I just had a quick look at my profile (well, not quite that quick - I was trying to find my reply to an author so I could tell her how great her book is. Would the author of The Hideaway please PM me so I can rave about it?) and am genuinely shocked to see it's been a year and five days since I first logged onto this site!
Healthy(ier) and SO happy, and not to disrespect my amazing GP and cardiology team but a large part of my happy is down to the wonderful support I found here after my wobble last year.
Written by
Sunnie2day
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Thank-you! I don't think I'd be here if my GP hadn't acted so quickly after my dentist noticed I was 'quite unwell' (his words) and sent me to see her, and without the cardiology team I know I wouldn't be here.
But the support here on the forum, all I can say is 'Priceless!'. Wait, there is something more...
Knowing I could post one of those little niggly questions (like what kind of questions should I ask the cardiac nurse, and is it the beta blocker or do I really need to see the nice people at SpecSavers), those sort of things no-one wants to bother their medical team with, has made all the difference for me.
I would have muddled through, but having the 'been-there-got the tee shirt' camaraderie here has meant not quite the muddle I would have endured without the group.
And you! We have some sun shining the now so I'm heading out to the garden to play with my new toy - an old fashioned 'reel' mower. My husband likes it as much as I do (great nostalgic and exercise with the bonus of no fuel, no spark plugs, and/or no cable that's never long enough...) - we had to flip a coin to see who gets to try it out first. I won, I won!! (really looking forward to the end of our Scottish lockdown - the seaside calleth!)
May your weekend be peaceful and sunny - warm but not too warm!
Enjoy your new toy? Very nippy wind here! Spits and spots of rain in the wind. Since John had his stroke we have the lawns and edges done by a gardening firm they also trim the hedges once a year saves him worrying. He loves his garden one of his great sorrows he can no longer be out digging! Loved to grow vegetables and really loved to grow tomatoes.
I quite enjoyed it! Double value - the wee lawn looks great and my husband was absolutely pea-green with envy at my obvious enjoyment of the mowing exercise.
I wouldn't do it, I don't think, if our lawn was bigger but it's small enough to be good exercise without causing me anything more than a protest from muscles a bit out of practice
I got it done before the rain - actually the wind picked up considerably and carried a bit (ha!) of a bite. The rain started hours later, thankfully.
I'm curious, is he in a wheelchair? The mobility those provide might mean he could do a spot of raised container gardening depending on his condition. Our neighbour has Muscular Dystrophy, is in a chair, and spends happy hours in the back garden tending his raised container garden. He grows the loveliest roses, and his veg containers give him a good yield, especially the root crops. He did potatoes last year - my husband had to help with the topping up but other than that, the neighbour was quite independent with his veg gardening.
He as a wheelchair, very seldom uses it, and what we call his chariot!, (delta) he uses for walking outside, around the house he manages without anything. The loss of part of his sight as caused more problems than his arm and leg, he lost a lot of his balance, and what he thinks is the middle, is to his far right! He can’t see glass doors or anyone coming up on his left, so when we are out I need to be vigilant where he is and what’s round him. Reading is quite a challenge as he doesn’t see the beginning of the line, lots of stuff doesn’t make a lot of sense! He will have to keep going back until he can see it!
He does manage to grow potatoes, now he grows them in potato bags on the decking, and just a few pots of tomatoes. We have had some really tasty potatoes the last few years early and late ones. Found the topping up ok, he just needed a bit of help.
Last year we had two sets of French doors put in one in the lounge and one in the kitchen, so now he can get straight out on to the decking, he doesn’t need my help to get outside anymore, it doesn’t sound much but it’s a big deal for him. We also had a wet room put in a could of years ago so he is completely independent in the shower department now, again another big deal for him.
When something like a stroke happens you just have to adapt, work round the problem.
So glad you enjoyed your garden mowing, it’s a great form of exercise! Love the smell of newly mowed grass.
Can he sit outside? Try a raised planter or raised beds, buckets and big pots so he can still grow veg. I have carrots, cucumbers, runner and broad beans all in pots; bush tomatoes indoors, apple, cherry, plum and pear trees all in pots. The flower beds may now have weeds but I can still grow food. Now where can I plant the broccoli?
Yes, he grows potatoes in sacks and tomatoes in pots now, he just misses digging over his veg patch! But as I said when things happen to you you just have to work round your problems. His stroke nurse says having a stroke you go through a grieving process for the life you had, and the life you have now.
LOL - if I let it get half-long it's impossible to cut with that reel mower and I have to ask the neighbour if I can trade him rooted starts in exchange for him running his battery mower over my little lawn.
Happy Anniversary! I totally agree with your comments about this forum. I found it so reassuring to read that what I felt after the event was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about - knowing that was so helpful in allowing me to put the worry to one side and get on with my recovery
Dear Sunnie2day, indeed congratulations on your anniversary of improving health. It is a great feeling to know how the chain of events from a trip to your dentist has been so positive for you and that all of us within this forum of ours can share and help each other due to our experiences. Here is to the next year of progress for you!
Good morning Sunny,you`re so right.I wish I`d discovered the forum years ago.I was so relieved to get a diagnosis and treatment for my heart failure after years of being told it was my lungs causing the problem that I never asked any questions and the forum has been so informative and supportive.Thank you fellow Hearties xx
Oh, I love that 'handraulic', that's pure genius and I'm definitely going to call it that from now on! I love that thing, I got the mowing done (husband jealously watching from the patio) and while I did 'feel the burn', lol, I felt great after it was done and just exactly the way I want it to look. Even my husband had to agree my checker-board stripes were magazine worthy
I found mine on eBay (Draper, 15in mowing path). Amazon has them as well (a bit higher priced). I looked at online garden supply sites - ouch!
Thanks for info Sunny.Def going to get one but my motley patch won`t be getting any stripes.I have a wonderful mental picture of you now dressed in your summer dress and boater effortlessly mowing your perfect green sward !!!
When I became a lawn-fool (back in the 1970s) I didn't use the striping mowing path method until a horticulturist mentioned I was wasting the clippings (even though I did use the grass catcher to empty onto my compost heaps) - he pointed out all those grass clippings were 'cheap food' for the lawn if I used the checker-board mowing path method to double cut the clippings so they were small enough to quickly decompose back into the lawn without causing the dreaded lawn-thatching.
Once I started doing that I never had to feed another lawn and I always have had lush green 'carpet' grass. I've never needed to use an herbicide or pesticide, either, just a watchful eye for nematode damage and the occasional weed pulling.
I'd feel silly for being such a lawn-fool if mowing a lawn weren't so Zen-inducing - I take Bisoprolol in part to 'calm my heart' but in reality just mowing the lawn calms it wonderfully. Also lowers my BP.
But no on the summer dress despite the lack of a motor on my mower - I always wear a stout pair of jeans and hiking boots, even on the hottest days. Too many ouchies from power mowers lobbing things back at me, an old habit hard to break now I've got the reel mower. But definitely the hat on a hot day - nothing better than a straw boater!
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Will be glad to see the back of this year for so many reasons
From mild to severe in a year 🤷🏻♀️
Myopericarditis at 20 years old
22 years of Bisoprolol 
