We Talk Brain Tumours

Good evening everyone,

I hope it's been a reasonable day for everyone, although I know Liz this has been a very difficult day for you and your family.

Liz, my heart goes out to you. I have pets and I know the utter sadness and pain that accompanies parting from them. I'm so very sorry and I feel for your daughter too, who is obviously feeling bereft  The only thing that I can say, is that as the days go back, through experience, I have found that recalling the joy and fun they have brought to us lives on and starts to outweight the pain of their loss. I'm sure this comfort will follow, although it looks bleak now.

Thinking of you,

Elaine B.K.

Well, Ali seems to be responding better to treatment, she's speaking a little more coherently and is far less incontinent.

However, the problem with her inability to open her eyes appears to be muscular rather than gunk-related.  She can see ok if we manage to pry her eyelids open for a bit, but that's all we get. No idea if this will last or not (the pessimist in me thinks it most probably will).

Still, she's home now after reassuring the medical team that our care package is in place for tomorrow and the district nurse is on hand to administer insulin.

Thanks for everyone's concern.

Yay!!!! So happy Ali is back home with you Pete!

Fingers crossed Ali soon has her eyelids working and is winking at in you no time ;)

Naomi & Elaine - thanks for your kind words, I've just found my daughter looking on the net for the next puppy so I think she is getting over it!  She's already picked the type of dog and the name.  No chance am I going through puppy training at the moment,  more than enough on my plate!

Pete - so glad that Ali is home with you,  I know that when they are in hospital you get people saying you can get some rest now.  Personally,  I find it worse and feel much better when Nick is home with me even if it is physically harder!

Hope you all have a good weekend,  the sun is shinning again so hopefully will manage to get out for a short while.

Hope you all have a good weekend,  the sun is shinning again so hopefully will manage to get out for a short while.

Many thanks, Liz.  Not sure we'll get sunshine this weekend though!!

Good news is that Ali's eyes are opening a little today, so hopefully this will improve more in the next few days.

The bad news is that I've about run into the end of my (admittedly fantastic) 6 month full pay leave from my employer and they've now sent me a questionaire to fill in for the income protection policy that I have with them.  Now I'm having to justify why I'm not fit enough to return back to work.  The results of the questionaire will determine how much money I'll be able to get each month.

So that, on the top of my car potentially being written off has caused me even more worry than I really need at this point.

You may be able to claim incapacity too Pete? when youve been off 26 weeks- it may help you stay off longer I know its hard I went into half pay too when H was ill and it became more difficult financially.  Worth considering no one told me about it so I missed out for a while. Love to everyone Dianne J

Pete, so good to hear that Ali is home with you and hopefully the diabetes will be reasonably well controlled with DN help.  So sad to hear that you are at the end of your 6 mth full pay, its tough enough as it is without having to worry about money.  I managed to work full time throughout Pauls illness just having odd days off for hospital appoointments but I know we were lucky to have been able to manage it.

Today is one full month since Paul died, I miss him terribly.

joanna xx

Joanna, I'm sorry it is such a sad day for you and your family today.

You are doing so well.

Lots of love to you.

Naomi.x

Pete

Ask about your companies sick pay policy or check your terms and conditions of employment.  You maybe entitled to full sick pay.  You can also request flexible working and depending on what job you do you maybe able to work from home.  Just another option to consider?

Good luck with finding a solution.

Yes Liz,  I've been on full sick pay for the past 6 months now, and now we're on to the next stage.  I need to speak with our HR people on monday about how to fill in this form to the best advantage.

Ali's been too weak today for assisted standing while I've been helping her with the loo. After a full hour of trying and failing with various methods with the hoist in sorting her out, I've resorted to the hospital method of doing everything on the bed.

It's all so undignified.