Friday 7 July 2017

what a week

On Tuesday of this week I finally returned home. The thought totally stressed me out in advance to be honest but since being home I've felt much better. I really missed being here, even though I was super comfy at my parents' house.

I'm slowly getting stronger by the day - I think stepping away from the incessant bloodletting of GoT is helping. But it has been pretty full-on since I've been back:
  • Wednesday we had a visit from a Community Occupational Therapist who asked us loads of questions, watched we move around the house and made loads of suggestions about adaptations. Our Landlord is a family friend so getting permission wasn't a massive issue but these will be fitted in the next week or so - mostly rails and grab bars in various places around the house.
  • Thursday we had a Disabled parking bay painted outside the house - we applied in October of last year and the actual job only took five minutes to do. This is huge for us (not that I'm driving anywhere at the moment).
  • Earlier today I had my PIP Assessment - it was so bizarre, going through that form again, talking about my medical history AGAIN. Truth be told, things have changed a lot since I submitted my application in January - my mobility is a lot worse than it was. Could I have done without the stress? Probably. Was this week the best of all times to display the issues I'm having? Very possibly. Now we wait between 4-6 weeks to hear back.
On PIP, I called CAPITA (the assessor) earlier this week to let them know that Mrs D was going to be in attendance and also to see making an audio about recording of the assessment (after reading this on the Citizens Advice Bureau website). They said it wouldn't be possible unless we were able to provide two identical CDs or Tapes on the day. I explained that I was hoping to be able to just record it on my phone for reference but was told that wouldn't be allowed because "people can have all kinds of sound editing software on their phones".

I said what if I record it as a sound file, press the stop button in front of the assessor and then email the file immediately without pressing anything else. Apparently this wouldn't be allowed either.

Isn't that nuts? Especially when most people's first thoughts will have been to record the audio on their phone.

PLUS they called an hour and a half before our scheduled appointment to say they'd had a "cancellation" and could they come round in 20 minutes. And I'm paranoid at the best of times.

2 comments:

  1. Just catching up with you, Steve and sorry to read about the latest travails that you and yours are going through at the moment. Nothing much to say except that, if you ever need to talk, or to vent or for someone just to come round and have a cup of tea and a chat, or just to listen to old records.... I'm your man. Thinking of you bro. Stay strong. Also, GoT is awesome. Ridiculous, but awesome.
    I've just set up my fundraising page for next year's marathon (and, apparently, I've agreed to do a trail marathon in October too, for as yet unknown reasons). I'm not saying this to tart for cash or to throw about how physically AWESOME I am, but because this money will go towards concrete things like funding MS Nurses... and that shit is SO IMPORTANT (as anyone who has met Maxine will know). Anyway. I'm thinking of you, comrade.
    T

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheers T, I'll send you a message and we'll sort something out

    ReplyDelete