Wednesday 30 July 2014

Is the end nigh?

As the end of the month approaches, I am hopeful that my arm has recovered sufficiently from the lymphoedema to allow me to wear the pressure garments for very short periods. It will be a couple of weeks before my next appointment with the physiotherapist. She will measure the fluid content of the arm, and I hope that the improvement so tediously made during the last six months can be maintained. Then I may get around to writing a letter of demand to the hospital to ask for reimbursement of my expenses. All these months I have not felt tough or energetic enough to do this. But the time is nigh.

I have been able to remove the pressure garments at nights for some weeks, which is a huge relief. In the morning, after the massage I decide what to wear and then put the sleeve and glove on, and then coax the sleeve over them.The glove makes doing anything in the kitchen more difficult, and it is easy for it to get dirty. Washing and drying it is a fiddle, and when the time comes to remove them each day I sing halleluias. I cannot crochet while wearing the glove, and the other wrist gets a bit sore, probably as a result of overuse. It is to be hoped that a combination of carefulness and caution will prevent the recurrence of the swellings, as with this second bout, the risk of further recurrence has increased.

Things could be worse, though. after some quite cold weather it has become warmer and the experts opine that there won't be any really cold weather again.

Yesterday I planted a pieris I had bought at the local market. The seller worried that the garden might not be shady enough, but we shall see. Before I could plant the pieris I had to attack the planter box severely, as it was full of self-sown nasturtiums, and the red and green alstroemerias. The alstroemeria is certain to fight back. Its red and green flowers are very pretty, but it certainly has been programmed by the great gardener in the sky to do its utmost to take over the world. It seems that some people regard it as a weed. They may be right.

The removal of great chunks of nasturtiums revealed that the small daphne in the corner has lots and lots of buds, and I hope it will burst into flower soon. And I think the mint is about to do its utmost to invade some of the space. There are herbs in pots which would love to be planted, and there are azaleas out there which would do their utmost to tempt me were I foolish enough to go anywhere near them. The lemon verbena got severely pruned, so that it is now possible to reach the back door without bumping into its branches. The bay tree needed more white oil sprayed on it, and the kaffir lime showed a sign or two of dieback. Aargh! The garden is indeed hopelessly overcrowded. Most of it is in what used to be a plunge pool, but as the pump and filters did not work, and the water resembled a very nasty looking soup, it got filled in and turned into a garden. Much more pleasant and satisfying.




2 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

Fingers and toes crossed that the end is indeed nigh.
Your garden sounds like a scented, colourful joy.
Crowded, at least in theory, leaves less room for weeds too. Though the peruvian lilies do indeed world domination tendencies. Pretty, but invasive. Most of mine are kept confined to pots.

Relatively Retiring said...

I do hope you get a good result, after all those months of difficulty.