Here at last is Ralph. He survived the 4 hour drive with only a few miaows, he is settling in fine although is a bit stressed and nervous. We have kept him in the kitchen dining area mostly where there are plenty of places to sit and hide. He is spoilt for choice with a furry radiator hammock but seems to like the floor under the radiator best. He has also been quite sociable sitting on laps and demanding lots of strokes.
He is lovely. I chose a Pixie-bob mainly for their temperament, described as:
Pixie-bobs are said to be highly intelligent, social, active, bold, and enjoy playing with other animals.They are also known for their "chirps", chatters, and growls; most do not meow often, and some do not meow at all.
Most Pixie-bobs are highly sociable around both their owners and strangers. Almost all Pixie-bobs like to be in the same room as their owners, and will follow their owners around the house. Other personality characteristics include the following:
Head butting
Ball fetching and playing
Leash walking (for the most part)
Highly intelligent
Capable of understanding some human words and phrases
So not too noisy and also not to hairy. He just needs a rub with a latex glove once a week to remove loose fur.
I haven’t had that much time to paint as I had another visit to Papworth and then, as I didn’t have to stay in for another bronchoscopy, I diverted to visit my good friend Ann in Bristol. Resulting in a very satisfying shopping trip and some crap telly. ‘Love is Blind’ anyone? Stunningly awful but mesmerising although I haven’t felt the need to keep watching.
Described as an ‘experiment’ they put male and female contestants (the prize seems to be the wedding and honeymoon) in separate houses than allow them to socialise one on one behind a wall so they can’t see each other. This is supposed to evidence the hypothesis that they can fall in love ‘blind’. They are all fit, buff, and stereotypically all American so no undateables to put anyone off. Extraordinarily bad telly 😂.
So no bronchoscopy but I have to increase my Colomycin nebuliser to twice a day (just realised I’ve forgotten already this morning) which is an inconvenience more than anything. It’s to treat some pseudonomas bacteria in my lungs which may account for my decrease in lung function. I am still retaining too much fluid which is no good either. Tomorrow i start some Pilates which I thought if i signed up to something will force me to do some exercise.
At my next visit I will ask about healing as my wound and surrounding areas are still a strange combination of being both painful and numb. I know there is a lot of nerve severing when they operate so I guess they will say it is normal and will take time.
I also saw the Clinical Psychologist who is going to do some Cognitive Analytic Therapy with me. All part of the transplant service. Essentially it involves looking at relationships and sequences of events and to explain then reformulate that narrative. I am not giving much away I’m afraid, partly because I struggle to articulate what is bothering me and partly because I don’t want to over share. I think there is some merit in being open about difficulties but too much can be off putting.
In a nutshell I have had some disturbing feelings since my transplant, almost those of being a teenager again which wasn’t a good time for me. A lot of my past has come to the fore so now seems as good as any to deal with that. I will probably drop some tasty titbits but no more !
I did another ‘after Joan Eardley’ in one art group:
Then I reverted to pots and flowers. There are some lovely spring flowers coming out:
On the left is some Mimosa which smells divine, and the one on the right is some parrot tulips which go all floppy.
I went to the florist to get some stems and got into conversation about buying the flowers to paint which led on to her asking me to do some gift cards for her. That will be great and a perhaps bit of publicity for me.
I also did (Martin made it) a poster for Richard’s shop:
I have been painting more pots and fruit of course and trying out different mixtures of paint so it’s all trial and error. so finally here are some pears in a slipware bowl:
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