How Was Your Week or Two? Crazy!

If we were having coffee, I would confide that while I usually like to class myself as a creative spirit, this year, when it came to erecting and decorating the Christmas tree and putting up decorations, I had zero patience, probably because I was nursing a toothache. And Gringe, Mr Piglet, refused to help. If I dared to grumble out loud, he retorted that we don’t have to put up decorations. They only collect dust and are a pain in the butt to dismantle and take down again in January. After this year’s experience, I am beginning to waver in my agreement.

Our main tree is problematic as it is a kit, and you need the patience of Jobe. All the branches need to be sorted by branch length, inserted into the centre pole (trunk), and arranged. It took me several hours of huffing, puffing and cussing. Then came untangling the lights and trying to arrange them on the tree. Note to self: Next year, pack them away untangled. Another couple of hours. Then the baubles. Bah humbug. AND I had a raging toothache, which set the festive mood like that of a nasty bout of PMT. Especially as I usually consume multiple mince pies while drinking a glass of sherry or three. Not so this year. Another bah humbug. Moving on. The Christmas trees up and decorated. While not perfect, at least they recaptured some of the Festive spirit, and once the lights came on, brought a smile.

As for the toothache, which continued to nag over the weekend, I managed to get an emergency appointment for Tuesday.

Dentist

Tuesday came, and we got a puncture on the way to the dentist, only just making the appointment.

When I arrived, I was SO relieved it was not the same male dentist I saw before, who ignored the notes on my patient notes re reaction to injections, and I had a severe reaction.

At least this guy read my notes. He gave me antibiotics to hopefully settle any inflammation and infection before treatment. However, he thought (after looking at the x-ray) it could be a problem with an old root canal filling. Oh, joy. Another appointment, and my usual dentist is not available until early January.

Two weeks, a course of antibiotics and yet another visit to the dentist later, I still have the nagging toothache, and yet another appointment booked for the 23rd of December for a filling.

Endoscopy and Colonoscopy Disaster.

If you’ve had a colonoscopy, you will know how unpleasant the preparation is. For those who haven’t, it involves several days on a white diet, then forcing yourself to drink the foulest-tasting medicine to clear out the bowels. The rest I’ll leave to your imagination.

I arrived at the hospital. Stripped off, gowned up. Gave them previous test results and current medication …. medication which included antibiotics. I watched as the nurses looked at me, then the medication. Jabbered in Portuguese. Heads shaking and shoulders shrugging. Faces solemn. Finally, a doctor came over and spoke to me. A nurse translating what took five minutes in Portuguese to one minute in English.

‘Sorry, Mrs Carole. We cannot risk performing the endoscopy and colonoscopy today because you have an infection that could spread to other parts of the body.’

I wanted to cry. The thought of going through it all again in January…

On a positive note, I lost 6.5 lbs, and no doubt the cleansing again in January will help me shed the Christmas pounds and rekickstart the dreaded January diet that usually dwindles by mid-January.

Unplanned Family Reunion

It was for a sad occasion to attend Mr P’s brother’s funeral. He was ninety. Which made me think. Hope we still have another 20 years ahead of us, which makes me even more determined to keep up the fitness routine and renew my healthy eating regime (after Christmas) with renewed vigour.

His passing brought all our immediate family together for an unplanned and precious pre-Christmas weekend. Our daughter even flew in from France, and we made the most of our time together. And at the wake, we were reacquainted with nieces, great nieces, and nephews, last seen when they were children, now adults. How time flies in the blink of an eye. We vowed to all get together next year on a happier occasion and rekindle an old family tradition.

I can’t remember the last time I saw England at Christmas, with so many houses festooned with Christmas lights, as were all the shops, malls, restaurants, and pubs it made me feel warm inside. But what struck me most was that I could actually communicate with people and understand without my brain cells having to perform language gymnastics to construct a simple sentence in a language so alien to my dyslexic brain. Even some Portuguese people empathise that it is a complex language to learn. Try as I may, I cannot master the language. I miss my family, the familiarity of culture, and I feel homesick.

The weather was kind, and although freezing cold, we even got to watch our youngest grandsons at rugby training!

Our son Ian kitted me out with some suitable all-weather clothing and kept me topped up with hot coffee and even a bacon butty. Brrrr…..

We also had some quiet time playing games with our other grandchildren. Goodness. We are a fun, competitive family. *laughing*

The grandkids are growing up so fast, it is scary.

We also went Christmas shopping for some family presents, rather than ordering everything on Amazon, wrap the presents. And we all had Sunday lunch at a restaurant that served up my favourite cocktail (Pornstar Martini) with a sticky toffee pudding dessert. Bliss! … and heartburn.

And Chat GPT made me younger!

CHEERS!

We arrived back in Portugal and hit the ground running in preparation for my sister and her husband arriving for Christmas. My next challenge (apart from finally getting a filling) will be bringing everything together on the catering front. We will see.

Are you ready for Christmas?

My thanks to Natalie the Explorer for organising the Weekend Coffee Share