Does pain really change a person – and is it for better or worse?

The following quotation is currently rattling around on the web:- “I’m in pain… Every day. It changed me. Made me a harder person, a worse person. And now… Now I’m alone. You don’t want to be like me.” Dr. Greg House, (“House” TV series – “House MD” over in the colonies) But is it actually [...]

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A few thoughts on cooking for #spoonies…

**Spoonies – aka “The secret society of the sick”. The Spoon theory – how to explain to the non-disabled what happens when your get up and go simply gets up and buggers off! Been here before, but it’s a theme always worth revisiting, by which I don’t mean repeating, as I get new readers Sainsbury’s [...]

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An open letter to Steve Cram, MBE…

The following is my version of the letter posted here.  As you can see, I have rewritten it somewhat, partly to correct grammar and punctuation, as well as smoothing out a degree of clunkiness – it’s going out over my name after all – and also to remove a libellous sentence, something to beware of [...]

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Chronicles of the Heart – Part 11…

I’m losing weight. So what, you might think? Well, I’ve been eating one meal a day since about 2002, and yet I’ve been unable to get, and remain, much below 15stone. Since my heart failure diagnosis, and steady diet of diuretics, I pretty promptly lost half a stone, taking me to 14st 7lb, and there [...]

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Chronicles of the Heart – Part 10…

Right, it’s official – I do have heart failure. Or mitral valve failure, or some bloody thing! There must be some decent doctors in the system, somewhere but, somehow, they never seem to come my way. They did an ECG – about 5 seconds worth of trace, which struck me as inadequate – not everything [...]

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Chronicles of the Heart – Part 9…

As I said in this post I now have my hospital records. I won’t repeat all that I said there, but the first ECG, taken on the day I was admitted clearly states:- Abnormal ECG “Unconfirmed” (unconfirmed, of course because no bugger followed it up!) Sinus tachycardia* Left atrial enlargement** Inferior infarct, age undetermined*** Cannot [...]

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My Arrowe Park Hospital Records – first impressions suck…

Right then, kiddies, I’ve just had a quick overview of my hospital records, which finally arrived yesterday. I’m not impressed. Errors right from the start, with my employment status – I’m retired, not unemployed. There’s a difference. The records are – so far as they’re intelligible – abysmal, they connect with reality only tangentially and, [...]

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Maria Miller – just doing what she’s paid for?

The Internet is sprouting campaigns to get Maria Miller, Minister for Disabled People, ousted for letting us all down. But is she? Where does it say, anywhere, that representing our interests is is even part of her brief? This is what dwp.gov.uk/ says:-

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Chronicles of the Heart – Part 8…

Finally got my hospital records today! Not opened them yet – feeling incredibly crappy at present, and not in the mood for being pissed off – but soon, hopefully, and I’ll

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The Tumbrels of Online Intolerance are rolling…

Campaigns are popping up online calling for Roger Helmer to be sacked, while apparently giving no thought to the fact that, as an MEP, he’s pretty safe until the next elections. Maybe even then. However, while it’s perfectly fine to express one’s disapproval of Helmer – he’s a stupid bugger and an intellectual dinosaur** – [...]

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