Good and bad day for devondancer

Poststructural Pub
1

I went in to see Lesley early today, having had one of those panicking nights (and thank you so much, Sarah!) Many things had happened. First, Lesley had made good use of the paper and pencils: she had written down a tune that seems to reflect how she has been feeling. This is without her actually being able to play it, so it is probably a bit wobbly in places. I have typed it into her music programme, which is ghastly(!) but don’t know how to get it onto here for you. I can email it if that is the best plan, and have it as a photo which I can also email. Any advice? She has just called it, very originally, Slow Air, but I think of it as Devondancer’s Air.

The next thing she did with the paper was write a total refusal to have any more surgery. She was still very ill and in severe pain, and the surgeons were considering whether or not she was fit to have the shunt fiddled with again. She has refused, and I support her decision. However, they then got a cardiologist along to see her, who, after many more exhausting tests, has given her some heart stimulating drugs of some sort which seem to have worked, as she is a lot stronger and a better colour. She feels that if she can just move despite the pain, without actually causing her heart to pack up, she can beat it and will be able to get herself going. She will do it, too, if they have stabilised her enough. So they are giving her the best chance they can. The cardiologist also suggested other analgesics that are apparently a bit more heart friendly, so she is starting on a very low trial dose of those, and we hope they can be increased.

This all sounds very depressing, but she actually looks a lot better and her heart is much more stable. The surgeons look pretty pleased with her at present. She is still working on moving, and has been able to get the quiet whistle up to her mouth, although she has no breath to blow it with yet! Please keep her in your thoughts, as the road remains uphill and very rocky. I may go back later and stay the night, but am home for a while to give her a rest, as well as to gather my own strength to support her choice if I have to. I hope and believe that she can do this.

Roland (mr devondancer)

2

What a trial you’re going through (not to speak of what Lesley is going through!). Really wish I was close enough to give you a hug.
Susan

3

It’s encouraging to hear that! Tiny little steps forward are still steps forward… hopefully there will lots more of those and fewer of the backward ones… though nearly all dances take some of both, don’t they? :slight_smile:

Hugs to both of you,
Sarah

4

Lesley’s nurse has just phoned to say she is sleeping like a baby for the first time. The painkillers are working. Her heart can rest and recover, we hope. I wanted to pass on the good news quickly.
Thank you all.

Roland

5

Thank you for letting us know! It’s a relief to hear she’s sleeping. I hope that this will all be a distant memory for her soon.

6

I hope you’re telling her about the fabulous summer weather she’s missing, Roland! :laughing: All the best to you both, as ever.

7

She did happen to mention how hot it was, when I came in dripping wet for the nth time! She thinks that, in that one respect only, she is in the right place. More jokes will be welcome!
Ro

8

I hope you’re reading some of these threads to her, too. The “nose hair” one, at least, should get her going . . .

9

I print out anything and everything, to give her something to read / listen to / laugh at / hang on to. All the threads full of your kind and loving comments, weird and wonderful jokes (we need Martin Milner’s seal one, please!) and stuff that makes no sense at all to me (with my moustache and beard!). Also interesting-looking whistle threads, or at least what I think looks interesting: so far she has been too polite or too shattered to tell me I’m wrong!
Ro

10

Has she asked for a nice whistle or other instrument yet? A major piece of jewelry? Every time we have major surgery, we get a present. Never pass up a chance to get a present.

11

Martin Milner’s “Seal Joke”:

Two men are reading their newspapers when one says: ‘It says here there’s a fellow in Devon who plays his cello to the seals.’ ‘Oh really’, says the other. ‘Yes’, says the first, ‘Of course, they don’t take a blind bit of notice.’

This joke, Roland, was particularly choice because almost no one on this side of the Atlantic has even the most remote notion that it’s funny. On your side, however, it’s apparently screamingly so. :slight_smile:

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Yippee! (shhh!) Yippee!! :slight_smile: :thumbsup: :party:

13

That’s very good news! :slight_smile:

Warm healing thoughts to her, and to you.

–James

14

Interesting story to share…

I was in the grocery store today, and though I often see the same people aisle after aisle, there was one woman who really seemed to be following me. It was kind of creepy, but I like to think the best of folk, so I finally just said, “Excuse me. I noticed you looking at me as if I should know you. Do I?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “I… I mean… well… can I ask you something?”

“Well, sure,” says I, thinking this might be related to playing music at a recent festival…

"Well … I was kind of following you and I know I was staring… I’m sorry… but it’s just that you look so much like my daughter… " and at this point she broke into tears. “She moved far away a couple of years ago, very suddenly, and I never hear from her … I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to…” at this point, I opened the box of Puffs on the top of the cart and offered her one… she took a couple.

“That’s alright,” I said. “I can imagine how hard that must be for you.”

She then asked something kind of odd, but she seemed sincere… “Would you… could you do me a big favor?”

“I’ll try”

“Would you let me hug you, and then when I walk away, just say ‘Goodbye, Mom!’… it would make it seem like it was her, and maybe I could sleep better.”

Well, my heart nearly broke, as I imagined my own daughter leaving me without so much as a ‘bye your leave’, so I said, “Sure.”

I gave her a big hug, and with a bit of a tear in my own eye, watched her head into the checkout line and then leave. As I finished unloading my own purchases and the clerk began to check me out, she nodded toward the door and said, “That was awfully nice of you.”

“Oh, it was alright. She needed a good hug.”

“Sure, but buying your mom’s groceries is really extra special.”

“Excuse me?”

“She said you were buying her groceries for her. 'My daughter, there in the blue T-shirt and jeans, said she’d get this bill for me.”

I picked my jaw up off the floor, told the clerk to hold on, and ran out the door. I caught up with the woman as she was getting into her car. She tried to shut the door on me, but I got hold of her left leg and pulled on it…








…just like I’m pulling on yours.
:smiley:

15

this good rest sounds like just what she is needing, hope the pain meds suit her system and she is able to tolerate the levels she needs. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
Sweet dreams to Lesley, Tansy

16

I’m on this side of the pond & think it’s funny, but I was raised by people who had that sense of of humour as their native language.

~~

I’m also reading this book at the moment, which coincidentally enough will tell you why it’s funny in the UK.

17

You are? I thought you were on the other side!

Well, I stand corrected then!

Back to the atlas to look up “East Van.”

18

Hi

This reminds me of another grocery-related story, but this one really is true. When I was in the Canary islands a few years back, a friend of mine came back from holiday in Chile.

He told me there had been a spate of robberies in the area he had visited. Apparently some enterprising young man had come upon a idea for robbing women of their groceries.

When a woman came out of the grocery store heavily laden with bags of shopping, he would sneak up behind her and quickly put his hands up under her skirt and pull her knickers down around her knees. The woman’s immediate reaction would naturally be to put her shopping bags down on the ground. While she was sorting out her dignity, the young man would grab the bags and run off with them.

I know it’s a terrible crime and all that, but it does conjure up rather an amusing image in my mind.

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)

19

In college, back in the 80’s, when folks didn’t show their underwear at every opportunity, I had a friend who would “pants” a friend in gym shorts or sweats at the bus stops. Then he would even put his foot on the pants on the ground and make that real shrill whistle.