Teeth and bones etc.

My shoulder still hurts and is very slowly getting better.

About 10 days ago I started to get toothache, really bad toothache, despite the pain killers I was taking for my shoulder. Of course these things always happen when you have to wait over the weekend. In desperation I used some mouthwash which had been prescribed for Rob when he was having dental problems. I thought that my head was going to explode! Fortunately, it calmed down after about 10 minutes and my tooth started to feel a little better. I now have a new dentist and he seems awfully young. He x-rayed my tooth and there was no problem with the tooth. After looking round the rest of my teeth he announced that I have several gum abscesses – I had no idea! For the time being I have mouthwash to use 3 times a day and when I clean my teeth in the evening I use bicarbonate of soda and peroxide which I make into a paste, it has a horrible salty taste. I have a tiny brush for between my teeth. At the end of the week the dentist will x-ray the other side of my mouth and give my teeth a good clean. It’s nearly two years since I last visited a dentist. I won’t leave it so long next time.

 I had my bone density scan last week. All done within half an hour. Apparently my bones are better than most people’s my age. It was nice to see the smiles on the faces of the doctors when they saw the results. I went to have my eyes tested too. My vision is a little better! New glasses should arrive this week.

Rob and I went to an auction last week on the train. The journey there was very agreeable but the train was very crowded in the evening. We spent the day in the only place in France where it wasn’t raining! We got some lovely postcards, a present for J-M’s birthday which was in July and a custom made wooden box for transporting postcards. One of the boxes of cards was from the USA, some are very interesting so I will be posting the best on Time and Oft as I scan them.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

“When did you have your last mammogram?”

That’s the question posed during every commercial break on the 2nd TV channel here at the moment. It’s asked by various presenters.  We’re asked again if we remember after about a minutes silence. I know that mine was the beginning of September. As I’m over 50 I get an invitation through the post every two years to set up a free appointment at the breast center.

Now you’ve read this far. Do you remember the date of your last mammogram?

Sorry about the enormous spelling mistake in the title - now corrected

It never rains, but it pours

When Olivier left for Bordeaux, he knew that he would have to find a part time job in order to make ends meet. Like thousands of other students, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. He went after a Saturday job in a photocopy shop with the idea of doing English lessons here and there to earn more. The photocopy job didn’t come to anything. He went for an interview at a sushi shop over the weekend. He would be delivering sushis. He got the job and started work yesterday at 5 o’clock. The photocopy shop contacted him – could he come after all? He was also contacted by KFC near to here. They kept his CV from when he applied for a summer job, was he free to work?

 He sent Rob a text yesterday evening after he finished work (he never contacts me for anything interesting – but then I don’t do Arsenal speak):  He has decided to stick with the sushis. His boss is ex KFC too, seems like they bonded over that. I think that he made the right choice – more of a chance of tips delivering sushis.

Just time travelling around

Today, I’ve tip-toed through the reading room of a library in Frankfurt, admired an electoral candidate from 1911 and seen a stage coach arrive on a mountain path. Next I will be taking a tour around the steel works and factories where the first locomotive was made in France.

What have you been doing?

...and Shoulders...

So I went for my x-ray and even before I’d had time to open my book in the waiting room my name was called. I was even allowed to keep on my thin T shirt, though I had to take off my bra. The girl that operated the x-ray machine was pleasant and helpful. I talked to a doctor about what they had found then I had to wait while he wrote up the results. The whole lot took 20 minutes!

This afternoon I went with the results to my doctor. He has prescribed a bone density scan, as it looks as if my bones are losing calcium. I might have to start HRT, which I was hoping to avoid. My shoulder feels a little better; I only needed 500mg of paracetamol this morning, but I think I’ll need some this evening. The area which lost all sense of feeling seems to be diminishing too. He told me not to start any arm exercises just yet in case I pinch the nerve again.

If I do need hormone treatment I suppose I should consider myself fortunate not to have broken a bone in order to discover that there is a problem.

Heads and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

What a lot has happened since I last wrote. When Olivier packed up his things I asked him to take his bag of weights downstairs. He left the bag on the landing. I decided to move it so that Rob wouldn’t forget to take it down. I was being so careful about my knees it never occurred to me that I would finish with a trapped nerve which has left me with stabbing pains in my left shoulder blade and loss of feeling in my left armpit ( and you don’t realize how important that could be until you haven’t got it).

Dom and J-M came and we had a good weekend. Dom cooked me a birthday meal and made carrot cake which we all enjoyed very much. Rob was working on Sunday so she could make us a curry for lunch (Rob has threatened me with divorce if I ever try to feed him curry). It was sad when they left, as I had to take Olivier to his friend’s house to leave for Bordeaux. I came back to a really empty house

We drove to Bordeaux on the Tuesday morning with the remainder of Olivier’s things. It took two hours to get to Bordeaux and the same to travel the 10 or so kilometers off the ring-road and to Olivier’s apartment. We also had to check the place with the agency, drop of his things and then Olivier and Rob went to collect the rest of his furniture from his friend. Going home took just as long for as well as the evening rush hour traffic, the weather was bad and there was patchy fog. We were exhausted.

Wednesday was my birthday, but I didn’t feel too birthdayish because I was worn out and my shoulder was painful. We went out for a cup of coffee to celebrate and I mustered the energy to make scrambled eggs on toast for my birthday meal.

 Thursday I had lessons.

 We left the house on Friday at 5 am. to catch the train to Bordeaux for an auction. I slept almost all the way, it’s unusual for me to be able to sleep outside my bed. We did have a good day, the weather was good and we found a nice restaurant for lunch and ate in the sunshine. The auction is hard work. There is an hour and a half to view 400 lots and then the concentration during the auction itself. We did come away with some good postcards and kept to our budget. By this time I was dosing myself with paracetamol pretty regularly.

 I went to see the Doctor on Monday and actually thought that it was feeling a little better. The Doctor’s examination put paid to that. I was in agony last night despite pain killers. Tomorrow I’m going for an X-ray.

One good thing; I started my winter session of injections for the veins in my legs this afternoon. The pain killers helped there too.

September winds on

Olivier still hasn’t moved into his apartment. He has an appointment with the agency on Tuesday next week. We took some furniture to one of his friends whose mother is hiring a van to take it all down to Bordeaux. Olivier left on Monday and started the term on Tuesday, for the time being he’s staying with friends. He’s coming home for the weekend and then we’re going on Tuesday to take the rest of his things. I never thought that it could be so complicated.

Dom and J-M are coming for the weekend tomorrow evening. It’s my birthday soon and Dom will be making me a cake! I'm looking forward to hearing their teaching adventures.

Not much to report otherwise. Seem to spend a lot of time working – evenings too. I do have some breaks. Downton Abbey is on Sunday evening and the Tudors is on Thursdays. Catherine Howard is about to start losing her head – so to speak. For once there are two programs I don’t want to miss. I’m still amazed that I can have so many channels at my disposal and most of the time nothing to watch on TV. I remember the good old days of just BBC and ITV in the UK. Some evenings we had difficulty choosing which program we wanted to watch the most!

Stress, stress

Who’d be a parent?

You’d think with the youngest at 21 years old, all of my troubles would be over. Olivier went to Bordeaux last week hoping to find an apartment to rent with a friend. Problem was half the youth of France had the same idea. He went off for the day and came back at the end of the week. As they wanted to be presentable they had to go out and buy clean clothes. The university tried to help. You’ve heard of speed dating? In Bordeaux they have Apartment dating under the hot sun, everyone and his dog turned up for that too.

After a little recuperation over the weekend they set off again on Monday. Then they decided to go it alone. They both found somewhere this afternoon. Tomorrow it’s job dating….

The stress isn’t over yet. Since the beginning of the year, young men have been disappearing in Bordeaux. All of the bodies have been found in the River Garonne….

Monday found Dom and J-M both in front of their classes for the first time. All went well for them.

Oh no, not another Glossy Box post!

When I lived in England I used to be a member of the Universal Beauty club. Every couple of months I would receive a box of beauty goodies in the post. It cost £5 at the time. When I left the country nearly 28 years ago, I had to cancel my membership as they didn’t ship abroad. I was really pleased to see a news report about these beauty boxes at the beginning of the summer and decided to sign up for Glossy Box.

I’ve seen blog posts and videos on YouTube about the boxes, but all by younger girls. I thought I do a report for the oldies. They ask you to complete a profile, so remembering that I’m between 50 and 60 years old, blonde with blue-grey eyes, combination skin and describe myself as smart casual, this is what I got this month:

Heel repair cream: Useful after wearing sandals all summer. I’m very fussy about my footwear so my feet are in pretty good condition anyway . This has a minty smell!

Eye pencil.: Just as my purple eyeliner died, I received this. It’s golden brown so I’ll have to experiment with different eye shadows to see if I will use it much it or not. I like the texture.

Body cream: I love this, just like a tube of paint! It is a light cream and spreads on easily. It smells nice and fresh, a bit like baby products.

Silk infusion: for hair and skin: you don’t need to rinse it off. Is it like a conditioner? I might pass this one to Dom.

The booby prize as far as I’m concerned: I have to swallow enough pills for medical reasons so I wouldn’t risk these which are to help your skin and preserve your tan. I don’t sunbathe so I don’t have to worry about preserving my tan anyway. Probably end up in the bin at the chemists (to be disposed of correctly).

The fist box I had last month had perfume in it.  I would have liked some this time too – perhaps next month.  The box costs 10€ plus 3€ postage.  I think that it is worth it as I will use everything.  The boxes are very well made too and pretty.  I’m keeping them for gift wrapping and to keep treasures in.

What a good weekend

Dom and J-M came back from Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn’t go with Rob to collect them from the airport as a couple of Dom’s colleagues needed a lift to the station. Dom’s presentations went very well . J-M went along to support her. It’s so nice when they visit, there is always plenty to talk about. They found time to explore Edinburgh. Taste the food (especially fish and chips) and soak up some of the rain. They bought back short bread with (Belgian) chocolate chips – needless to say that has all disappeared.

Dom came back with a copy of The Time Traveller’s Wife and told me that I could read it first as long as I don’t talk to her about it until after she has read it too. So far it looks as if it is going to be a good read…

This term they are both teaching: Dom will be teaching statistics to 1st year psychology students and J-M is teaching economics to students at an agricultural lycée.

Olivier is going to Bordeaux tomorrow to see about an apartment; I hope he likes it. They are very hard to find in Bordeaux at this time of the year. He starts term in about 2 weeks.

This is where Dom presented her work.  The picture comes from Wikipedia (where else?)