First day back at work, whoopee!

First trudging up the hill in snow/slush, then I get in to find out the passenger lifts are still out of action. Not in ten minutes when I'm told half the building's water is turned off and as a result some of the toilets are repulsive (I know, once the water was on I had to check and flush a few of the gents cubicles, several times). Other joys, a control temperature room seems to be on the brink of failure too.

Happy New Year, it's looking much like last year though...

Happy New Year all!

I never seem to update these days.

Truth be told I don't want to bang on about negative stuff in my life like work keeping me very busy during the day and dragging me out at unsociable hours, Mum's chemotherapy and my general tiredness and dark moods. It doesn't help that Facebook is a lot easier to drop in and out of quickly and feel a bit more sociable on as well.

I have a lovely wife, a good job and there's little I can do to help my Mother other than talk to her on the phone more often (which I do) and visit when I can. Things aren't so bad on the whole, so I shouldn't and won't be drawn to whinge. It's not a bad life, just a little bumpy now and again.

Dear Livejournal,

Apologies, I've been kind of busy and not keeping up. Work is keeping me very occupied to the extent that I now regularly miss coffee breaks and lunch is grabbed whenever possible. There's no sign of this letting up anytime soon either but I seem to be impressing one of the Big Boss's with my ideas and new views on long running problems. Shame he's retiring in a few months.

In other news it's been a very busy weekend with much walking and acting like a tourist, as Jo was up visiting her mum and I. We did the castle on Friday, the Zoo on Saturday and they did the Impressionism Exhibition at the RSA on Sunday while I shopped and then read a newspaper in the sunshine on a bench in Princes Street Gardens (well I'd already been to that exhibition, had to pick up a shirt I'd ordered in a shop and it was a very pleasant, mild afternoon).

In further good news my Mum was discharged from hospital last Monday and got to go home. She's still sounding quite wheezy but feels much better and is glad to be home. She's also joined the 21st century and bought herself a mobile phone :o)

Later y'all.

My Mum's been in a normal ward for a few days now. She's off the oxygen and getting around a little though the chest drain is still in. There's not much liquid draining off now and it's almost clear. Most importantly she asked my Dad to bring her in biscuits the other day. She's certainly on the mend :o)

Thanks to everyone for their comments of support.

The hospital think my Mum has some kind of pneumonia, which is less serious than the pulmonary embolism that they also thought it could be. Test results on the fluid they've drained for her lungs will help pin it down but for now they're not being more specific. When I visited on Saturday Mum was in the High Dependency Unit hooked to a monitor and receiving oxygen. She looked pretty bad but the nurse assured me this was a big improvement to how she was on Friday when she was admitted. The drain in her lung had been left in as they were still removing some fluid, though nothing like the amount that first came out. My Father was better than I expected him to be but still far from helpful. I think he had a genuine shock when he first saw Mum but was back to his cantankerous self by the time we left. I took him shopping so he'd have plenty food at home and he seemed to have taken in that this might be weeks rather than days before Mum gets home.

Yesterday she was moved out of the HDU and into a normal ward and today the nurse is hopeful that she'll be off the oxygen in a day or so. She also asked my Great Aunt for biscuits yesterday too, which is another positive sign :o)

Last night I went down Cabaret Voltaire for the Spear of Destiny gig. ladyserpentine isn't a fan so it was just me and I wasn't really in the mood but once the band hit the stage it was a welcome distraction. A couple of sound problems were quickly worked out and they played all the hits so it was a better night than I expected. Another bonus was not being the old git at the back, the place was full of old gits, some making me look positively youthful :o)

Today has been a very long and difficult day at work. My Sister-in-law called me this morning to tell me my Mum had been rushed into hospital. She's not been well for a couple of weeks and has been finding herself short of breath. She sounded terrible on the phone last night when I talked to her and I told her to be sure to see her GP today and if needs be kick up a stink to be seen. She did and on seeing and hearing her condition he called for an ambulance to take her to Ninewells.

It took forever to get through to the ward she was on, it was always engaged. When I finally spoke to a nurse on the ward I was told Mum was settled now and feeling much better. She had some oxygen in the ambulance which helped immensely and has had a chest x-ray which is still pretty inconclusive. More tests are on the cards.

I'll be back up in Dundee tomorrow but no time for socialising. I'll also have to try and talk to my Father. When I phoned him today he sounded pretty unconcerned about all this, indeed he hadn't bothered to phone the hospital to see how Mum was doing. "I'll find out which ward she's in and how she is tomorrow when I go up to visit", was his comment to me. Some of you know I don't have a lot of time for my Father, mostly because he has no time or consideration for anyone else, Mum included. He's still not endearing himself to me. It could be a very long day tomorrow too.

As some of you may already know, we have two new family members at "Chez Anderson".

( See photos below )

Fireworks photos, taken from a couple of miles away from the castle on the 7th floor of my work. ( Pics below )

Primarily for deathboy but I'm sure any other Rickrollers will love it too.

(Thanks to brigid to bringing it to my attention)