Ok, where was I? Ah yes, we went to stay for two days with friends in their glorious house up in the hills above Streatham.
We caught a bus to Streatham Hill, then another which took us up Leigham Court Road, where we got off and met Roy, who drove us to their house.
The weather was glorious, her bed comfy, the food magnificent and Ann and Roy had no objections to me sitting (very quietly) on the dining table at meal times.
She had gifted Ann two days gardening work for her birthday. The first day, she tackled their very big terrace. She weeded and cleaned it and then did the same to the paths which lead up to the top of the garden where the vegetable patch is.
The next day she worked on the large vegetable patch and tackled two large 'hot box' compost bins.
The contents had stuck half way so nothing was dropping down, compost must have a ratio of green and carbon in order for it to decompose properly and there were far too many grass cuttings in both boxes.
Dirty.. Messy unpleasant work but as both her hosts are over 75 years old and not up to doing this kind of work, she raked out what compost had been made from the bottom and sorted it out from the top.
Jobs done..
She got a massive hug from Ann and a lift from Roy back down onto Streatham Hill where we caught a 137 bus to take us home.
That was on Thursday October 11th, on Friday, she went to the library and did grocery shopping and called into see our Lebanese friends.
Then all hell broke loose!
For she awoke on Saturday with an incredibly sore neck and throat, her hearing was non-existent, she was running a temperature and her ears were blocked and her sinuses were.. ohhh.. so painful.
Ginger, garlic, cloves (and sesame oil) were brought in to 'play', they are anti: bacterial, inflammatory and viral and any thoughts of gardening were banished.
Luckily she had done the food shopping and had plenty of fruit and bird food, she had caught 'the mother & father' of a cold (or so she thought) and put herself back into bed with another quilt on top to keep herself warm.
Sunday more of the above
Monday. Having spent a gruesome night with a high temperature and chills.. she woke up at about 7am and had a major panic attack. Her eye lids were stuck together!
She felt her way down the hall and into the bathroom where she soaked both eyes with water until the 'glue' was washed away.. to find.. oh no!
Oh yes.. both eyes were covered in what looked like thick creamy white string.. very scary.
Action stations.. wash, dress, put fresh food and water out for me and out of the door to catch a bus to Moorfields A&E, she had the sense to take her Moorfields hospital number with her, her vision was dreadful so she didn't feel safe enough to go by tube.
She followed the 'green' line down City Road.. lucky are those who don't know what this means.
And went into reception at A&E, she was wearing dark glasses as the string had formed over both eyes and it was both hideous and scary.
"How can I help you" said the pleasant woman behind the desk, she said "Here's my hospital number, I'm a patient here and this is the problem" and with that, she took off her glasses.
I won't write what the woman said.. too rude but she literally sprang into action, she gave the hospital card to another colleague and said "access her file asap, I'm taking her into isolation, come with me" and she led mama, who had her glasses back on, past an astonished bunch of people and off into a corridor where she had never been before.
"Sit here and rest, someone will be with you as soon as we get your file down from records" and she closed the door.
In a very short time, a charming doctor was with her and asked to see her eyes.. he was angelic. He took her into another room and cleansed her eyes, asked her for the sequence of events which had led up to this and then examined her eyes.
"You have contracted several different serious complaints, you have both severe viral conjunctivitis with pseudo-membranes and you have picked up an infection" explained Dr. George, "I am just going to get someone else to examine your eyes" and he left to come back with a pretty and smiley woman who introduced herself as Emma.
Much cleaning of hands went on, then she looked at mama's sore eyes. "Ok, 2 drops into each eye, wait 1 minute, then use forceps George", she then explained that pseudomembranes are like fish scales that attach themselves to the eye ball and if left untreated, would cause her to lose her sight.
It didn't hurt but it was mighty scary.. just the mere thought of those fishy scales being peeled off your eye ball is scary in itself.. let alone seeing the forceps coming at you!
Emma returned with a prescription, "You must follow these instructions to the letter, for the first week, you take 1 drop every 2 hours, then every 4 and so on for 7 weeks, I've made you a follow-up appointment on Wednesday at 11am. You mustn't socialise with people, keep your head and throat warm, bed rest is essential, keep on taking the ginger and other herbs. IF, you have to go out, you must wrap up warmly. Please eat lots of fruit and drink a lot of water and hot ginger tea. We'll notify your GP by email of what we have found, now go home to bed and we will see you on Wednesday", she bent down and kissed mama on the top of her head and said "Don't worry, we'll sort it out, thank goodness you came in and didn't just think it was because of your cold".
So there you are folks or rather here we are, she's down to 3 drops a day, so slowly. very slowly, she is getting there, the creepy white string is now just a hideous memory but she did send a photo of her eyes when they were at their worst to her surgery.
Who have been angelic, they called her the moment they received the email from Moorfields and discussed it with her.
They've made an appointment with audiology for a hearing test at the end of November and a friend took her hearing aids to be checked and collected her new prescription long and short distance glasses.
Most of the time she has slept, I've plucked my tummy and nibbled my shoulders again.. yes, it had all grown back but now I look as if moths have been at me. Because this is horrid.. I'm not used to mama just lying there..
Emma was certain that she'd had a cold brewing when she was in Streatham and that combined with a bacteria which had been in one of the compost bins, she had created the perfect storm.
GeeGee Parrot.
November 6th, 2018.
PostScript: If you are cleaning or clearing out an old compost bin, wear goggles and a mask. The bacteria that break down food waste and plant waste are extremely powerful and you do not want to breath them in or get them in your eyes.
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