Wednesday 14 September 2016

Wednesday

Today the farmer visits the specialist in hospital in Northallerton to hear the results of the scan on his shoulders and the verdict on whether or not he should risk an operation.

It is twenty five miles from here to Northallerton so not a very long journey - and mostly through open countryside.   So an early lunch is called for so that we can go at our leisure rather than rush to get there.

Lunch will be at twelve (brisket of beef with broccoli and carrots and potatoes - I am sure you will be happy with that Rachel as a conventional 'English' meal).

After that glorious late Summer day yesterday we had the most spectacular thunderstorm last evening.   It went round and round us - sheet lightning first in the West, then the North, then the East and then the West again; in the space of half an hour an inch of very heavy rain fell.   This morning it is quite warm and misty with heavy cloud, although the weather forecast is for clearing skies, so we live in hope.

As I sit here in the hall at my computer I can see two greater** spotted woodpeckers pecking at the trunk of a tree on the drive.   Much more pleasurable to watch than yesterday's wasps. 

An update on the farmer's health.   The specialist says that the tendon has torn away badly and will not heal itself.   The farmer could have keyhole surgery but would have his arm in a sling for a month and then be more or less unable to use his arm for another six months except for very gentle work.   There would be a lot of pain to live through during the healing process too.

The farmer has decided to say no at present.   He now has stronger pain-killers from the doctor and really only feels the shoulder pain during the night so unless it gets worse he has decided to live with it.

**Thanks to Derek for pointing out that they were greater spotted woodpeckers in our trees - he is quite correct.   I have seen a lesser spotted one many years ago and they are very much smaller (and rarer too).

18 comments:

Heather said...

We had some heavy rain and noisy rumbles yesterday afternoon but today is clear. I love it when the woodpeckers visit our garden. The lesser spotted ones like the cherry tree and the green ones enjoy pecking for ants on the front lawn.
Your lunch sounded delicious and sustaining, and I hope the farmer's scan results were favourable.

The Broad said...

I do hope the farmer has positive results and can avoid surgery. However, it is astonishing what can be done now to repair shoulders in disrepair. My mother suffered from a rotator cu -- ff tear and managed to avoid an operation by religiously attending to her daily exercise regime.

Brisket of beef sounds mighty good to me -- especially as the weather has turned decidedly cooler and we are having some serious rain (much needed).

Derek Faulkner said...

Far too hot for cooked meals at lunch time here. 10.40 and already 26 degrees and climbing.
Are you sure that your woodpeckers are Lesser Spotted and not Great Spotted. Lesser Spotted are not much bigger than a sparrow and becoming scarce throughout the country now, to the point of being almost rare in the S.E.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

The lunch sounds delightfully traditional. None of that foreign muck this time. I hope you have a trouble-free drive over to Northallerton and back. We also had a fierce thunderstorm in Sheffield last evening. The sky became so dark that I thought Margaret Thatcher was returning!

Derek Faulkner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Derek Faulkner said...

I'm having "foreign muck" for my dinner tonight Pat, your excellent Mediterranean menu that I had last week as well.

Gwil W said...

Good luck to farmer.

Manchester City match was called off due to rain.
Rescheduled for this evening.

I like eating broccoli.

Terry and Linda said...

Storms like that are so (wonderful) amazing!

I sure hope the farmer get the results that works the best for him.

We pretty much always have quick meals...I don't like cooking when I too tired.

Linda

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks everyone. Health report on the farmer added to today's post.

Derek Faulkner said...

I'd of taken the same decision as the Farmer, operations as were suggested can often fail to achieve the desired result.
The Med. meal tonight was superb again, now a regular feature on my table.

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

Two gorgeous days on the bounce here, we deserve them, the East Midlands has suffered this year with rain! So many cricket matches lost. I hope the farmer i able to carry on with the minimum of pain

Rachel Phillips said...

The meal sounds just right to me. The tendon might heal a little with avoidance of whatever sets it off. My brother has it too and knows to avoid lifting of things that set it off. When it happens it is not so good but in between times it is not so bad. He applies a frozen peas pack when it strikes. I hope for that for the farmer too. I had ligament damage and the UK doctors were unable to tell me what was wrong. I attended a sports clinic in Macedonia when I was travelling five years ago and was told within 5 minutes what was wrong. It healed, as the man said, in 6 months without treatment.

Librarian said...

While I admire The Farmer for his decision to live with pain (and take more and stronger painkillers) instead of having surgery, I suppose on the long run it can't be avoided. The side effects of strong painkillers are not to be underestimated, as you know of course, and I for one would not want to drug myself with them for an undetermined period of time - I can see the results a mix of medication has on my Dad, who has been on lots of stuff for more than 10 years now since he had a minor stroke.

Anyway, I hope the day did clear up and you had a pleasant drive to Northallerton and back. The weather is supposed to turn here in the course of the day, after the first half of the week (and last weekend) it was around 30 Celsius every day.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for all your comments. Regarding the farmer's shoulder - the recent change to just one codeine at bedtime has made the pain much more bearable (it is in the night that it troubles him most.
The operation would mean a month with his arm in a sling and six months with no lifting at all - and then no guarantee of success. If he were to contemplate that then it would mean contemplating selling up - he could not carry on without d oing the general farm jobs (he manages them all with the minimum of lifting and has various mechanical aids.) He was born here and has no desire to move.

Derek Faulkner said...

You've definitely done the best thing, moving would be an awful wrench. These operations don't always work either. 18 months ago my partner had a replacement knee operation and everybody that we speak to that has had the same op. is running around like spring chickens - not her. The op. hasn't been too successful and she is still in 24 hr pain and still has restricted bendiness of the knee.

Elizabeth said...

Do hope the farmer's shoulder pain abates somewhat even without surgery.
I can quite understand not wanting to take the time out for the surgery.
Getting older doesn't seem to be so much fun!
Warmest wishes

Heather said...

I hope the stronger painkillers will allow the farmer to get a better night's sleep. He would feel so frustrated being unable to work for such a long time after surgery. I can understand his reluctance to move away.

jinxxxygirl said...

Hubby thought on it for a couple months before deciding to have it done...He is slightly more than 2 months out of surgery and still deals with quite alot of pain ... most of that stems from the fact they had to actually move his bicep because it was torn ... so they cleaned up the end and reattached it .... then he had a small tear in the rotator cuff they repaired and cleaned up some arthritis and burrs...

He tells me if he knew just how painful it was gonna be he probably wouldn't have had it done... But neither can we imagine waiting until he was much older and then dealing with the pain sooooo.... Now we can only hope that it will be all worth it and he regains much use of the arm and that the pain eventually will go away... They tell him it could be up to a year for FULL recovery.... I think it really depends on just what they do to the shoulder as i have heard of other shoulder surgeries that were not as painful....and recovered faster.... Best wishes to the farmer and his decision... its not an easy one... Hugs! deb