I'm in a right pickle.

[Michael Rolls]

WELL DONE!!!!          

[klondike]

[Scrumpy]

Great news.. Tiny steps.. Slowly, slowly .. catch a monkey...

[Cassandra]

So pleased to hear it Raven, things can only improve from hereon and I bet your longing to be home. Dageus and the gang need you!

[Raven]

Actually it was in Perth it happened, I was at my home. Dageus is living in Dundee with Regan. I'm in the Ninewells Major Trauma Unit.
I was told today my lifestyle will have to change massively, the Doctor really laid it down straight. He nearly had a blue fit when he heard I rode huge Clydesdales and I showed him photos of the places I walk with Dageus. If you had come off that horse you may not have seen a soul you could have died he scolded. He said you may look like a young middle-ager but your not. He said I can't keep living the type of life I wasn't born into. I am to stay in a quiet easier lifestyle more suited to my health and abilities. It's had me in tears all afternoon.

[Michael Rolls]

oh dear - what shattering news. Hadn't realised you were in Perth when it happened. But - have you ever fallen off a horse? Very different from slipping on ice. I can understand the doc's reaction, but it's your life to live
Mike

[GrannyMac]

One piece of advice I was given by a doctor whose speciality is older people and ageing: Don't Fall. 

Even those like you Raven, extremely active, don't look your age, have less resilience to damage.  Our bones are weaker, our bodies are generally less able to cope with physical trauma.  Falling from height is one of the major reasons for older people needing to go to A&E.  The doctor has a point.

You're doing well, you'll be walking Dageus again, just in different places.   You're getting mobile again, let people look after you til you're well.  Hope they're treating you well in Ninewells.

[Diasi]

I am to stay in a quiet easier lifestyle more suited to my health and abilities. It's had me in tears all afternoon.

But far better than having to adapt to life in a wheelchair.

[Alex]

We adapt don't we ? we have to.   Best of luck Raven, I hope you're soon back on your feet 

[Raven]

Morning All, I kind of had a feeling for a while my horse riding days were coming to an end. I have to use steps or a bench to mount and it's quite hard at times, getting off I have to lay forward, over Bonnie's neck take my feet out of the stirrups, swing my right leg over her back and slide to the ground with Dunc holding me all the while. He won't let me go out alone with her, We always go together and sometimes if it's rough ground he puts a lead reign on to her halter. But it hurts to know it's now officially over.
I'm going to be in Perth a lot more in the future, and we have a lot to discuss. It will be weeks before I'm able for short drives and that nearly 6 hour one to Thurso. Is very much a big No No.
Mac the nurses in Ninewells are fine, but run off their feet.
Don't worry Mike, I won't be mounting up again. It's over.

[Jacqueline]

Just an idea, and I know nothing about what I am going to suggest, when Prince Phillip gave up Polo he took up carriage riding, could you not hitch your lovely horses to a small carriage of some type?

Such a shame when we have to take onboard that we are not up to any more what we have always done, old age is cruel.  You take care, you are over the worst and now you need to heal. 

Lovely picture of you and your horse.

January 10, 2023, 11:08:55 AM
I forgot to ask, how is everyone else doing that has been ill lately? hope you are getting better.

[Raven]

Jacqueline I know exactly what your talking about, but it's not for me. We both need to have a long talk about the future of the farm, and what we are going to do. Dunc has no children to leave it to so it may get sold, and us decide where we will go. He likes my house but has lived in the back of beyond all his life, he'd simply end up hating it. Besides there's Bonnie n Clyde, his beloved horses he wouldn't leave them. I've seen a difference in him since the lockdown, he now has no employed help, he used to have a fulltime hand and a partime one, but now he's on his on, and he works very long hours.  When I first met him when we were kids, it was his parents who ran the place with 3 employed hands to help, and Dunc after school, weekends and holidays. Very different place. Farming today is not what it was. It's hard for me to try and jump in as if I'd lived that way all my life when my childhood was so very different.

[Jacqueline]

I feel for you Raven, when you have lived your life in a certain way and now you have to think about the fact you are getting past it and have to look to change it and it's not what you would choose to do. Unfortunatly your accident has been your wake up call that you can't go on forever, like my husband heart condition was for us.

We have a buyer for our bungalow, it has a large garden of nearly an acre, we live in rural Wales, although we have a bus it only runs to early evening and not Sundays, Chris is 80 this summer, with his medication he is fine at the moment, but it doesn't say it will always be like this, I don't drive.  He does the garden himself, it's hard work, too much and we need to get nearer to amenities.  My knees are shot, and I have other health issues. We are finding it difficult to find somewhere we like, I know I couldn't live right in the middle of a town with neighbours very close, it would drive me mad.

We viewed a house last Friday, which would be the house of my dreams (or other people nightmares)  it is old, too big for us really (big house but small garden), needs lot of work but is in a wonderful position on the edge of a little town with all we want around us, question is will it kill us to do all the work needed? we have some money to spend but it won't cover all of it so will have to do some ourselves, I don't want to kill my husband! about 25 years ago in our old house, he was under the floorboards putting in central heating pipes two weeks after a Hernia op. he couldn't do things like that now, although he would try and that worries me.  Don't know what to do really, we are waiting for a quote for sorting out the roof/outside it all depends on the price if we can go further or not.

In your case, if your Dunc had to sell up, could you not compromise and get something smaller than the farm in an area not quite so remote that would suit both of you?  less land, but enough for the horses, you couldn't part from them they are lovely,  There must be a halfway solution for you both, there are some nice areas around Perth.  

This year my resolution is positive thinking (I am a natural pesimist) we will find a place to go, we will do it!!!! and so will you Raven and Dunc, you know in your hearts, like us,  you have to change your lives, sad as it is.  All the best to you both and what you decide to do.  Jac
 

[Scrumpy]

Things happen through our lives .. things that we have to adapt to.. The loss of Sam was a big shock.. I was now in control.. Over the years  I learned enough to get by.. But I was young..
 As we get older , when changes come along , it always seems harder and having to make  a decision can be scary.. Because we know they will be our final decision...
 However many moves and decisions can be good for us..
I wish you well Raven and Jacqueline..
 

[Alex]

Yes big decisions for you both, but you can make them together