So here we are half way through January, 2024 and how am I doing in my continuing efforts to return to my life pre all my health problems of last year? What I’m choosing to call normality. You may recall that my carefully considered retirement life was made up of a number of deliberately chosen interests.
Briefly these were – this blog; playing music folk fiddle on guitar and jazz on keyboard; growing grapes in our vineyard and using them to make our own wine and travel, this latter in the form of trips to Ireland, stays in UK hotels and stays in our Derbyshire house. Mrs Summerhouse who does some of the above as well as looking after me, makes art in various formats.
These have also been padded out or even replaced by any number of hospital visits or GP reviews. This week, admittedly somewhat unusual, has a telephone review with my TURP (prostate) surgeon, a face to face with the nurse and review of my diabetes and a hospital review of my cancer operation. Talk about buses coming along at the same time after a long wait. You’ve no idea.
In these areas, my bladder seems quite a long way from normal. My diabetes is getting worse and the cancer seems much improved at least I think so until Friday’s review.
All of these ‘conditions’ have a considerable effect on my efforts to return to ‘normal’ life. Last week we made the trip to our Derbyshire house (the second visit since my catheter was removed) and this was not without a couple of dramas. Despite these we visited and had an individual guided tour around South Wingfield railway station(see photo above with station before renovation). Built in about 1840, closed in 1967 and left to fall down, now restored to former glory thanks to grants of £2 million and £25 from me. A joy to witness its revival. If that can come back from near extinction then I’m sure so can I.
This visit followed by lunch in the local pub (one of three visits in the week to pubs) which is probably slightly more than ‘normal’. Predictably I suppose the going to the pub side of the life plan is working best. But on a positive note although we’ve travelled very little recently this is some kind of nod in the right direction in this area.
The visits to the vineyard and any wine-making really haven’t happened at all and I haven’t had any contact with my neighbour in the Yorkshire Dales and he’s got all my wine-making equipment. As of this moment I really don’t know how this aspect of our lives is going to work out.
Which leaves the music. As I say this remains the most challenging aspect of my pre-illness life. The best I can report here is a visit from a very old friend and his wife (to the Derbyshire house) . He has played in various groups all his life. I envy him in one way but I would not wish to give the time and effort to it that he always has, it would be unbalanced in my view. But he did persuade me to take out one of the guitars I keep at the house and we made a little music (he just happened to have brought his guitar with him). You may remember that in my last blog my confidence had taken a beating, so I took quite a bit of persuading but then I was glad I had.
All I need to do now is start rehearsing again on Thursday night. It will be interesting to see just how much confidence his visit has restored. But in order to rehearse with the Folk Fiddle people I need to be able to sit in one place for a couple of hours and right now I’m not sure that I can. Watch this space for further reports on this rather delicate aspect of ‘returning to normal’.