Madrid, Sunday, 19th January, 2025
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| Finally out and about again on Saturday after being grounded on Monday after my knee gave in on Monday |
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| Grounded but going up and down the stairs on my bum. |
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| 10 years ago today I was operated on to repair the fibula after a fall in the snow. That had me grounded for months! |
The other news this week, of course, is the continuation of the raging of fires in Los Angeles. Also the rockets sent into space by Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Twitter/Tesla/Trump's Elon Musk. I was gleeful to hear the latter's shattered as soon as it took off. He is the richest man in the world who bought Twitter and now wants to buy Tik Tok giving him him an even bigger audience for his diatribe and political meddling in the world. Tik Tok is about to be banned in the US but he's already won that audience. That man is a demon and a danger to humanity as is his partner in crime, Donald Trump who will be invested tomorrow. He wants Canada, the Panama Canal and Greenland, does not rule out force and is threatening to carry out a massive deportation of illegal immigrants which could happen already next week in Chicago. The world is doomed in his hands. He has also promised to sort out the war against Ukraine in 24 hours. I don't see that happening do you?
On Wednesday I still couldn't walk. But I just had to have a shower. I put a stool in the shower unit and sat on it showering myself with great care as I couldn't shut the doors. I felt so much better afterwards. I worked that morning on more administrative stuff related to acquiring those elusive Property Registry number codes for listing my houses and rooms on Airbnb. Everyone is against the latter these days as if Airbnb was the sole culprit of the housing problem here in Spain and elsewhere. I can understand the frustration in saturated areas but blanket rules are not the right way to go. Our house in Asturias is in the middle of nowhere and the rooms in our house are in our own home. Can't we rent them hassle free? Well no we can't, not while we have a socialist/communist coalition government. The government also wants to limit the purchase of housing by people from outside the EU which, of course includes my home country, the UK by adding a purchase tax of 100%. Isn't that crazy?
I Skyped with Amanda that afternoon as she wasn't able to on Monday. We had lots to talk about after the Christmas recess. A new guest arrived, a vet called Fabián from Mexico. As I couldn't walk, Eladio received him and, bless him, he took him to the wrong room hahaha. This was later rectified.
My dear friend Adele wrote to Sandra and I that afternoon to give us the very sad news that her father Neil, aged 92, had died peacefully that morning at 7.30 with her and two siblings by his bedside. She knew the end was nearing and put forward her journey from France to be with him. She told us he had waited for her. He must have done. Dear Adele will now go through a horrible stage of grief that I am very familiar with. Thankfully she is surrounded by lots of family which will give her much comfort. RIP Mr. Brierley. I remember him well as he used to be my dentist having a clinic in Bradford. Adele lived in North Yorkshire in Boroughbridge and we both went to Uni together in Nottingham where she studied French and Spanish as a subsid and I studied Hispanic Studies. Thus we coincided. We also lived in the same residence the first year, Nightingale Hall and in our last year, lived together in a house with other people in Beeston. We had such fun together and seemed to be always organising parties. She loved cooking and made great pizzas and cheesecake. It was a laugh a minute living with Adele and still is. She had an old VW and we would often travel back to Yorkshire together where I met her parents in Boroughbridge and she met mine in Bradford. Her parents and whole family are lovely people. Now Mr. Brierley will join his dear wife in Heaven. God bless them. God bless my dear friend Adele too who I love so much.
On Thursday I still couldn't walk and decided I would go to A&E the next day. Meanwhile, Eladio and Suzy did the shopping after I gave them two exhaustive lists. The worlds' eyes were on Israel that day when the Israeli cabinet delayed voting on the ceasefire. It seemed to be a done deal but wasn't to be signed until the 11th hour of the Jewish sabbath. And then, as I wrote above, it was delayed until Hamas issued a list of the hostages to be released.
I slept really well that night and woke up on Friday early and was joined by Fabian the vet in the kitchen for breakfast. He is a charming man and owns 8 dogs, by the way. At 10.30 we went to the HM Hospital Monteprincipe in Pozuelo. I have both public and private health insurance so I can choose where to go. The latter costs about 100 euros a month and is well worth it as the waiting times are much shorter, plus you can chose your specialist and don't have to go through a GP as you do "back home". Eladio drove the car right up to the door and went to get a wheel chair. I was soon seeing a traumatologist. He examined my knee and sent me off for an X Ray. They couldn't find an orderly so Eladio took me. 5 minutes later I was back in the doctor's surgery. On the X Ray which only shows bones, he couldn't see the menisci but could tell what stage arthritis I have. According to him it's mild which is good. He gave me all sorts of prescriptions, including morphine which I have not used and told me to get an appointment for an MRI after which I am to see him again. He then got a nurse to give me an injection with cortisone and some anti inflammatory drug. I later read it is called Corticosteroid and is a long lasting drug giving relief for up to 3 or 4 months. It turned out to be a miracle drug my friends because it worked immediately. That was my Lazarus moment. 5 minutes later I could stand up and walk, stiffly and with a bit of pain but I could walk. Thank you Jesus. Amazingly I got a slot for the MRI for yesterday Saturday. The results take 10 days and I will be seeing the same doctor at the end of the month. It looks like I may not be having an operation if it can be avoided. When I first tore one of the menisci the doctor then explained that the popular arthtrhocospic knee surgery may not work in my case and could actually prove harmful. I also read and have found out that depending on the injury, you can still be fairly mobile without an operation. In any case let's see what the MRI reveals.
Before heading home Eladio got all my meds including a knee bandage I won't be wearing and we were back before lunch. Neither Suzy nor Tana could believe I could walk. I am now on a menu of painkillers, anti inflammatory meds and ice on my knee a few times a day. I was absolutely thrilled to be able to walk again and not have to rely on the wheelie chair and my bum for going up and down the stairs.
Lunch was leftovers but who cares and I didn't have much of a siesta as I had to write this post which is all about me. I hope I haven't bored you stiff. We had a wonderful and very healthy dinner that night, made by me on my
own two legs: cream of broccoli soup, hake with chives baked in foil
with fresh asparagus followed by yellow kiwis with raspberries, yoghurt
and a medjoul date. It was delicious.I should have slept well after that except that I didn't. Before going to sleep we watched Pedro Almodóvar's latest film, his first in English, "The room next door". But of course we watched it in ´Spanish for Eladio. It's good in parts but rather tough watching as it's about a woman with terminal cancer. Afterwards I just could not sleep despite taking 3 sleeping tablets. I put that down to the steroid injection which seems to have made me feel full of beans.
Saturday came and my knee felt almost normal, so normal I was raring to go out as I hadn't left the house in almost a week apart from going to the hospital. Over breakfast I read with relief that the Israeli government had finally signed the Gaza ceasefire treaty. I had lots to do before going for my MRI at 13h. First I went to the BM supermarket to get mainly fish and some items Suzy and Eladio had forgotten. I then came home to prepare the fish for lunch and then went out again this time with my husband. First we returned the stupid knee bandage, then went to have a coffee at Manacor in glorious sunshine. That was my sweetest moment of the week. I got Eladio to take a photo which is the one I have chosen for this week's feature photo. I honestly felt so liberated. We sat chatting for a long time and were nearly late for my appointment but got there on time. I didn't have to wait long. The test itself only took 15 minutes where I had to lie completely still. I spent the time going over in my head all the names of the towns we stayed at on last year's road trip in Europe. Once out, we drove home only stopping for a boring procedure of inflating the tyres of my Mini which had lost pressure. They seem to do so far too often. By 2.30 we were sitting down to a stupendous but healthy lunch with fish in bread crumbs, cauliflower with garlic and mashed potato and sweet potato. Lovely.
In the afternoon I had another Skype call with my dear friend Amanda. Shortly afterwards I bought a ticket to visit her in Devon in February. I will be flying to Bristol on 12th and returning on 20th. We are going to have some serious and much wanted girly time together. What a wonderful thing to look forward to.
Today is Sunday, the day of the beginning of the peace treaty. We shall all be waiting with bated breath to see the first 3 hostages released. I slept more than usual last night, totting up nearly 9h sleep albeit fractured sleep but it has really restored me.
Today, 19th January would have been my dear cousin Jacqueline's 66th birthday. It's a date I can never forget, like the day she died aged just 12 on 21st May 1971. She and all her family, died in an air crash in Rijeka, Croatia while flying from Gatwick for a holiday. She and her parents, my Aunty Gloria (my father's beloved sister), Uncle Derek and brothers Michael (9) and Antony (7) perished together and it was the greatest tragedy ever in our family. I was 14 when they died and have carried them in my heart ever since. I have a recurring dream about them surviving but my not finding out until years later. It happened last night too. I met Antony and Michael now old men, only to be told that my beloved Aunty Gloria had already died of old age. Dearest Jacqueline you were robbed of your life aged only 12 and I have been robbed of the comfort and company of the only British family I had left after you all perished apart from my own parents and George my brother of course but now all gone. As my father told my mother after he received the dreaded phone call from Gatwick Airport "I only have you left". I have missed them every day since that tragic accident nearly 54 years ago.
Thankfully I have my only family now and today look forward to Oli and the children coming to lunch. That will surely cheer me up.
Cheers then everyone from me for this week until next Sunday,
Masha
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