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Feb. 14th, 2017 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
turpsHappy Valentine's Day to any who celebrate it. If you do, accept a ♥ from me. If you don't, well, I'll just give you a friendly nudge with my shoulder instead.
It seems Corey had a good birthday party with his friends. He phoned yesterday and I was asking him about it. Seemingly 30 people turned up at his house, and I asked if they all went out to town with him after. He replied he didn't know as he couldn't remember anything from then.
He's also got a new steady girlfriend. We've suspected he has for a while, but he admitted it last week, and then James let that slip at his dinner and he was then interrogated by his nanna and gran and had to show pictures. One of the ways he mentioned her was in relation to Valentine's day. He's doing the whole card, present, going out thing, and asked his dad and me what we were doing. While I've nothing against the day at all and do celebrate it, it's only been with an exchange of cards for a very long times. Sadly, with Valentine's Day being in the same week as three other birthdays, well, the money only stretches so far. But, I hope Corey will enjoy his night. Me and his dad will be staying home and sharing a M&S meal for two.
Talking of James. He's had a bit of a rough time at the moment. His back has been acting up big time and he was at the doctor's on Friday. She was going to sign him off work for a while, but he was taking pride in having no sick days in over 6 months, so said he would prefer to go in. So he did, made a bad decision -- thankfully, not on the phones so no patients were affected -- and I just knew something was up when I got a phone call when he should have been working.
Mental health wise things have been hard for him for a while. While I'm becoming much healthier, he's going the other way. He's got a curve in his back anyway, and we don't know if that's becoming worse or if it's just a case of his gait being out with having to wear the splint now. The doctor has referred him to a physio so we really hope it's the second.
Plus, having to rely on his wheelchair more is a hard thing. He's always had one, but really only used it before if either his stump or foot was acting up. Now he's having to use it for things like going around the shops etc. That isn't an issue at all for me, I'll push him around full time if needed, and wouldn't hesitate for a second or see him any lesser for it, but for him it's obviously a big deal.
Also, last week he got the letter saying he had to transfer his disability benefits to the new style -- for anyone knowing the system, going from DLA to PIP. It's something everyone in the UK under a certain age and who gets DLA needs to eventually do, and normally it wouldn't be an issue, but last July mam did the same, and was stripped of lots. I haven't been posting about it but it's been a nightmare. She lost over £800 in money per month and had to hand back her car. She's been fighting the decision ever since and it's been this long drawn out thing of getting evidence and going to tribunals and a load of stress. She's been on action pages for other people going through the same, and of course talks about those cases, about wheelchair users who've lost their cars and people committing suicide due to the cuts and it's horrible and it's no wonder she's been affected so badly.
She was supposed to have had her final tribunal a few weeks ago, but they found out the doctor assigned to her hearing was one formally based at our family practice, so it was delayed for another month, and at this point the whole family is just waiting for things to be over.
Then James got his letter. I really think he'll be fine for the care side as his care needs have worsened since the last time he was assessed, and he should be okay with the mobility. But there's always that fear that they say he can manage without it, and he's thinking about loosing the car, and that would impact his life horribly.
So there's just all these things going on, and he reached his limit. His work have been amazing, they're arranging counselling for him, and what helped the most, the big boss of his work sent him a personal email from her home account saying everything was fine, that the incident at the weekend was over, a line had been drawn and that he just needed to stay home for a bit, try to get his head sorted and if he needed to talk, provided her personal mobile number.
It was such a lovely thing for her to do, and for the first time in days he seemed more settled when he read that.
We still need to send off for his forms for the change, but I've researched every question they ask, every answer that gives points, and I'm ready to answer. They'll damn well get essays to every question if I think they need it.
To end on a happier note. Nanna turned 97 yesterday. There's nothing she needs or wants, and she tells us that, so her house was like a florists when we went up. Which I guess is better than Christmas as after being issued with the same instructions about wanting nothing like clothes or stuff that needs keeping, she ended up with 6 tins of biscuits. She's had a good day but was exhausted by the time we got there. We'll take her out for dinner as part of her present, but not yet as going out twice in one week -- she went to my uncle's to eat on Sunday-- means she needs time in the house to recover.
A final fannish thing. My picfor1000 is going well, and should be off to beta for this weekend. Finishing two challenges in a row, it's like I can actually write again!
It seems Corey had a good birthday party with his friends. He phoned yesterday and I was asking him about it. Seemingly 30 people turned up at his house, and I asked if they all went out to town with him after. He replied he didn't know as he couldn't remember anything from then.
He's also got a new steady girlfriend. We've suspected he has for a while, but he admitted it last week, and then James let that slip at his dinner and he was then interrogated by his nanna and gran and had to show pictures. One of the ways he mentioned her was in relation to Valentine's day. He's doing the whole card, present, going out thing, and asked his dad and me what we were doing. While I've nothing against the day at all and do celebrate it, it's only been with an exchange of cards for a very long times. Sadly, with Valentine's Day being in the same week as three other birthdays, well, the money only stretches so far. But, I hope Corey will enjoy his night. Me and his dad will be staying home and sharing a M&S meal for two.
Talking of James. He's had a bit of a rough time at the moment. His back has been acting up big time and he was at the doctor's on Friday. She was going to sign him off work for a while, but he was taking pride in having no sick days in over 6 months, so said he would prefer to go in. So he did, made a bad decision -- thankfully, not on the phones so no patients were affected -- and I just knew something was up when I got a phone call when he should have been working.
Mental health wise things have been hard for him for a while. While I'm becoming much healthier, he's going the other way. He's got a curve in his back anyway, and we don't know if that's becoming worse or if it's just a case of his gait being out with having to wear the splint now. The doctor has referred him to a physio so we really hope it's the second.
Plus, having to rely on his wheelchair more is a hard thing. He's always had one, but really only used it before if either his stump or foot was acting up. Now he's having to use it for things like going around the shops etc. That isn't an issue at all for me, I'll push him around full time if needed, and wouldn't hesitate for a second or see him any lesser for it, but for him it's obviously a big deal.
Also, last week he got the letter saying he had to transfer his disability benefits to the new style -- for anyone knowing the system, going from DLA to PIP. It's something everyone in the UK under a certain age and who gets DLA needs to eventually do, and normally it wouldn't be an issue, but last July mam did the same, and was stripped of lots. I haven't been posting about it but it's been a nightmare. She lost over £800 in money per month and had to hand back her car. She's been fighting the decision ever since and it's been this long drawn out thing of getting evidence and going to tribunals and a load of stress. She's been on action pages for other people going through the same, and of course talks about those cases, about wheelchair users who've lost their cars and people committing suicide due to the cuts and it's horrible and it's no wonder she's been affected so badly.
She was supposed to have had her final tribunal a few weeks ago, but they found out the doctor assigned to her hearing was one formally based at our family practice, so it was delayed for another month, and at this point the whole family is just waiting for things to be over.
Then James got his letter. I really think he'll be fine for the care side as his care needs have worsened since the last time he was assessed, and he should be okay with the mobility. But there's always that fear that they say he can manage without it, and he's thinking about loosing the car, and that would impact his life horribly.
So there's just all these things going on, and he reached his limit. His work have been amazing, they're arranging counselling for him, and what helped the most, the big boss of his work sent him a personal email from her home account saying everything was fine, that the incident at the weekend was over, a line had been drawn and that he just needed to stay home for a bit, try to get his head sorted and if he needed to talk, provided her personal mobile number.
It was such a lovely thing for her to do, and for the first time in days he seemed more settled when he read that.
We still need to send off for his forms for the change, but I've researched every question they ask, every answer that gives points, and I'm ready to answer. They'll damn well get essays to every question if I think they need it.
To end on a happier note. Nanna turned 97 yesterday. There's nothing she needs or wants, and she tells us that, so her house was like a florists when we went up. Which I guess is better than Christmas as after being issued with the same instructions about wanting nothing like clothes or stuff that needs keeping, she ended up with 6 tins of biscuits. She's had a good day but was exhausted by the time we got there. We'll take her out for dinner as part of her present, but not yet as going out twice in one week -- she went to my uncle's to eat on Sunday-- means she needs time in the house to recover.
A final fannish thing. My picfor1000 is going well, and should be off to beta for this weekend. Finishing two challenges in a row, it's like I can actually write again!
