Ear Infection and What Are You Going To Do With Yours? in Scottish Meanderings
- June 29, 2019, 3:32 a.m.
- |
- Public
Oh God is this how it starts? I bought a lovely colourful duvet set in ASDA yesterday to cheer myself up - only to discover when I put on the washing today I’ve already got it!
So I’m swinging in here at the end of the month by the skin of my teeth because I’ve been completely floored for most of June by a horrible ear infection.
OMG the pain! I had some inkling they could be painful but I had no idea just how much - I felt like someone was constantly stabbing me with knives inside my ear! It took me a while before I realised it was an infection in the first place as I’d had a build up of wax in my right ear and had been trying to resolve that by spraying ear oil into it regularly. It’s really hard to get it to stay in though so I’d been sticking the spray thingie in my ear as far as it would go and I think that’s what did the damage.
On Thursday last week the pain had become unbearable plus I was feeling sick and had gone off my food so I decided to check the symptoms and realised it was very possibly an ear infection and needed seeing by a doctor. Went online next day to book an appointment at the surgery and the first date which came up was the 16th July!! That’s almost a whole month!
Someone suggested going to a Pharmacy because Pharmacists were given more power to prescribe antibiotics a couple of years ago to try and keep surgery appointments down so I popped into Tesco on Monday afternoon but they couldn't do anything without a prescription from a GP.
Luckily I’d discovered I had some left over 2 year old Amoxicillin in the house which is the antibiotic they prescribe (as long as it’s a bacterial infection) so I thought I might as well use that up until the appointment. Normally I get very nauseous on them and can’t usually finish a complete course (hence having some left over) so I was delighted when that didn’t seem to be happening as intensely as normal this time. However I suspected it might be because they were out of date and sure enough, I discovered an expiry date of 01/19 on them! So I’ve been chugging painkillers as well but trying to space them out and not get too used to them but still that nagging stabbing pain persists, getting on my very last nerve. I’m really sick of it.
The level of fatigue has been something else though. I suppose that makes sense when I think of it - if my body struggles to deal with basic energy because of whatever has gone wrong with it, then it fits that an extra attack like an infection will cause it to struggle even more. Such a pain though - literally and figuratively - because it’s really slowed me up this month and I’ve fallen behind with everything as a result.
Some of the family have been discussing a short diary Dad wrote when he worked in the bomb disposal squad in the war. It's more like scribbled jottings in a notebook than a diary and we think that may be because it was too dangerous to have detailed accounts anywhere in case they got into the wrong hands. Makes sense.
We’re struggling to find out more about the particular squads he was in though and cursing ourselves for not asking him more about his wartime experiences but we had no idea we were only going to have him around for such a short time (he died in 1976 at 54) and anyway men generally didn't talk about their experiences in wartime - not even to their wives - how could anyone who hadn't been there relate to it? And of course for some it was just too painful and traumatic to recall.
But it got me thinking about how much recorded stuff we have available nowadays with all this technology at our fingertips and what will happen to it after we die. Is anyone going to bother wading through all the stuff I’ve written online and in private? And - even more importantly - will I remember to list usernames, passwords and the like somewhere useful??
When Nikki was in hospital at Christmas we got into various chats and one of them was what was going to happen to my diaries after I'd gone. I think she mentioned she's probably going to keep them but wouldn't want to read them because of all the negative stuff about her which would be in them! She wasn't talking about the last two years either - she meant the problems she had as a teenager (of which there were many)!
I would rather they were kept but more for the grandkids than anything because I feel I hardly got to know my own grannies. Dad’s mum died when I was only 6 but I do remember a little bit about her. She lived 100 miles away in Edinburgh but we visited fairly regularly as most of Dad’s family lived down that way by then. She was a really lovely, gentle soul.
Granny Morrison, Mum’s Mum, died when only in her forties and never knew any of her grandchildren and I find myself being very curious about her because I get the impression I’m quite like her in some ways. Mum spoke about her very occasionally but I really know very little about her - or Granda Morrison who died when the boys were about 4 or 5. At least with (my) Dad I have his letters he wrote to me when I left home and I also have a few poems and a story he wrote (I think he would have been a budding writer had he had more time or opportunity) but I have nothing of the grannies at all.
So it made me curious as to what you guys are going to do with your diaries? Do you have any concrete plans or are you not in the slightest bit bothered?
One practical thing I’d like to do at some point is get my Open Diary entries transferred over here so that everything is in one place. I did copy and paste the most recent entry over just to try it out which was relatively painless but to do that for each and every one will take for ever.
And, despite checking the box so that they aren’t marked as revised (and therefore show up on the Bookmarks List), they did! I did e-mail Admin to ask about it yonks ago but never got a reply so if anyone has done anything similar and discovered the secret, please let me know.
I’ve managed to do a couple of babysitting stints with Ruari in the last month or so which have gone okay. My main problem is having enough stamina to rock him if he’s unsettled for any length of time - I’ve noticed if I’m holding him or nursing him for an hour or so that it really affects me energywise. The first time I babysat, Nikki was only in the next village to watch the Eurovision Contest with her friend so could come home easily enough if necessary. She left me the buggy in the sitting room and I managed to pop him in there after his last feed and push him up and down then transferred him to the automatic swing and sang to him and that got him off to sleep.
Success! (Love his spiky hair)
However he’s changed his routine now and gets himself off to sleep! Nikki just pops him into his cot (one of those which adjoin her bed), gives him the dummy for a few seconds, lies down on the bed, puts on his music then he grizzles for a little bit and falls asleep by himself. Last time I was out we did a practice run just to make sure I could actually place him in either cot (she has a proper full size one in the girls’ room) and then she went through the routine while I watched on the monitor in the sitting room.
Which nearly had me in tears.
Each child, when a baby, has had various spells of gazing quietly for long periods as though looking at someone and we’ve always said it was Dad watching over them :) Dad absolutely adored kids but only got to see his first grandchild once in real life before he died - however I have no doubt he’s ‘seen’ the other 8 plus his 13 greatgrandchildren (14th on the way) - just in a different way. I’ve been slightly cynical of this I have to admit but oh man when I was watching him that night - he definitely seemed to be gazing at someone or something in the corner of the room for ages. What broke my heart was when he suddenly started ‘newsing’ to them! That’s exactly what he does at the moment when he’s with a ‘known face’ - starts telling them his ‘stories’ - and I suddenly had a vision of Mum standing there singing to him as she did to all the little ones when they were trying to get off to sleep :)
Anyway tonight I have my first ‘proper’ stint - Nikki’s away into town for the evening for a friend’s birthday night out - but the girls are away at Joel’s so I’ll only have Ruari to look after. She’s promised to come back around oneish but with it being her first proper night out for months, I’m fully prepared for a couple of tipsy texts asking if she can stay out later! Ruari generally goes down around nineish so if all goes well I should only have a couple of hours of actual babysitting to do then can rest the remainder of the evening. (Hope I haven’t just jinxed that.)
Then on Tuesday she has her Open Day for the Midwifery degree course she’s interested in doing so wants me to take him for the afternoon at my house and her friend Tracy will look after the girls after nursery/school at their house. Tracy is trying for a second baby at the moment but Nikki is nervous at watching her not coping when their friend’s baby starts crying or fussing so says she would rather I looked after Ruari instead. I’m chuffed she feels like that but just hope I can last out the afternoon because my house is in two levels whereas hers is just one. Makes a difference when you're lugging a baby around! I’m hoping it’s a really nice day because she’s leaving the buggy with me so if he doesn’t settle I can take him out for a walk.
She found the perfect mantra for her on a t-shirt the other day -
And now if you’ll excuse me the sun is at last shining so I’m away to get some much needed Vitamin D in the front garden. It shone all day yesterday too but unfortunately the table tennis group had picked that day to have our summer lunch at a well known fish restaurant so we were stuck inside having greasy fish and chips most of the afternoon!
Sod’s Law :)
So I’m swinging in here at the end of the month by the skin of my teeth because I’ve been completely floored for most of June by a horrible ear infection.
OMG the pain! I had some inkling they could be painful but I had no idea just how much - I felt like someone was constantly stabbing me with knives inside my ear! It took me a while before I realised it was an infection in the first place as I’d had a build up of wax in my right ear and had been trying to resolve that by spraying ear oil into it regularly. It’s really hard to get it to stay in though so I’d been sticking the spray thingie in my ear as far as it would go and I think that’s what did the damage.
On Thursday last week the pain had become unbearable plus I was feeling sick and had gone off my food so I decided to check the symptoms and realised it was very possibly an ear infection and needed seeing by a doctor. Went online next day to book an appointment at the surgery and the first date which came up was the 16th July!! That’s almost a whole month!
Someone suggested going to a Pharmacy because Pharmacists were given more power to prescribe antibiotics a couple of years ago to try and keep surgery appointments down so I popped into Tesco on Monday afternoon but they couldn't do anything without a prescription from a GP.
Luckily I’d discovered I had some left over 2 year old Amoxicillin in the house which is the antibiotic they prescribe (as long as it’s a bacterial infection) so I thought I might as well use that up until the appointment. Normally I get very nauseous on them and can’t usually finish a complete course (hence having some left over) so I was delighted when that didn’t seem to be happening as intensely as normal this time. However I suspected it might be because they were out of date and sure enough, I discovered an expiry date of 01/19 on them! So I’ve been chugging painkillers as well but trying to space them out and not get too used to them but still that nagging stabbing pain persists, getting on my very last nerve. I’m really sick of it.
The level of fatigue has been something else though. I suppose that makes sense when I think of it - if my body struggles to deal with basic energy because of whatever has gone wrong with it, then it fits that an extra attack like an infection will cause it to struggle even more. Such a pain though - literally and figuratively - because it’s really slowed me up this month and I’ve fallen behind with everything as a result.
Some of the family have been discussing a short diary Dad wrote when he worked in the bomb disposal squad in the war. It's more like scribbled jottings in a notebook than a diary and we think that may be because it was too dangerous to have detailed accounts anywhere in case they got into the wrong hands. Makes sense.
We’re struggling to find out more about the particular squads he was in though and cursing ourselves for not asking him more about his wartime experiences but we had no idea we were only going to have him around for such a short time (he died in 1976 at 54) and anyway men generally didn't talk about their experiences in wartime - not even to their wives - how could anyone who hadn't been there relate to it? And of course for some it was just too painful and traumatic to recall.
But it got me thinking about how much recorded stuff we have available nowadays with all this technology at our fingertips and what will happen to it after we die. Is anyone going to bother wading through all the stuff I’ve written online and in private? And - even more importantly - will I remember to list usernames, passwords and the like somewhere useful??
When Nikki was in hospital at Christmas we got into various chats and one of them was what was going to happen to my diaries after I'd gone. I think she mentioned she's probably going to keep them but wouldn't want to read them because of all the negative stuff about her which would be in them! She wasn't talking about the last two years either - she meant the problems she had as a teenager (of which there were many)!
I would rather they were kept but more for the grandkids than anything because I feel I hardly got to know my own grannies. Dad’s mum died when I was only 6 but I do remember a little bit about her. She lived 100 miles away in Edinburgh but we visited fairly regularly as most of Dad’s family lived down that way by then. She was a really lovely, gentle soul.
Granny Morrison, Mum’s Mum, died when only in her forties and never knew any of her grandchildren and I find myself being very curious about her because I get the impression I’m quite like her in some ways. Mum spoke about her very occasionally but I really know very little about her - or Granda Morrison who died when the boys were about 4 or 5. At least with (my) Dad I have his letters he wrote to me when I left home and I also have a few poems and a story he wrote (I think he would have been a budding writer had he had more time or opportunity) but I have nothing of the grannies at all.
So it made me curious as to what you guys are going to do with your diaries? Do you have any concrete plans or are you not in the slightest bit bothered?
One practical thing I’d like to do at some point is get my Open Diary entries transferred over here so that everything is in one place. I did copy and paste the most recent entry over just to try it out which was relatively painless but to do that for each and every one will take for ever.
And, despite checking the box so that they aren’t marked as revised (and therefore show up on the Bookmarks List), they did! I did e-mail Admin to ask about it yonks ago but never got a reply so if anyone has done anything similar and discovered the secret, please let me know.
I’ve managed to do a couple of babysitting stints with Ruari in the last month or so which have gone okay. My main problem is having enough stamina to rock him if he’s unsettled for any length of time - I’ve noticed if I’m holding him or nursing him for an hour or so that it really affects me energywise. The first time I babysat, Nikki was only in the next village to watch the Eurovision Contest with her friend so could come home easily enough if necessary. She left me the buggy in the sitting room and I managed to pop him in there after his last feed and push him up and down then transferred him to the automatic swing and sang to him and that got him off to sleep.
Success! (Love his spiky hair)
However he’s changed his routine now and gets himself off to sleep! Nikki just pops him into his cot (one of those which adjoin her bed), gives him the dummy for a few seconds, lies down on the bed, puts on his music then he grizzles for a little bit and falls asleep by himself. Last time I was out we did a practice run just to make sure I could actually place him in either cot (she has a proper full size one in the girls’ room) and then she went through the routine while I watched on the monitor in the sitting room.
Which nearly had me in tears.
Each child, when a baby, has had various spells of gazing quietly for long periods as though looking at someone and we’ve always said it was Dad watching over them :) Dad absolutely adored kids but only got to see his first grandchild once in real life before he died - however I have no doubt he’s ‘seen’ the other 8 plus his 13 greatgrandchildren (14th on the way) - just in a different way. I’ve been slightly cynical of this I have to admit but oh man when I was watching him that night - he definitely seemed to be gazing at someone or something in the corner of the room for ages. What broke my heart was when he suddenly started ‘newsing’ to them! That’s exactly what he does at the moment when he’s with a ‘known face’ - starts telling them his ‘stories’ - and I suddenly had a vision of Mum standing there singing to him as she did to all the little ones when they were trying to get off to sleep :)
Anyway tonight I have my first ‘proper’ stint - Nikki’s away into town for the evening for a friend’s birthday night out - but the girls are away at Joel’s so I’ll only have Ruari to look after. She’s promised to come back around oneish but with it being her first proper night out for months, I’m fully prepared for a couple of tipsy texts asking if she can stay out later! Ruari generally goes down around nineish so if all goes well I should only have a couple of hours of actual babysitting to do then can rest the remainder of the evening. (Hope I haven’t just jinxed that.)
Then on Tuesday she has her Open Day for the Midwifery degree course she’s interested in doing so wants me to take him for the afternoon at my house and her friend Tracy will look after the girls after nursery/school at their house. Tracy is trying for a second baby at the moment but Nikki is nervous at watching her not coping when their friend’s baby starts crying or fussing so says she would rather I looked after Ruari instead. I’m chuffed she feels like that but just hope I can last out the afternoon because my house is in two levels whereas hers is just one. Makes a difference when you're lugging a baby around! I’m hoping it’s a really nice day because she’s leaving the buggy with me so if he doesn’t settle I can take him out for a walk.
She found the perfect mantra for her on a t-shirt the other day -
And now if you’ll excuse me the sun is at last shining so I’m away to get some much needed Vitamin D in the front garden. It shone all day yesterday too but unfortunately the table tennis group had picked that day to have our summer lunch at a well known fish restaurant so we were stuck inside having greasy fish and chips most of the afternoon!
Sod’s Law :)
96 Comments
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Mystery ⋅ June 29, 2019
Sorry you have an ear infection. Mixing alcohol and peroxide and dumping it in your ear for 5 minutes for a week or so should definitely help it a lot. Feel better soon!
Marg Mystery ⋅ June 29, 2019
I don't think I could bear anything near it at the moment - can't even sleep on that side!
history of love ⋅ June 29, 2019
I would have the passwords for my diary etc around somewhere or in my will specifically I suppose.
That was infection sounds very nasty. Does your GP not have any free ones on the day?
Ruari is so cute and I hope the girls are well too!
Hope the midwifery open day goes well for Nikki.
x
Marg history of love ⋅ July 03, 2019
I’ve finally managed to get a cancellation this Friday afternoon - can’t come soon enough!
She enjoyed it but found it very intense and it kind of brought home to her just how much was involved. She thinks it’ll be too much to contemplate doing this year or next. However at least she knows what she needs to get to be accepted in terms of qualifications etc. and can think about it again when Ruari’s in nursery. She’s thinking of maybe looking at jobs as a Healthcare Assistant in the Matty in the first instance which would at least give her some useful experience and who knows, she might find that that’s fulfilling enough but if not, she can then decide if she wants to go the whole hog :)
Ginger Snap ⋅ June 29, 2019
I haven't read all of this entry yet, but I was thinking about what someone might think if they read my PB sometime in the future! I'm kind of blushing to think...but these are my stories and this is how I'm feeling, so might as well go with that flow!
I hope you're feeling much better soon! xo
Marg Ginger Snap ⋅ July 03, 2019
Yeah there are certain bits of my diary which I wouldn’t want the grandchildren to read as well but I’ve deliberately tried to put a lot of it in code so hopefully it’s not too obvious :)
Finally managed to get a cancellation on Friday afternoon for an doc’s appointment - can’t come soon enough.
thesunnyabyss ⋅ June 29, 2019
what a great tshirt!!!
ear infections are the worst, we have some antibiotic drops you can get for your ears over the counter now, like Polysporin, but for ears, not sure if you have Polysporin there, lol,
I am not sure what I want to happen to my diary when I go, I guess I won't really care once I'm gone, I think Rick may chose not to read it for the same reasons as Nikki,
have a great weekend!!
Marg thesunnyabyss ⋅ July 03, 2019
I maybe should have tried a chemist like Boots rather than the pharmacy in Tesco but I’ve managed to get a cancellation appointment on Friday afternoon so hopefully I’ll get some relief soon. Can’t come soon enough!
noko ⋅ June 29, 2019
I never met any of my grandparents but my oldest sister did on my father's side. She did all this family history research and now that she is gone my other sister has it, including the beautiful family tree circle my sister hand drew for me and I often think is that all going to come to me as the youngest and if so what do I do with it? Do my niece and nephew care? Lot's of these kind of questions crop up I think as we start contemplating a world without us in it.
Now that I have the hearing aids and my sister does too, ear wax is an ever present issue. I have this rubber bulb a specialist gave me and I gently use it to squirt warm water in my ears as earwax is water soluble. I know the thought of that while you are in so much pain has to make you cringe. I also run warm water in my ears briefly when I shower and then blot the dampness out of my outer ear with a tissue. When I had my ears cleaned out last year at the doctor they used like a spray bottle thing similar to my rubber bulb and put in half water and half hydrogen peroxide. It was very gentle and the nozzle didn't go very far in. I wished we all talked about ear wax. It is seriously a thing as we get older and I am sad yours brought you into this painful place.
The baby is adorable!
Marg noko ⋅ July 03, 2019
I’m lucky in that one of my cousins has taken over the family tree and has the most information about it - she’s younger than me so hopefully that means she’ll still have that info when I’m gone. I don’t know what will happen to it once she’s gone though because her and her sister have no children! However I know I have loads of photos belonging to Mum & Dad which have no names on the back and I’m aware I’m probably the only person who knows who the people in them are but the thought of wading through them trying to name folk doesn’t exactly fill me with joy!
You’re right - we should talk about it more - I suppose most folk find it disgusting. It can be a real nuisance though and I’ve read that doctors are not keen now to do the ear syringing any more. It’s good to know warm water works just as well - I didn’t know that.
noko Marg ⋅ July 03, 2019
The one other thing the specialist recommended to me was just a drop or two of mineral oil in the ears to soften things up in there and then you gently irrigate with warm water the next day. Here is an article I found useful. I don't think it is geo-blocked.
https://www.consumerreports.org/hearing-ear-care/truth-about-earwax-removal/?EXTKEY=EE963DAAC&utm_source=acxiom&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190625_cromc_engagewkly
Marg noko ⋅ July 04, 2019
Thanks for that article - I’ll have a read of it - I find the drops help for a few months then I’m back to square one again so anything I can read on the subject is most welcome!
noko Marg ⋅ July 03, 2019
It seems like there are some folks who are naturally drawn to the family history and finding out more and going through photos and developing time lines and all that. I am grateful to my forebears for all their hard work and sacrifice and I am sure some of them were interesting but I find there is so much in this current world that draws my attention. :)
ConnieK ⋅ June 29, 2019
You need a strong antibiotic. Call the doctor and tell them you have a severe ear infection and must get in NOW. 2 weeks is too long to wait. Your expiration date of 1/19 is not bad. Antibiotics should not be kept too long, but you can extend a bit past the date.
I would not spread the pills out. I would hit it hard. Your best chance of clearing it up by the 16th is to take whatever dosage prescribed, even if it runs the pills out. This is a major infection.
FUNNY t-shirt!! Your new grandson is beautiful. :)
Marg ConnieK ⋅ July 03, 2019
You and I seem to be in the minority Connie but I did check the antibiotics out and was told it was safe to take them - it just meant they wouldn’t be as effective that’s all. There were 30 and I took them all - roughly about 3 or 4 a day - and I think they did help a bit. I’ve finally managed to get a cancellation appointment for this Friday afternoon - can’t come soon enough - I haven’t felt this lousy for a long time!
ConnieK Marg ⋅ July 03, 2019
When I was self-employed with lousy health insurance, I would try to split prescriptions. I generally go 1,000 first day, then 750 for the next 3 days and I'm usually better by then, so I saved whatever was left. Helped to knock colds down fast so I didn't have to pay a doctor visit.
I'm glad you got the cancellation. Prayers for a speedy recovery and come on, Friday!
Marg ConnieK ⋅ July 03, 2019
Yes it's much worse for you guys having to contend with the cost as well as everything else - I hadn't thought of that.
ConnieK Marg ⋅ July 04, 2019
Now that I am on Medicare, I don't need to hoard pills to save money. I see the doctor for free, my meds cost under $10 and I spend under $400 for that coverage. Young mothers with more than one child pay way more on private insurance. I totaled it all up once. At that time, I figured I'd spent over $50,000.00 on health coverage in my life (insurance plus out of pocket expenses...insurance here only covers SOME things with limits until you buy the Medicare A, B, & D). The beef over people who say "Medicare for All" would break the bank are blowing smoke to obscure the fact that those in the medical field make obscene amounts of money off peoples' misfortune of falling ill. Crazy.
How are you feeling?
Marg ConnieK ⋅ July 04, 2019
It is although I suppose the UK is an example of the opposite when our National Health Service is now struggling under the weight of free healthcare for all - there must be a middle ground somewhere!
I realised this morning that today is the first day the pain has been bearable - it’s still waking me up at night but last night was the first night I slipped back to sleep after taking ibuprofen instead of having to stay awake for an hour waiting for it to kick in so maybe things have turned a corner. I really hope so. If the doctor doesn’t give me antibiotics tomorrow you may very well be reading some news along the lines of ‘Scottish doctor murdered for apparently no reason’!! Thanks for asking though!
ConnieK Marg ⋅ July 04, 2019
I will be your alibi! I will insist you were with me the whole time. drinking Mimosas. By the pool. How could it possibly have been you?
There IS a middle ground: Medicare for everyone (seniors pay $134 per month, maybe younger could pay more?) and the option to keep your private coverage if you want to spend the money (but you still have to pay your Medicare in addition).
Can I be president? :)
Marg ConnieK ⋅ July 04, 2019
Oh God yes please! And I'll be your alibi as well for when you bump off The Orange One to get there :)
ConnieK Marg ⋅ July 04, 2019
DEAL!
Kristi1971 ⋅ June 29, 2019
I'm so sorry you have that ear infection. I had one once, and it was awful. I got it climbing Mt. Washington...can you believe it? It's altitude induced. I had never had one before until then, but that's what my doc told me when I told him where I had been.
My OD? It can stay hidden forever...it was a weird time of my life with a lot of whining and complaining. This diary? Not sure how I feel about it. My bullet journals, I keep. My morning pages, I keep. They could be interesting to my girls when I am gone.
Marg Kristi1971 ⋅ July 03, 2019
Why do you not think your diary will be as interesting? There are lots of great anecdotes about the girls and the stuff you do with them - I think they’d love that!
Kristi1971 Marg ⋅ July 03, 2019
Very true! I should download them and bind them into books. I think part of it is that this is all typed. I feel more connected to the journals that I've created and written by hand, I guess. This is a great point, though, so thank you. :)
Marg Kristi1971 ⋅ July 03, 2019
I know what you mean. Although in terms of reading it might be easier to have typewritten journals. When I write my private diary I have to do it by hand first and foremost - there’s something more creative about that format somehow? I’ve been trying to type them all up (recent years anyway) and slot them into the printed online entries but it’s very time-consuming!
ODSago ⋅ June 29, 2019 (edited June 29, 2019)
Edited
So much to respond to!!!! Love the baby's face. Kermit had that high forehead when he was born, too---his Scottish ancestors I'd guess. I want a tee shirt like that--fits my Idle Hours house perfectly. Babysitting is getting harder for me, too; my friend goes each Monday to rock and care for premies at the hospital where I once worked but I don't think I could hold them for long stretches of time. My shoulders would ache. Diaries...oh my, I'm not sure: I have kept them since I was 11 and am 78. No one would read all of them. Once I'm gone I don't care who reads them, just remembering what i always told my children -- I don't want you to read my diary, it's private but if you do pick it up--don't read just one page, because I may've been really angry with you on that day. Read a few pages and get the drift of our lives that day. So, I said: this month I'll leave my dairy on my bed side table and you can read it. Seems no one did. Was told, "we knew the good stuff wouldn't be in those pages." Haha. I have thought of sending my diaries to a collection of women's diaries but mine are everywhere--in notebooks, on line...etc.. My university may be interested in the ones I wrote when a student and them a faculty member there--a former UCF librarian told me..There is a women's history department there now and I've considered it, too. It's a dicy decision, for sure.
My ear doc, recently, cured my inner ear infection with a solution he had me make make of drops of the medicine over the counter meant to be used for for athlete's' foot mixed with something else, i forget. Maybe peroxide. Worked like a charm. Someone else might know. Hope you are going to be better soon.
Marg ODSago ⋅ July 03, 2019
Yes - I find pushing Ruari in his buggy is a godsend when I want to get him to sleep and thankfully he responds well to that.
I think you should take up the University on their offer - your diaries would make very interesting reading and I love the thought of women in the future getting as much pleasure out of them as we have from the ones you’ve written in here!
JustSurviveSomehow ⋅ June 29, 2019
Over a month to be seen for an ear infection?! That is asinine! I'm glad that you had some other stuff lying around that you could use, regardless of what anyone else says, sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do! What are you supposed to do, nothing at all for 6 weeks? I hope it gets the job done.
I have thought about my diaries too. I have always been fairly conflicted, and have written about some very, very personal things. I'm not sure that I would be comfortable with my family or anyone else reading that and seeing what went on in my mind. Maybe certain things. My day to day, when I used to write about that. Not that I have anything to hide, but I wouldn't want to be looked at differently because of thoughts, actions, urges, and conflictions that were out of my control. Or wondering why I wrote about certain people/situations more than others, and looking too far into what that meant as far as my feelings and affections. Not having the opportunity to ask me.
Your baby grandson is adorable, by the way! :)
Marg JustSurviveSomehow ⋅ July 03, 2019
That’s what I thought - once I’d looked it up to make sure it was safe to take them I thought if it IS a bacterial infection then surely it might help a bit? Which it did. And I’ve finally managed to get a cancellation appointment this Friday afternoon so hopefully will get something better then.
Yes I have similar thoughts - I’d be worried whatever memory there is of me might be changed forever if folk poked into the diaries - it’s difficult to know what’s best to do!
Thank you - he is rather cute but then I suppose I’m very biased :)
Sabrina-Belle ⋅ July 01, 2019
Can you not get an emergency appointment with your doctor? Our surgery will see you the same day if it is an emergency and an ear infection is!
I have thought about all of the things I have written, both stored on various computers and online in places like this. I have bought one of those books where you can record your last wishes and intend to record all details and passwords etc. but I am a little concerned about the negative things I have said about Cat. She once found my diary on Open Diary and got upset about something I had said. I'm thinking maybe to transfer those entries to a different account and not leave any details about them.
Ruari is gorgeous. It's so beautiful that you feel your dad is watching over your grandchildren.
Marg Sabrina-Belle ⋅ July 03, 2019
I didn’t think it would be classed as an emergency but I wish I’d phoned now - I’m only now getting round to comments on this entry because I’ve felt so lousy with it. However I’ve finally managed to get a cancellation appointment for this Friday afternoon so hopefully I’ll get some relief after that!
I don’t think I’ve seen those books anywhere - where did you get it? I feel the same about Nikki - I’ve said some pretty awful things in the least two years about her although they were all justified - so it’s difficult to know what’s best. You don’t want to go start censoring stuff because then it wouldn’t be genuine but you don’t want to hurt anyone either!
Serin ⋅ July 01, 2019
That's a really funny shirt! And a superbly cute baby :)
I like the idea that your dad looks in on the kids. It feels comforting.
I used to think that I would leave the diary for the littles to find. Now I think I am going to either let it vanish, or else I'll make a censored version. They don't need to know about some of the stuff. Or frankly when I was pissed at them ;)
Hope the ear infection is fading or past
Marg Serin ⋅ July 03, 2019
But a censored version wouldn’t be genuine would it? It’s a difficult one - you don’t want it to be ‘doctored’ but you don’t want to hurt anyone at the same time!
I’ve finally managed to get a cancellation appointment for this Friday afternoon so hopefully I’ll get some relief after that!
edna million ⋅ July 10, 2019
OW to the ear infection - I hope you've got relief from it now! I see you got an earlier appointment. I wouldn't think the antibiotics were dangerously out of date (saw the earlier note that said they were dangerous) - I also would just think they would be less effective six months out. I hope they helped! The only bad ear infection I've ever had was after swimming in a lake as a teenager at summer camp. It was REALLY painful - I still cringe after all these years!
That's such a great question about the diaries. I've saved all my OD ones and have always backed up PB ones into Evernote, but it did take FOREVER for OD since I saved them as PDFs one by one by one and there were over a thousand. I also have paper journals going back to when I was 12 so that's another worry. I have no idea who would even be interested, although I certainly would be if I knew one of my relatives had kept a journal for so long. I guess we will have to just become famous writers so a library/archives will want them!
Marg edna million ⋅ July 10, 2019
Well considering it takes me all my time to even make an online entry these days I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon lol!
Nope to the relief and the pain is literally driving me mental. It has also stopped me sleeping which is awful - haven’t slept since Friday night - I feel like I’m in some sort of torture programme! The doctor said she couldn't diagnose an ear infection because my ear was plugged with so much wax so gave me drops to soften it - she said the pain could just be impacted wax but I’ve never heard of ear wax causing THIS kind of pain! It’s like someone constantly stabbing you with a knife inside your ear relentlessly. I have to go back this Friday but apparently that might not be enough time to clear it sufficiently. Nikki found she had some Amoxicillin so gave me it on Saturday night but it doesn’t seem to have helped so maybe it’s not an infection - however I’ll finish the course just in case. I feel absolutely lousy though and that’s been 5 weeks and more - my nerves are in absolute shreds - I totally understand now how people snap with chronic pain and commit murder!
edna million Marg ⋅ July 11, 2019
Oh, I am SO sorry - how miserable!! Even worse when it keeps you from sleeping- it does sound like torture. I've never heard of ear wax causing pain like that either, even impacted wax. Continuing the antibiotics sounds like a good idea- sending you healing thoughts!!!
Marg edna million ⋅ July 12, 2019
Thank you! It’s finally started to shift now thank goodness and I managed to sleep ALL NIGHT last night - I feel like I’ve rejoined the human race again today! :)
Deleted user ⋅ July 31, 2019 (edited July 31, 2019)
Edited
How did I miss this entry ?? I am so behind reading . I see that now your ear is better . I am glad. What misery !
I worry sometimes that my family will think poorly of me if they see my written journals after I die. The on line ones I doubt they would ever look for and I have deleted most of everything I have written . This is probably the longest I have lasted for awhile without looking over back entries and thinking how silly they are , then getting rid of them . As for my written ones ; I don’t care; I will be dead :-)
Marg Deleted user ⋅ July 31, 2019
Well I used to think like that but then when I realised I would have loved to have more memories of Dad or my grandparents it made me think about what the grandchildren might feel in years to come - but yes I do worry they might get the wrong idea because it’s all there - warts an’ all! :)
Deleted user Marg ⋅ July 31, 2019
Mine too . :-(