Not much to write about...

I'm not doing anything worth writing about on my blog, but for the sake of my kind friends who read this blog, I can tell you that Ken's recovery has been very slow.
The blood tests he had last week showed no sign of anaemia; in fact the doctor was pleased with them. He said that Ken's liver, kidneys, heart, etc. all showed up as being pretty good. So there is no actual cause for him feeling 'lousy' as he describes himself. There are good days and bad days. On the bad days he barely has enough energy to get out of bed, but I encourage him to at least get dressed, even if he wants to lie on the couch all day. For a few days last week all he wanted for tea was boiled rice and poached eggs. So that's what I served up (I treated myself to a few little luxuries such as smoked salmon and avocado on rye bread...yum), but his appetite improved, and we had a roast dinner on Saturday night which we both enjoyed.

We have had a steady stream of visitors, spacing themselves out every second day so Ken has a chance to rest on the alternate days. Today he had to go for an X-ray (he says he doesn't need to go anywhere near Japan to be radioactive after all the X-rays he's had lately), and after that was done, we stopped at the shopping centre to buy some birthday cards. He wanted to buy mine, because he doesn't know when he'll be well enough to go out again before my birthday on Friday. Well, we got to the newsagent, and once he'd selected a card and paid for it, he looked for somewhere to sit down. After a few minutes we moved on to Coles where he wanted something, but before we went in the store, he had to stop and sit down to regain his breath. Then, when we came out, he had to sit down again. By the time we got to my car (across the road from Coles) he was exhausted, and I couldn't even drive off until he'd recovered from that little jaunt.

This is what upsets him; the rehab. clinic information sheet says after 4 weeks the patient should be walking one kilometre a day, but he can hardly walk 10 metres! He is starting to wonder if he'll ever be able to return to work. All the medics tell him it is because of his lungs, and he will just have to be patient with himself. The nurse in charge of the hospital cardiac rehab clinic is coming here tomorrow, to work out a personal exercise program for Ken, as she recognises that he can't do what most heart patients are already capable of doing. On a good day, he will walk up the back yard to see the birds in his aviaries (which I have been looking after, in addition to looking after Ken and the cats!), and on a nice sunny day we will sit up there for up to half an hour. But that tires him out, and he wants to go back inside and lie down.

All this has curtailed my usual activities of opshopping, visiting art and craft galleries with friends, meeting friend for coffee or lunch, and so on. But the upside of that is that I'm not spending any money! Which is good, seeing Ken isn't earning anything now. My friend Glenda who lives around the corner is good company; when I have to go shopping, I call her and she will come with me if she is free.
Helen and Ray visited last week, bringing freshly made scones with jam and cream (Helen makes the BEST scones), and we had a lovely afternoon out on the patio. Sadly, Ken wasn't feeling well, and couldn't stomach anything except a cup of tea, but Helen left the remaining scones here for me to freeze, so I re-heated them on Sunday afternoon when some other friends came to visit, and Ken tucked into them!

Tiger is growing rapidly, and still doing cute kitty things, like crawling into my shopping tote bags and falling asleep.