New Week, Old Problems

Dear Blog. Dear Friends. Dear anybody who reads this. Life continues to be a touch on the difficult side. Didn’t sleep last night with anxiety. Well, perhaps I caught an hour before I woke up with panic. My mum’s still suffering with this mysterious condition. I thought we’d got over the worst of it last week by Wednesday. She was brighter and moving around the house on her own. I think the Ibuprofen (why does that word have to be so tricky to spell? I always begin “ibro”…) had helped her neck. Only that’s when she started to complain that the tablets were making her woozy. So, we reduced them and now her neck is almost as bad as ever. We might need stronger tablets. Last time she had this she was on Naproxen.

Not sure why I’m telling you all this except, perhaps, as an excuse for not filling the blog with interesting pieces about politics and culture, or even the odd cartoon with the usual gripes about life. It’s not because I don’t want to write. I probably won’t get any paid work done this week, which is a sign of how bad it’s been…

Sigh. Rang 111 this morning and they offloaded us back to the GP. I suppose things sound less scary when they’re abstractly reduced to symptoms fed into an algorithm. Sitting with somebody who is clearly unwell is much harder to stay rational. I feel helpless. I can’t tell which complains are minor and which more significant. She has bad eyes and needs a hearing aid. She also has her new knees which work fine but the rest of her is too woozy to make them go.

Then there’s COVID. In the last couple of days, I’ve accepted that we might need to venture out or, at least, invite help into the house to see if we can sort this. It bothers me less than I thought it would. I need this sorting. I need some help to tell me the problem and to tell me that I’m doing the right thing. Times like this I really hate being the wrong kind of doctor.

I know the system is no longer built for individual care but at times like this I can’t be bothered with the politics. I want help. Except nobody wants to help. Everything over the phone. Remote. Perhaps that’s good. Perhaps this is just a really bad neck (and with a migraine, yesterday, caused by it or merely coincidence), combined with loads of stress she’s clearly been feeling. I just feel pretty helpless. All I can do is wait to see if she improves with the heat pads, the ibroprufen (though wish I had something stronger) and lots of TLC.

Sorry with burdening you with this. Again.

I suppose I just wanted to say I’m still here.

2 thoughts on “New Week, Old Problems”

  1. Hey David! Been a long old time since I’ve seen your new work, (although I often find myself flicking through the Monks book to share a quick laugh at work) but brought to your blog from those excellent, and disturbing, Rees Mogg cartoons. Amazed to see someone else playing the Long Dark, such a beautiful game although I haven’t played the story mode since episode 2 was released, might need to revisit it. Grounded seems like an equally good long dark/subnautica game, although multiplayer and I’d need cross platform to play with many friends. Sad to hear about everything happening with your mother, hopefully you manage to get the help needed – had a similar problem with a relative having a severe teeth abscess when no dentists were taking new patients. Having to phone 111 at multiples times a day only to be pushed down the appointment list by “missing” a call by them that never came. Wish you the best of luck in sorting it, and any other problems you find yourself with.

    1. Hi Abbie! Nice to hear from you. I always wonder how you’re doing whenever I see the Winnograd book on my shelf. Glad to hear you’re still around and reading my nonsense. Yes, I am playing The Long Dark and still loving it. I haven’t even looked at the survival side of the game yet. When I get time, I’ll go back and finish episode 2. I think there’s one more available with 2 coming next year(?). Loving it. Also loved Subnautica, which regular reader Rob recommended. Now I’ll have to look into Grounded.

      Thanks for the kind words. I’d write longer but I’m needed. Hope you come back and I have more time to leave the comment you deserve. Stay well. D.

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Why Dunciad.com?

It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?

Really?

Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.

So this is satire, right?

Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.