2014 Our Annus Horribilis

In 1992 Queen Elizabeth declared that year to be “annus horribilis”. In a similar vein, we declare 2014 to be our “annus horribilis”. It has been a real shocker in terms of health issues.

The year got off to a bad start in January, when our son had an accident that left him with a very badly broken ankle which took six months to start to come right. In April, Andrew banged his head which lead to the development of a subdural haematoma, an emergency operation and four months of recovery period. In May, Heather had a bad fall whilst walking, causing a disk in her spine to bulge and put pressure on a nerve; causing almost continual pain in the lower back and elsewhere. Although there has been some improvement, a couple of subsequent falls have meant Heather is still often suffering serious pain.

Without going into all the details, other members of our family have also suffered from medical issues including heart operations, acute neck pain, bowel operations, bad backs from burst disks and a car crash that left the car in an unroadworthy state (but thankfully no medical damage). Even our dog managed to tear a nail off his foot, which lead to a visit to the vet, a course of antibiotics and a couple of weeks of care for his foot. We are living proof that the old saying that “bad things come in threes” is not true- they can come in much higher numbers.

All these health issues have not only caused a great deal of physical pain, but also stress and anxiety and innumerable visits to doctors, hospitals, specialists, radiologists, osteopaths, physios and other therapists.

During all of these horrible events we have tried hard to focus on the positives, knowing that the alternative was very depressing. The main positive is that we are so lucky to live in a time and place where we can seek and get medical help when needed. As a result our son is up and about and his ankle seems to have repaired itself. (Hopefully this will be confirmed in January when he goes for his final check-up). Andrew’s hair has grown back where it was shaved off for the operation and apart from the usual age related aches and pains is back to work on the property. Heather’s back is getting stronger every week and (apart from the odd relapse) the pain is gradually getting less intense. We are so grateful that the other members of our family who have had operations have also all come through them with flying colours and are on the mend.

The other big positives are our main building project (our cottage) is once again moving ahead and we are getting back the motivation to update our blog. Hopefully we will get out some posts in the next few weeks showing what we have been up to.

As a result of all of the above and our present workload, this blog (and our tours of Tenderbreak) will be temporarily placed on hold. Hopefully later this year we will be able to start posting about some of our more positive stories again.