Feeling more myself

Today is Pat’s first day back at work and I am having a well-earned day at home. Finally, I feel that my head has stopped spinning. The worry of Pat being ill and not getting better and having to run a veterinary practice single-handedly was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done. Pat was so ill that he just wasn’t in a position to make decisions about anything so it was all down to me. I had to liaise with the landlord and surveyor regarding the lease and rent review on the business premises. I had to organise accommodation and car for the locum, plus 24 hour out of hours veterinary cover and that was just the beginning...

The worst thing was that our 2 members of staff instead of helping me were total bitches. They were continually obstructive and unhelpful to the locum vet (and myself) and topped it all by helping themselves to £20 of petty cash money when I wasn’t there and buying 30 cans of coke, chocolate and strawberries which they ate and drunk over 1.5 days.

When it became apparent what had happened I challenged them about it and they were adamant that they were entitled to help themselves. I put them straight and they seemed OK (if slightly put out which you would be if you’d been caught out doing something like this.)

A couple of days later, the receptionist phoned Pat up while I was at work bitching about me and saying she was going to leave. Pat said he was 100% behind me and would talk to her about it the next day. The nurse wrote him a letter, saying something similar.

Anyway, we have had a meeting and they were gutted that Pat said the same as I had (I think they thought Pat would have let it go -as if!) and know where they stand.

Quite frankly, if they both leave, I dont care. They’ve been horrible to me while Pat’s been away and it’s obvious they resent my input in the business. We’ve been there 6 months now and their usefulness is coming to an end because I am now completely up to speed with the computer, etc. If they think they’re indispensable, they’re in for a big shock!

I’m just annoyed that the selfish slags upset Pat while he was supposed to be recuperating - he could really have done without getting involved in what I call "coke - gate"

The other thing that upset me was Lynsey and her wedding. She’s getting married on a Friday (September 1st) and we had booked a locum vet for that week (and particularly that day) so that Pat & I could get away and go. But the locum we had booked has been diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome and cant work. I have tried everyone to see of they can cover (including Stephen who covered while Pat was ill) but no-one is free.

Therefore, I went back to Lynsey, explained the situation and asked whether Sonia could accompany me instead of Pat (Sonia was coming to the evening reception anyway) Lynsey said yes it was fine, but the next day, came back and said that Mark had said No. How horrible, hey?

Now I’m not sure whether it was my stressed state of mind, but we nearly fell out over it. I maintained that because I dont know anyone else going, that I would like someone to accompany me and Mark doesn’t know Sonia and said he’s got friends he’s rather have there.

And Lynsey went along with Mark and said that if I was her friend I would go on my own and I said if she was my friend, she wouldnt ask me to and we ended up in a stalemate. Luckily Lynsey relented in the end and I am going with Sonia, but it’s left a horrible taste in my mouth. Was I wrong to make a stand? I dont know ….

Despite the above, I feel OK. I’m sure some of my malaise was PMT (I’m on CD3 at the moment) but the rest was because I’m highly strung and stressy (albeit with good reason!)

I’m looking forward to our new house and to having a week off in September while Pat’s parents are staying with us. All this stress has put things in perspective. Compared with the last month, having Pat’s Mum staying here will be a walk in the park! :o)

Sarah
xx

More adventures of Edith The Tortoise

The second time Pat went into hospital was really and truly a nightmare re-enactment of the first time. Same A&E, same ward, same stress, same excruciatingly hot weather and the tortoises went missing again!!!!! And as before, I was too stressed to think about looking for them.

But on day 2 of them being missing, I found Beryl and assumed she’d been around all along but I’d not been at home to see her. But I had to face up to it that Edith had been missing for 4 days. What I couldn’t work out was how she’d got out because Edith is the largest and if she’d managed to find a hole, why hadn’t Beryl gone through as well?

On day 5 of her being missing, I was outside looking for her when suddenly I heard a scratching noise and there was Edith - in the drain!! She must’ve fallen in and been in there for 5 days!! How awful did I feel? But she was fine and I washed her off and fed her and she was back to normal.

You may be wondering why I am now referring to Edith as she because I was so sure that she was a he!

As you know, I thought I had it sussed. Edith was seen shagging Beryl (I had photographic evidence!) but who did I spot laying eggs the other night? EDITH!! Confused or what????

There is no doubt that Edith is a girl - I saw the eggs actually coming out of her! (Quite exciting, actually!) What I also wondered was whether the eggs were likely to be fertile - bearing in mind that she hasn’t been near a male tortoise (the tortoise thief’s tortoise is also a girl - apparently) Apparently, they might be fertile because they can store the sperm for years inside them for later use (shame we can’t do that. Hey? Wouldn’t need IVF, then!)

I have read up about hatching out tortoise eggs. The old-fashioned thing is to put them in an airing cupboard, but we don’t have one. I could get an incubator and fuss about with that, but I cant be bothered, so they are still in the ground. I have a theory that at the moment, the temperatures are similar to those round the Med, where these tortoises originate from, so I’ll leave them be. If they are likely to hatch, it will be from 18th September onwards, so watch this space!


And to think I though tortoises were easy pets. They’ve been nothing but hassle from the day we got them! But they are sweet …;o))

Sarah
xx

PS You may be wondering why the shagging if Edith is a girl. Pat thinks it's a dominance thing - she was just showing Beryl who was boss!

And now some GOOD News!!

We have found another house to buy - and it’s better than the one we lost! Hurrah!!!!

After we lost our house and before Pat went into hospital for the 2nd time, we had a few days to look at houses. But it really got us down because a 3 bed detached in the same condition as we were going to buy (ie needed lots of work) was going for £20,000 more and 3 beds in good condition were £40k more!!! We were totally gutted!

But on the day Pat was due to come out of hospital the 2nd time, I got a call to say a 4 bed detached had come onto the market at only £12,000 more than our shabby 3 bed (and in our ideal location, too!) Immediately, I was suspicious because why was this house on at £15,000 less than 3 bed places that needed a lot of work? But I dragged Pat round to view it as soon as he was home - and it’s ideal! The 4th bedroom is tiny, I admit it, but it’s only for the 2 of us, so not a problem. The bathroom and kitchen are nice, it has 2 full size bathrooms (one each!) and it also has a conservatory and kitchen diner. A right bargain, and therefore, we have snapped it up! For once, something good has happened to us.

Here are some pictures.





Yes I know - the purple paint in the kitchen/diner will HAVE to go!! :o))

Sarah

xx

PS Before finding the new house, I had a ceremonial burning of the sales particulars of the old house. Never underestimate the therapeutic powers of doing a burning - it was wonderful!

PPS Talking about ceremonial burnings, I never did get round to burning the dreaded maternity nightshirt (sorry, Struthie!!) but I did throw it away - so it's out of my life forever! Hurrah!!

Hospital Fiasco part 2

Last weekend, Pat started complaining that he felt unwell and he got worse and worse so I took his temperature and it was sky high (for the first time in ages, my ovulation-testing thermometer was coming into use again) and back we went to the hospital and he was re-admitted because of an infection which could possibly be peritonitis. And it was like the weekend 2 weeks previously, but I was more worried and more exhausted. And the locum-stress was there again because the locum I’d booked was due to finish the next day.

I had a bit of extra stress because on the Monday, Pat was extremely ill and our vet nurse had the day off so I had to cover reception from 2 to 6.30. Our receptionist had previously said - "if there’s anything I can do - and I mean ANYTHING, let me know." So I asked her whether she could come back on the Monday and do the last couple of hours on reception so I could go the hospital - and she refused. This in itself was annoying, but if she couldn’t, she couldn’t. But between 4pm and 6.30pm when she was supposed to have been busy, she came back 3 times!!! Once to show her son the tortoise we had in, once to collect her glasses and once to get her keys (ALL complete emergencies - NOT!) and each time she stayed for about 20 minutes so in the 2 hours when she was too busy to help me, one hour of it was spent at the practice anyway - I was FUMING!

Sorry, but it really annoyed me.

Anyway, things have settled a bit and the locum was able to stay on, so not too bad. (I’m now having problems with the vet nurse and some missing petty cash money, but I intend sorting that out tomorrow.)


Pat is now home and a lot better and I pray that this time, he heals up OK and can go back to work at the end of this week.

Onto more pleasant things

Here is a pic of my brother on his wedding day with his new In Laws :o))




And one more thing- I have sorted thhings out with Sonia. Having Pat in hosital put things in persepective and I realised life is too short to hold grudges and we are back to being friends again.

What a nightmare week!!

I hate being negative and a victim, but sometimes I really do think that I have bad luck following me around everywhere I go. As if my ectopic misdiagnosis, followed by infertility, followed by my Mum having breast cancer, wasn't enough, more horrible stuff is now happening.

Firstly, on Saturday, I had to take Pat to hospital because he had an acute appendicitis. I spent the whole weekend at the hospital worried about him because he was having complications. Luckily, he’s out of hospital now and doing well, but that wasn’t the worst of it - on top of being worried about him in hospital, I had to find a locum vet to replace him while he is off - quite frankly an expense we can do without at the moment - but it can't be helped.

On Sunday morning, the morning after Pat went into surgery (he went in at 10pm and I hadn't seen him) my Mum rang at 7am to find out what was happening about doing the Race for Life, which was on Sunday. I was in a terrible state worried about Pat and about sorting out a locum and feeling very alone, and she basically told me I HAD to go and do the Race for Life. And I started crying......

I feel really bad about letting my sponsors down, but going to the hospital to check Pat was all right after the surgery was my top priority. My mum didn't seem to understand- but I did the right thing, didn't I? This fact was exacerbated when I got to the hospital and found that Pat was catheterised due to a bladder infection and in a lot of pain and that no-one had given him his antibiotics even though he should’ve had them 4 hours before, worrying him and making him think he was developing peritonitis (luckily he wasn't)

My Mum later told me that she was sorry but I feel awful about it all.

Monday was spent on the phone trying to sort out a locum and rushing to the hospital to check on Pat (and trying not to cry from the worry of it all)

Tuesday was spent collecting the locum from the station and getting him sorted out. I had booked my GP appointment for Tuesday morning but couldn’t go as I was in charge of sorting out the locum (IVF was the last thing on my mind at the time)

On Thursday, I got a phone call that after all this time, the vendor had backed out of the sale of the house due to "unresolved issues surrounding the divorce settlement"

I'm still holding it together because I have to but I just want to cry and cry - I'm totally exhausted. I thought ONE nice thing would happen to me, but obviously that was too much to ask.

Sarah
:o(

PS And on top of everything else, someone tried to nick my tortoises! I knew they'd got out of the garden but was too busy/stressed/exhausted to look for them until Friday. I knew they'd gone into the neighbour at the back's garden and went round there to see if they had seen them. Apparently, they had a neighbour the other side who also has a tortoise and when they saw Beryl, they assumed it was this other lady’s tortoise and gave Beryl to her. The next day, they say Edith and assumed it was the same tortoise also belonging to this lady and gave Edith to her as well. I therefore went to this lady’s house and she admitted she knew they weren't her's and was "going to look for the owner" cheeky cow! I told her they were micrchipped and registered to me - she knew I was on to her...! I have now blocked the hole that they went through and so far, they are still in our garden - they're very ungrateful aren’t they.? I feed them strawberries and everything and they still want to wander..!