Sunday, October 23, 2016

Well, I made my (scary) to-do list, and knocked off a couple of the easy’s. It is always prudent to include a couple of them in such a list. 

I found myself flicking through the Haps book, looking for something cosy to hap myself in – and remembered the Tokyo shawl, your dear gift, knit for that very purpose last winter. So one of the items on the list was to find it, and I did, just where it ought to be. And tonight I will employ it.

One of the many plus’s of the Haps book is the news, from KD, that “hap” is used as a verb on Shetland, as I have used it above.

Otherwise, little to report. The second Mosaic sock may reach the toe-shaping today. I think I have decided on Kaffe for the next pair of socks, and will take a ball along to the hospital just in case. You would think my unknit-sock bag would be beginning to show a slight diminution, but such is not the case.

As for the Uncia, I did two rows in the morning, without distress. But next is one of the rows Shandy refers to in yesterday’s comment, where every stitch is crossed or cabled. Not necessarily difficult, but demanding, and I didn’t feel up to it. That is the pattern of current days: I set forward pretty well, and accomplish a bit in the morning sometimes. But when I get back from the hospital in mid-afternoon, with theoretical hours stretching ahead, I make myself a meal and go to bed.

Sunday mornings tend to be longer than others, so I have some hopes for today.

Non-knit

It is interesting that you don’t have “bed-blocking” in the US. It’s all a question, I’m sure, of who pays. The difficulty here is that the NHS budget is one thing, and local council care is another, and the NHS can’t (by law?) discharge a patient until suitable care has been arranged. My poor husband is a classic case: he fell, he broke his hip, the operation to replace it went well, rehabilitation has been less successful, he needs a lot of care (two people, four times a day), it’s not yet available.

(And I’m not at all sure I’ll be able to manage when he comes home, whatever. That’s another question.)


So he’s blocking a bed. In fact, he is in an excellent adjunct to the Western General Hospital, purpose-built for old folks who need rehabilitation or to wait for care – a private room, with en suite facilities. But this can’t go on forever.

11 comments:

  1. THe term "bed blocker" seems, to me, to imply that it is the fault of the person in the bed. Of course, it is not their fault. Its the fault of the system. I hope all is resolved for you both as soon as possible, in a workable way.

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    1. =Tamar10:24 PM

      Absolutely. He is _using_ the bed, not 'blocking' it. He is using it because he needs it. It is a facility purpose-built for old folks who need rehabilitation, and he is in rehab. That's not blocking. That's the use that the place was built for.

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  2. So in the US what happens if someone is ready to go home from hospital, the home care is not yet arranged and the funding (insurance company?) to pay for the hospital care stops? Do they have to go home anyway?

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    1. In at least one case I know of, the hospital found a group home sort of place for her to go that fit in her budget; it was a house with about six patients and a nurse and a cook. It wasn't ideal but it was better than sending her home to live with her elderly sister who could not lift her if she fell! So no, not necessarily home, but if not for the hospital person who helped out, I am not sure what would have happened.

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    2. Social services is generally involved, and they sort things out. Granted, this may only be my state (GA). My mom still remembers the social worker getting mad at her for still being in the hospital instead of being discharged to a nursing/rehab place after she destroyed her ankle (and I was in college in MA and couldn't have looked after her).

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  3. Anonymous2:12 PM

    Current legislation for the Integration of Health and Social came came into force on 1st April 2016. This was supposed to ease transitions for people needing both services. Of course "inegration" is an oxymoron as regards these two services and so much damned money has been spent in things that don't relate to service users that there's no money left over to provide your husband with the care he needs at this stage of his life! Rant over and sorry you are still waiting. Catriona

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  4. We have a similar thing happen in Canada, although I'm not sure if the term bed blocker is used.

    Did you see Arne & Carlos are coming out with some new sock yarn designs in the Regia Pairfect line? They look like a lot of fun.

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  5. I'm within six rows of finishing Uncia now. As the flower section completes, you have a reprise of that colonnaded arch which appeared further down. Then it is on to the edging - lots of YOs and K2Togs. Those big decreases in the centres are very familiar from the Celtic cabling patterns, but I still feel that there are some techniques used here which I have never come across before.

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  6. In my part of Canada, people are often sent 'home' as soon as they can get themselves to & from the toilet. That's how badly they need the bed. I picked up my Ex the day after major emergency abdominal surgery & took him home with NO CARE in place at all. The surgeon thought his doctor ordered it & the doctor had no idea he was home. Once he was home, they said it would be several days before they could make arrangements . . . It's a good thing I was able to drop in daily to change his dressings & drop off food or he would've been on his own!! People DO recover best at home but ONLY if they have some support system in place!!
    I've been following your struggles with Uncia very closely. Congratulations on being close to the finish line!! I really admire you for hanging in there.

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  7. re going to bed early - perhaps you get up earlier then? and thus can make use of those early morning hours all to yourself before the day's chores need to be tackled?

    i tend to be a night owl but am working to move my bedtime up so i get up earlier and do my things in the morning before work... i tend to come home and do some chores then putter around and finally settle to knit and watch tv and catch up on blogs, etc. which pushes the bedtime back... WIP on this issue

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    1. Note to above, i have a full time job that is totally boring for 9 hours a day. thus my evening hours are more treasured.

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