of what Georgie has, on a bed of dried up fat dog biscuits, he doesn't know the difference! bless he eats it so quickly it doesn't touch the sides of his mouth, but what he does know is that if he eats his quick enough he stands a chance of snaffling some of Georgie's food. 

Now Georgie likes to take his time when eating he likes to sniff a bit and lick a bit before he decides if it's good enough to eat, he likes it warmed up with plenty of spicy gravey and may be a vegetable or two, he likes to put it on the floor kick it around a bit just to make sure it's dead, by which time Charlie has finished his and is on standby to snaffle anything that Georgie might reject and given half a chance will push Georgie out of the way and pinch the lot!

So we have devised a plan Charlie will do anything for a morsel of chicken so whilst Georgie is kicking his food around the kitchen we hold a nice big chunk of juicy chicken in front of Charlie with a promise that if he waits patiently for Georgie to finish then the chicken piece is his,  at first he can't quite decide if the deal is a good one or not he knows he can easily steal Gorgie's plate full Georgie wont put up a fight however I am telling him he can have the piece I have in my hand if he leaves Georgie's alone and I win !!! Charlies not very bright and the piece I am tempting him with looks so good, I'd like to think he want's to please me and that's why he waits but the eagerness in his eyes to get the piece I'm holding tells me it's just greed.

I am afraid having the house guest has done nothing for Charlies manners, he gulps his food so quick and I'm afraid he's event taken to snatching, so there's to be some re training going on soon.

Georgie is a lovely little dog very polite when eating, gets down form the chair when you tell him, comes when you call and sits on comand, (providing it's all said in a Philopino accent of course). HOWEVER I have never heard a dog snore so loudly I thought Charlie was bad with his snoring but Georgie is the champ some evenings it's so loud we have to shout at him to wake him up because we cannot hear the TV .

 After a month of our guest all the animals are looking so worn out and I'm sure it's Georgie's snoring none of them are getting any sleep.  Although it has to be said that Benjamin our ginger cat has claimed Geories oversized luxury dog bed as his own and though only takes up a quarter of it, his very presence puts Georgie off reclaiming it Daisy the sister of Benjamin who is bottom of the pecking order has the sofa and often shares it with Charlie who is her champion because when her brother decides he is having a bad day and picks on her for just being alive Charlie comes to her rescue and places himself between them to break up the argument, not that Daisy puts up much of a fight, hissing is about the extent of her retaliation.

The usual pecking order in our house is Benjamin Charlie Daisy, so where has Georgie fitted in? well he's at the bottom for once Daisy is not last.  Georgie has never lived with cats before and is constantly fascinated, but after the first few days of coming to close for comfort and getting a swipe across the nose from Benjamin, Georgie has learned that cats claws are sharp, however he still finds them very interesting and having seen Charlie and Benjamin chasing each other in the garden, still cant resist trying to join in only he hasn't quite got the hang of the rules.

Georgie has gone back home now that his owner has returned from her month long cruise and I am now left to pick up the pieces,  Charlie has probably put back the all the weight he lost over the last 6 months and has developed a taste for spicy food, his manners are non existant, but at least he snores quite quietly.

Back to the Back Again

Well it's been done again,  last Thursday to be precise and the reason I haven't written about it before now is becasue it's been so good even in the weeks leeding upt to the 6 month due time the back was working well.  I went down to surgery first thing and was on my way home by 10:30 am he did 3 injections in both sides and it tood about 30 mins.  I did forget to ask him to put me on the repeaters list so when the discharge nurse said he would do a follow up appointment in 4 months I had to ask her to check it with him, she did say a strange thing though she said you cant just go on having repeat denervations forever! anyway he agreed to put me in the next 6 months and then I will have to do the follow up appointment, must remember to ask him about how long I can continue to have this operation done!
Anyway the back is good, not so for the stomach it was fine on Friday had a takeaway indian meal ! wrong thing come Saturday we had a friend over for a meal all went well until Saturday night !!! spent 3 hours in agony belly ach walking up and donw for at least 1 1/2 hours can't sit can't lay down have to keep walking from then on I've had to whatch what I eat toast mostly and sitting up at night to sleep.  Today Thursday one week for the operation I have just begun to feel a little relief from the belly ache Banana's may be the key!!!!!

Paintings September October 2010

Back to the Back

Yeh ! it's done the backs been done as scheduled all went well better than expected in fact.
Went down to surgery at about 8.15 and arrived back at recovery 9.05 Thanks to a very unlucky lady who had to withdraw from her planned op as she had complications I think I was given extra time as both sides of my back has been done 3 shots in both sides oh boy should I be jumping in a week or two, hopefully! Was out for the count don't even remember getting back to recovery I think I had a good dose of anesthetic. I did talk to the anesthetist about having trouble with my hiatus hernia after surgery but he seems to think it's the fasting that causes the problem however I did think I had got away with it but low and behold 3 days after the op I'm on the gaviscon again Oh well it's little price to pay and when I go on the 7th for my endoscopy maybe I'll get it sorted for next time.

But Back to the back it's looking good have taken the dog for a walk today although yesterday I had to give up the shopping half way through and let my husband finish it off. Today has been good worked on some jewellery and general took things easy fingers crossed for the next few days.

Oh I've got a bloody back, it really drives me crazy
When it gets to be so bad, it tends to make me lazy
Cos I can't get up and walk away, to give me some relief
It's time for my injections now, cos it's giving me such grief

But when the man with needles sticks them right into my back
I'm so glad and happy as it set me right back on track
I can then resume normality and enjoy to walk the dog
Pain free then or almost for it's such a long hard slog

So if you've got a bloody back now, you know what you should do
Find the man with the needles, the doctor you know who
Will stick them in your back and give you the electric shock
And this will guarantee for you to give the pain the block

It's on the Back

Well it's time again for the back op was due in April but couldn't fit me in until 13 May next Thursday good job to as the last injections started wearing off about 3 4 weeks ago I'm like a clockwork toy that needs winding up slowly running down and in need of winding up. I have made moves to try and get the hiatus hernia sorted as this always gives me so much trouble when I get my back done, I thought at first it was to do with the fasting but last time I was first on the list and it still caused me trouble. I went to the G.P. and got a referral to an NHS centre in Milton Keynes as the waiting list in this area is long so they offered me this earlier appointment. It took us about an hour and a half to get there very ice treatment clinic the down side was the consultant is Hungarian and seems to struggle with English however I'm down for a endoscopy on 7th June fingers crossed. The latest problem of a frozen shoulder is not going to make it easy to have this procedure as at the moment I can't lay on my left side which is going to be necessary to have this procedure, oh lord I have booked some more sessions with the osteopath to try to get it sorted, so far I have had about 6 sessions with him that so far have given me more movement in the shoulder but still have a lot of cramp pain hope he can get me some improvement fingers crossed.

New paintings 6.5.10

Girl on Pier in watercolour

Cotswold scene in watercolour

Red Cliffs in Wax

Purple River in wax

Mauve River in wax

Three trees in wax

More Encaustic Wax

Encaustic Wax WOW

I've just discovered encaustic wax WOW very exciting I saw a demonstration at Virginia Water Art Society and along with quite a few others was very impressed and of coourse talked of nothing else for days as we had booked a day long workshop with the demonstrator in April . Guess what I got fo a mothers day present from my girls? yes an iron and wax here are the results of my efforts I just love the uncontrolled markings that appear naturally when the wax is melted on the iron then spread onto the paper, can't wait for the workshop with Phil Madley

Some more paintings

Exhibition 30.10.09

Well the Backs been done!

Well that backs been done I phoned up on the Monday and asked to be put early on the list if possible and guess what come Thursday and I arrive at 7:15 at the hospital and I'm first on the list. Saw the consultant and pushed my luck again and asked if he would redo the left hand side that hadn't worked very well last time and if he could top up the right side, everyone was asking the same question of him his answer was the same in each case "he would see how long it took to find the nerves and if he had time he would do what he could.

It looks to me as if he may have given me two needles in each side, hope so , however this time I am experiencing quite a bit of pain in the back. I got back from surgery about 10 am and I can remember them asking me to keep still and I felt the needles being taken out. I had a little nap at home in the afternoon but by the evening it was quite painful. Nevertheless I did manage to do the exhibition on the Friday and Saturday.

Having been lucky enough to get down to surgery early I though the hiatus hernia would not give me so much trouble but I was wrong it's been a real nightmare this last week so painful it has to be the anaesthetic that sets it off. On the positive note I've lost 4 lb in weight this week with not eating properly. The very best news is that I have now lost 1 1/2 stone since July .

I did well at the exhibition sold 2 paintings the big red poppies and the pebble picture plus lost of jewellery.

Charlie has some good news too he has lost 1k 350g and in doggie terms that's pretty good.

Too much rambling not enough paintings so here are my latest paintings

I'm "Back" again

Would you believe it my brilliant back doctor is rubish at remembering to do things apparently good job he's a brilliant surgeon. I phoned the day unit to see if they had a date for me! he had not put me on the schedule nor did he tell them about my hiatus hernia and they had me down for being done arround about christmas!! So now they have squeezed me in on 28 October the day before our exhibition I've asked them to put me on the cancellation list but don't hold out much hope oh *@**""<><

Whats New! 20.8.09

Saw the back doc no problem he is quite happy to put me on his regular list and I should get done about October he says he will make a note that I have a hiatus hernia an that should help me got gone earlier on the list probably after the diabetics so that's good news. The weight is still coming off slowly last week was only 1/2 lb but it's all in the right direction am down to 12st 5 lb now so have lost a total of 9 lb and am feeling the benefit already. Charlie my dog is dieting with me and we commiserate with each other and he is also doing more exercise I have got one of those ball sticks that save you having g to bend down to pick the ball up and you don't have to handle dog slobber balls he's not too keen on fetching but loves chasing the ball while it's still on the end of the stick!!! still it's all exercise. My gym sessions are going well and Tatasha is making sure I do them properly and giving me plenty of motivation she's a nice young girl. I have been doing plenty of painting lately but more experimental stuff so not all will be exhibited, will post photos later. I have been nominated to stand as representative for Age Concern Runnymede by our Art group and would like to get more involved with them but as usual I will probably take on more than I can handle. That's all for now folks, except to say my granddaughter said she didn't want me to get too thin so I pointed out to her that my bat wing arms still had plenty of flab on them to which she stated that grandma's arms don't have any bones in! one for the album I think!

Lake Wanaka july 09

Frogmore House July 09