Nearly June

Sorry again for the long gap between posts.

Life goes on, time passes....

I am getting much more mobile and so far no back pain - a little stiffness and I am still not as fit as I was but I am getting there.  Trying to do exercises everyday in addition to walking the dogs.

The weather has been pretty good - we had some horribly hot days but it has settled down and this morning it was even rather cool.

I am a bit worried about Prince at the moment as he is very unstable on his legs... I thought and still hope that he had pulled a muscle that was making him lame and unbalancing and I am trying to get him to rest up a bit. This is made difficult as Snitch is having a false season and we have a load of dogs round the back door which Prince feels honour bound to bark at and chase and he hates it if I go out without him - and the other dogs hate it if I go out without them so walking him separately is hard work all round!

Mohamed is studying for his final exams and has also finished his TEFL course.   Once that is over we will find out if he will be accepted for teacher training this year and if not start to think about what will happen.

We are still trying to sell the land at Ait Iazza and still no luck though we did get a phone call last week from a simser asking about it so maybe we will hear something soon.  If we do get it sold we will, among other things, be able to get the title sorted on the land at Ouled Said and then get that sold which will free up a lot of capital for other projects... so fingers crossed we can get moving soon.

Next month I will have to reapply for my carte de sejour which will be interesting as I still haven't got round to renewing my passport - which I will also have to do... so it looks like a month of bureaucracy ahead.  Oh my :(

Well this made me laugh

DOG FOR SALE 




A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale 'He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.


The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so... I told the CIA.

In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.'


'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running...

But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in.

I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.'


'I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'

'Because he's a Bullshitter. He's never been out of the yard'

It has been a long time since I sat down and wrote a blog entry... what's new?

Well the last month has been pretty eventful.  Looking back over last year I realise I did spend a lot of it with varying levels of back pain... mostly just a niggling pain but in December I had a very, very painful episode.  Five days and nights without any sleep - not able to sit or lie down.. until I finally got some painkillers that worked.


I was determined not just to take the painkillers so tried to find a physiotherapist who would help me get my back into shape.  No physios would see me without a referral from a doctor so I finally found a doctor who would send me for physiotherapy rather than just dole out pain killers and other mind altering medication.  I consulted a spinal specialist who explained exactly what my problem was - which was all sounding great and sensible - until he then told me that I needed surgery to avoid becoming permanently paralysed.

It was a huge shock for me as I have never had any serious illness or need for hospitalization.  I found myself getting very very scared about having general anesthetic and anxious about having to stay in hospital but after listening to the surgeon and seeing the x rays I came to the decision that I would rather risk the surgery than risk being paralysed.

I had lost one disc - between L5 and S1 and the two vertebrae had fused in bad position - restricting the spinal cord (numb toes and other symptoms) - and was about to lose the disc above.  The operation consisted of separating L5 and S1 and inserting a new plastic disc and replacing the disc above and then building a framework of titanium bolts to hold my spine in place... 

The doctor (surgeon) had said that I would be out of bed in 3 days and home in 5... but then he had to go off to France after my operation (to do an operation there) and the staff at the clinic would not let me get out of bed without his say so.  This meant that I was in bed for an extra few days.... raring to go but not able to move as I had a drain, a catheter and a drip in.  Finally the doctor came back from France, expressed surprise to see me still in bed and set things in motion.  On the Sunday (I had the operation on 22nd January) I was finally allowed out of bed.  

What a shock it was to find that first of all I could not stand up without just about fainting - all the blood rushing to my feet - and then when I got my body used to a vertical position to find myself so weak.. barely able to shuffle from one side of the room to the other.  Lying in bed I had felt so strong.  In my head I was ready to leap out of bed and resume normal life.  It took a while to come to terms with the fact that that was just not going to happen.

I have been home for 2 weeks now... I have been back to the clinic three times to have my dressing changed and stitches removed (I think I still have more stitches to come out) and everyone is very pleased with my progress.  I am trying hard to take things easy, not push myself too hard or far and ask for help and looking forward to the time when I can get back out into the hills with the dogs.

At the moment I can walk (slowly and for shortish distances) get up and down stairs, in and out of chairs and bed, drive (none of which I could do last week) - but I still can't bend down or carry anything heavier than a cat.

I am not experiencing any back pain - apart from what you would expect from having a large wound on your lower spine - but have been surprised at the pain in my right hip and leg (now cleared up).  The doctor says this is the pain he has given me.  After all this time of moving around with a spine out of balance and in poor lordosis my leg muscles and joints are finding it hard work to adjust to the newly balanced me!

In the meantime Mo is doing his best - both with me and the dogs.

It has been a really good learning experience.. .okay not one I would want to repeat or recommend (unless you have similar back problems) but I think I have learnt a lot from it - eg I have a lot more empathy with my dad and understand how frustrated he must feel at the difference between what he thinks he can or should be able to do and what he finds he can do.

I have to say the whole general anesthetic thing was scary ... I felt quite calm going into the operating theatre - surprisingly to me but I think I had all the fright and nerves when I first found out about the operation - but had a major fright when the actual moment came.  The staff were working around me getting ready for the operation and the anesthetist put a mask above my face and told me to breathe and that I would fall asleep...  Believe me it was nothing like falling asleep.  I was aware of someone doing something with my hand and was breathing in the gas when all of a sudden I found I couldn't breathe.  I had a moment of sheer panic - trying to shout out that I was still awake but not able to breathe and only managed to drop my arm over the side - which was promptly put back... then I felt air being pushed into me and I relaxed and then I woke up in the recovery room with the surgeon looking very pleased with me.

I should add that I was very lucky to end up here in Morocco with an internationally renowned expert surgeon to hand. Though time will tell exactly how successful the operation has been, I do not think I would have fared better in the UK.  I know a lot of French people come to Morocco to have this surgery performed by Dr Chliyah.  The nursing practice may not have been up to the standards in the UK but they were all very kind and caring.

Anyway that is what I have been up to the last couple of months and here I am ready to start life as hazel v.2.0

17 stitches in all