June 26, 2022 

I have to record this before it goes out of my head.

 

Yesterday I had visitors from Pretoria….a couple I married 12 yrs. ago (the glue is not only still sticking but it is getting more solidified) and the mothers of the then bride and groom (two old gogos---grannies, roughly my age) still in pretty good shape, from what I could see) and the first son, now 11 yrs. old.

It was a delightful afternoon When the wife asked what time they should come, and after gauging the time from where they were staying, I said “How about 10am?/   She said, they are gogos, they don’t get up till 10. Ok, I said, make it 2 or 2:30 pm.  Better.

They brought some coffee, tea and coffee along and left some irresistible chocolate sweets.

We reminisced about the old times and mentioned the names of people who touched our lives then. I mentioned that I had to give up driving because I nolonger had total control of my left foot, but I would be able to drive an automatic car because I could do that with just the right foot. ( I am dreaming of someone who wants to get rid of his/her automatic or would be willing to trade my beautiful 2005 Hyundai Atos with their automatic. I can dream, can’t I

The time went so fast,     too fast. Next you kknow it was almost 5pm, time for supper. I was soooooo happy.

Can’t wait for the next visit.

But I Realized that I have been institutionalized……I would have trouble organizing a cup of tea or coffee, sugar and milk ( I could easily do that in my own house, if I had one,    and I get up at 5am now, because mass is at 7:30 and breakfast at 8am, after mass. We have a timetable and a schedule which is necessary in our situation. In the old days, at my mission, I could re-adjust the schedule and organize things as I liked. Of course, there are also advantages,   we re cooked for, rooms cleaned, laundry done , etc. so I am not complaining just remarking. Anyone who would like to make me a gift of a small automatic car, I wouolf be glad to indulge you and you could be sure of many, many prayers.

 

I slept happily through the whole night, getting up to pee only once. Very unusual.

 

Baneli changed my sheets for me, and I have put on an extra blanket as it is getting winter cold here now.

I am going to bed earlier and earlier these days but lately, it has been between 8 and 8:30pm. It is getting harder and harder to get up in the morning to a cold room  (it was 14C in my bedroom this morning and 9 C outside on our veranda. Remember this is Durban, supposedly semi-tropical,    Ha, long gone, climate change has arrived with force. This will be a busy week. I will explain later. As John Lennon once said, “life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Peace and love till we meet again.

 

June 14, 2022

Wow, how the time has flown. I can’t believe that it is over a month that I have put anything in my blog.

Well, here goes. The meds that are supposed to be quieting down my spasms seem to be encouraging them. They still haven’t been able to find something that will do the job.

    Two years ago, an offer was made to install in my body a Baclofen pump, to inject the baclofen directly in the spinal cord so that it goes straight to the nerves. But it was so expensive that I turned it down them.

   Now that things have not improved at all, once again this suggestion was made, but with an offer of trying to get me into Albert Luthuli hospital, the best of the best, as a kind of charity case where everything would be paid for. These are the experts in all the various fields. Maariannhill nor I would agree to spend the money it would cost if we had to pay, but if the bid to get me into luthulli would succeed I would accept gratefully. The after care would be about the same as the expense of the meds that could be discontinued (refilling the pump, someone to do that, etc.)  We shall see.

 

I think that I have finally accepted that I can’t trust my leg to drive any more so I will simply ask for lifts (ugh) but the time has come finally. The spasms seem to come every 20 seconds or so, some s\stronger than others, and they last longer and are more painful.I wish I could go back and undo the knee replacement, but too late for that.

 

A more humorous but also serious thing is my bladder . I used to see the Urologist once a year to make sure that my prostate was clean of cancer. Then for about  a year and a half I didn’t go any more. I used to wonder why he kept asking is I was incontinent. Ha. I saw him 2 weeKs ago and told him, yes, incontinent about 5 or 6 times  a day. The  problem is I am on crutches and can hardly walk now. I have  a portable urinal that has been my salvation. I am trying to learn my signals. Can I wait a bit or must I move NOW, NOW. If I don’;t read he signals right and wait too long, it could be and has been disastrous. I don’t think I could ever be embarrassed any more.The Urologist thinks that there is a link, nerves-wise , between the nerves causing the spasms and the ones controlling the bladder.  The Neurologist decided to look again at the 3 MRI’S to see if they missed something and to even get another kind of outside opinion who is also knowledgeable to have a close look and hope that he can see which nerves are sending those sisgnals. I hope they can be found too

 

Aside from that , two especially happy occasions took placed…..one of our Mariannhill priests was just made the archbishop of Durban and another one (our our former superior general) was just made the bishop of Kokstad, a neighboring diocese. Greata rejoicing. Visitors from all over.

Nice to see old confreres from all over the world. And all of us old timers, seeing our dreams coming true, all the youngsters taking over where we left off and continuing the work, some of them being made bishops and leaders of our Mariannhill community. We can say “Nunc dimmitis servum tuum domine…” Now you can take me home Lord….I have done what you asked me to do, so I can go home now.

 

I get invited out from time to time and they will pick me up and bring me back and I keep in touch with Savannah Park through the Pillay family.

 

Our friend and dear brother who has been helping us for the past several years from the Durban diocese has been called back to his home diocese. We are grateful for his faithful help during the past years.

That’’s enough for now. Let me see if I can think of other things

 Sorry, I let more than a month go by woth laziness taking over, but I will try this week to do better. Come Holy Spirit, I need your help and enlighenment. Always with love, and asking for forgiveness.  Peace.