Sweet And Lovely Maisie.

It seems an age since I last sat at my keyboard, but it is only a couple of weeks. I have not been in the right frame of mind to be writing. It fact my mind has been feeling really gloomy. Gloomy enough to match the horrid black cloud weather that has been with us lately. Wet and windy. Wet, wet and more wet. The paddock has been flooded almost continuously for weeks. Getting to the wagon door has entailed walking through mud nearly every day and of course despite my best efforts the mud and wet gets dragged inside. The place is in a proper mess. It's a good job I am a bloke on my own!

And the bloody roof has been leaking again! So much for that fantastic new roof waterproofer I used in the summer. The one with the 15 year guarantee!

Wellington boots have been the order of the day every day. And walking with Mia the German Shepherd is hard work in 'wellie's'.

I'm blaming Mia TGS for the bad weather. She brought it with her when she arrived here on 12th December last and I do believe we have not had a day without rain since that day! I would like to have it proudly recorded that despite torrential downpours and gale force winds we have still been bravely venturing forth on our walks every day. Although there was a day when Mia TGS, not me, lay down and refused to take another step into the teeth of a particularly nasty hailstone laden gale. We turned around that day and got blown home.

But the weather is not the reason for my gloom. I can deal with that.

My granddaughter, the sweet and lovely Maisie is unwell. It is a few months since her symptoms first appeared. She has been experiencing a lot of pain and bumps and lumps have appeared on her ribs. Scoliosis (curvature of the spine) has been diagnosed. I believe this is a condition that can be successfully treated, but now other symptoms have appeared, and things are potentially more serious. She has many signs of something called Marfans Syndrome a connective tissue condition. It is too complicated for me to go into so I shall not attempt to do so.

My Extremely Beautiful Daughter Jodie, Maisie's mother, has however become very knowledgeable about it. She is also gaining knowledge about the machinations of the National Health Service. The National Health Service once widely regarded as the best in the world, is in a bad way. A very bad way. One of the main reasons being, to my way of thinking at least, too many managers and not enough medical staff. These hospital trust managers earn more than the doctors! And I think (I could be wrong) that there are more of them than doctors! I think the managers are meant to save the NHS money. Perhaps they do, but most of it lines their own pockets!

Without these managers perhaps more ultra scanners could be bought, and people in urgent need would not have to wait several months before their turn comes around to have one? Perhaps my EBD Jodie would not have needed to write to her member of parliament pleading for Maisie's appointment to be brought forward. Why does a child have to wait so long for treatment in this day and age? Why, when a child has something so potentially damaging isn't that child's treatment started immediately?

We don't know for sure if Maisie does have Marfans Symdrome. Of course we hope and pray not. But unbelievably it will be six months, until all the relevant tests have been done and a definite diagnosis can be given. Six months!

The gloomy weather. I can deal with that no trouble. As EBD Jodie says: "You are a tough man dad to live the life you do". But sometimes life requires a different kind of toughness.






Maisie has consented to me writing this blog post.