BEING A ROMANIAN DOG

BEING A DOG IN ROMANIA

Wired around the waist while still a pup the wire has ingrown and infected

Romania is a member of the EU as is Spain both have hight animal cruelty and neglect levels; But Romania takes the prize. Dog squads are paid a bounty per dog caught Dead or Alive. Several are murdered during capture. The catch pole slowly strangles them while they are being moved from point of capture to a cage. They are lifted on the end of the catchpole until the back legs clear the top of the container cage and unceremoniously dropped on any other dogs in the cage: dead or alive. 

These dogs are then delivered to "Public Shelters" where they receive little food, and dominant dogs fight quieter dogs for it. The injured dogs are not attended in any way and many die in the pen. Dog catchers will get quieter dogs released for recapture to up their income. 

Gypsy children have so little respect for dogs they use puppies as footballs.

At intervals Shelters have a kill day. On these days the dogs can be heard screaming in pain and fear.

Pet dogs are not safe either as the dog catchers will illegally seize them too if they haven't reached their desired total. A Private Shelter that does care about the dogs has also been raided illegally, and dogs with passports, waiting for transport out of the country killed in the seizing. Police just watched and controlled the angry volunteers while it went on, so there must be corruption as well.

Only open support from foreign countries offers private shelters any protection!
I support a shelter that is currently built of whatever materials can be found and is on rented land. The supporters are raising funds to buy land and build a more secure shelter for the animals the shelter. All people working at these private shelters do it voluntarily, as do the people who raise funds from abroad, so every penny raised goes direct to the support of the animals and finding them a way out of Romania.
The only safe Romanian dog is an ex Romanian dog! 

I am the proud adopter of one dog and a cat who is soon to join my not so small cat congregation. 

My safe Ex Romanian dog

If this blog has touched your heart in anyway please find a private shelter to support. This is the one I support. 

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Forgotten Garden

My latest project is to bring my garden back to a life that is useful to me. It may take me all this year to do it. It's a good size for a suburban garden, I would go so far as to say it is close to standard UK allotment size.
As a garden lover, I hear other garden owners asking why have you got to bring it back to useful life? The answer is simple, we moved in about 5yrs ago and my health took a huge nose dive just over 3yrs ago. My garden had to be abandoned as I could only move from bed to chair, to toilet, to sofa and back again. I didn't sit up straight for 18mnths. Then in Jan 2012 I had a massive operation to sort the worst if the issue out (Details in "Urinary bypass surgery) I then spent most of last year regaining strength and stamina.
This spring I went into my garden for the 1st time since becoming poorly. I found a cat trail-way and followed it to  a point near the centre of my ground. The whole area had 3+yrs of wild bramble reaching waist high: I stood there and sobbed. For some reason I thought there would be a bit of weeding to do, and back to a fruitful garden. how deluded I was. Since then I have been doing approximately 3hrs a week in hourly stretches, and I now

Flowers appear where brambles are cleared

have some clear garden; but due to my disabilities I cannot plant, and continue clearing at the same time. I don't have the legs for it, and My plan is for a wheelchair garden. I have cleared nearly half now and have some spots for cats to sunbath in, even a few flowers are now visible.
I still have the top picture to clear; but am heartened by my efforts so far.
I am going to try straw bale gardening, something I have just discovered and would be ideal for my wheelchair. I have most of what I need to set the garden up once its clear including a poly tunnel. I may be able to grow winter salads if I am done in time. 

One of my furry friends Keeping me company

A shredder has proved a great investment as it is chopping the brambles down, so the become a mulch to prevent weeds until I can use the ground.

I have a new cherry tree that I am hoping to train sideways along a path, in hope that I can save some cherries from the birds.

Due to my disabilities this task is taking months to achieve; but once I get there I can say "I did it"

I will be posting on this again when I get to the next stage

Pain and Surgery

Well I missed most of autumn and winter. I disappeared into a black hole, having to face various assessments  for my physical safety. I was also facing degrading nerves in my back; which have been inflaming easier than before, and causing my legs to disappear with greater ease. I fall or have to grab something at least five times a day indoors now. The fall risk assessment team have banned me from walking outside the home as there is too much risk of falls causing more severe damage.
Pain has been the main issue to deal with as I am reactive to so many mainstream pain relievers. I have however found a few things that help greatly. Turmeric: just a teaspoon a day aids my body in overcoming inflammation. Now when inflammation challenges me, simple resting for a couple of days sees it off. 
Through the winter nerve pain became unbearable, to a point I was getting ready to take an epileptic drug and become a zombie to give me some kind of relief. Thankfully the universe helped me out as usual. On 1 of my many internet research expeditions I fell upon a page describing the effects of "Jamaican Dogwood". I immediately went in search of this stuff, found a source for the tincture and express ordered it. Its claims were Nervine and sedative.  I started using it somewhere around January 2013. I didn't dare take a full 20 drop dose as advised on the bottle, as sleep is not my problem, nerve pain very much is. The 1st night I took 10 drops, and slept the sleep of the dammed well into the next day, and was not fully with it for most of the rest of it. the next night I took just 5 drops. The following morning I actually woke feeling refreshed: incredible. Now 5 drops a night seemed to be the right dose for me at least for the time being. Within a week my husband noticed my body was not as restless: my arms and legs weren't flailing round all night exhausting me. I was getting to sleep easier because my legs no longer wanted to continue working of there own accord as soon as I relaxed. The Orphan leg syndrome was under control at last, that gave me reason to smile again. In March I had to have a test done under GA and was asked to stop taking my precious Jamaican dogwood 2wks before as no one knew what effect it would have on the anaesthetic. Within 4 days the pain I hadn't noticed go was back. I could barely put my feet on the floor for feeling I was walking on glass, and my back wouldn't move without screaming at me. As soon as the procedure was over I was back to my precious dogwood at 7/8 drops a night and am now taking less mainstrean pain relief. 


In this last month I had to have a small emergency operation after rescuing a stray cat that was so scared it crunched down on the base of my middle finger, immediately infecting it with whatever was in its facial abscess. That was 6pm in the evening, as I was moving it to an animal hospital. By 4am the next morning 21st May 2013 it was obvious there was severe damage. by 7am I was being x-rayed, and by 8.30am I knew my finger had to have surgical work to save the tendon. Within  another 5 minutes the 1st dose of intravenous antibiotics was hurriedly pumped into me. By 1.30pm the operation was over and I was awake. The good news, Jamaican Dogwood doesn't seem to have had any real adverse affects.
I am now close to normal use again although the surgical wounds have yet to finally heal. The hand therapist is very pleased with my rapid progress. just one more appointment to ensure my hand is regaining full strength.

Meeting ZP Theart

Tuesday night was massive!!
Monday night my hubby informed me we were going out the next night as he had won a meet n greet with one of our favourite singers ZP Theart.
The Venue NQ live (Formerly Moho live) is in a cellar with some steps down into it. oh dear not wheelchair friendly; but the staff were. They carried me down in the chair so I was able to enjoy the evening, and when we finally left they were patiently waiting to help me out.
We saw 3 metal bands play. The intimate setting, not usually conducive to loud music, had a very good sound system with sound people well fit to operate it. the only negative of the venue for me was the price of soft drinks. Small niggle hardly worth a mention.
1st up was "Farhan". this band has only been together in it's current line up for 6 months. Incredible how polished they are together after such a short time. I could identify each instrument even at the back of the room and barely if any note was wrong. I'm not used to being moved by music this early in the night; but this band impressed me greatly. Once their name is known they will go far.
2nd up "Athemis". To be honest I had no expectations because I am used to there being a duff band in the line up that I don't particularly like. Well this heavy/thrash band had me jigging and head banging in my chair, so I had another very pleasant surprise. Thoroughly enjoyed the time watching and listening with them.
3rd and finally "i AM i" What a grand surprise, they sounded better live than on cd. The guitar harmonies sent a few shivers down my spine (good going for metal music), and ZP was on form, only slowing down when his throat dried and he needed more refreshments for it.

Meeting with him after the show was incredible: I'm 56 and that night made me feel a teen again. I asked some searching questions and he answered as fully as he could to someone he barely knows.
I got to chat to the other bands and came away with all cds signed in full. I can highly recommend the venue and the bands for those who love it live.

The Lynx Effect

My wonderful husband finally got back into the workforce at the beginning of this week. He went away for a couple of days for induction, and came home Tuesday night well pleased with himself.
Wednesday morning he was up early and ready for a long drive for the next lot of training on a different section of the business.
I woke up choking, with mucous filling my nose and throat, just before he was ready to leave. I could smell body spray, and thought he had used it in the bathroom, not closing the door.
I was wrong! He had used it outside the front door to try and protect me from the asthma it can bring on. The air current had blown it indoors, upstairs, and in to the bedroom, where I had the worst reaction yet. I had to clear my airways fast, so I ran if you can call my waddle a run into the bathroom grabbed a toilet roll. snatched some to clear my airways and had to find somewhere that the propellent hadn't reached. The clearest room was the living room. having done another clearing of the airways on the stairlift on the way down, and another on reaching the living room I took Piriton. This seemed to take an age to kick in. I also used both my inhalers to help ease my breathing. I was exhausted by the time it all settled down, and so weak I could barely stand. I spent most of the day in bed.
The cause, Lynx body spray.
It has had a knock on effect on another allergy of mine which is highly inconvenient. I had a low level latex allergy that affected breathing and broken skin. Now It has burnt my skin on the knicker line, So I am now touch sensitive too. New underwear must be found fast.

Judgement Day

I do my best not to judge anyone lest I be judged. Yet this weekend has revealed I am judged without facts, just suppositions because I don't want to bore everyone with the full details of my disabilities. If I'm asked I answer honestly and fully.
Because I have been recovering from my surgery and am not prepared to break my back to be at afternoon functions, I either don't like people or am a person living a cushy stuck up life.
Sorry folks I am not prepared to put myself in bed for days. just to attend at a time you all know I rest, and not for the fun of it. None are prepared to see me at my home (heaven only knows why) unless they are all allergic to cats.
Too many people are to idle to find out the truth before they spuddle and judge on their perceptions from a distance, and those people wonder why I prefer my cats for company

Home To Rehabilitate

Getting home was a shock. All the time I had been in hospital my sitting had been supported.
Due to nearly 18mnths of not sitting up due to extreme pelvic pain, I was now going to learn how tiring and time consuming it was to learn to sit up straight again. Still healing from the surgery meant a 5 minute sit led to 1-2hrs of sleep, and due to my lower back damage it was going to take nearly 3mnths before I could sit up for 30 minutes without totally wearing myself out.


My new urostomy worked well and healed very rapidly. To aid my friendship with this ever moving piece of intestine that had reduced pain levels to near 0 in the pelvis and undoubtedly saved my life, I named it "Polly pop out".


A tummy that now looks like a patchwork quilt with all the previous pelvic surgeries I've had led to some fun finding suitable housing for Polly. I contacted all the stoma bag companies I could find and requested samples of all their suitable dressings. 
A couple had to be removed within an hour of placement, as the adhesive reacted with my skin. Others were rejected on aesthetic grounds: they looked bad on me! Finally I found a bag that I didn't react to, didn't turn into a huge sausage shape when it started filling, and wasn't glaringly obvious if my waistline accidentally revealed itself.


Recovery was well underway, and as energy levels returned to my normal, I was back to pushing myself around in my NHS provided chair. It was like wading through mud, and my urostomy was getting very achy and sore. Time to try support wear! The only thing that helped was a level 3 hernia belt: not a good look for my newly acquired  waistline, and it didn't change the wading through mud strength needed for me to self propel my wheelchair.
I have since managed to obtain support wear that doesn't leave me unable to breath as it comes so high (not good when you need to breathe propelling a chair), or look so chunky I should be a weight lifter. the strong belt I use when I know I am going to be pushing myself around outside. When I asked for this originally, I was told "You don't have a hernia". I said "and pushing a chair around I don't want one thanks". It seems not many manual wheelchair users have stomas.


The next challenge was to apply for a different chair, preferably lighter in weight and without the arms on as they set my arms at a peculiar angle for self propulsion. In this request I got lucky. First I was offered an electric wheelchair; which I declined, as apart from upper body swimming, pushing myself around in my chair is the only exercise I get. the solution they came up with is a dream, and a Ferrari compared to the chair I had. It is lighter in weight, has wheel guards rather than arms. A rubberised covering on the propelling wheel gives better grip, and the shorter wheelbase means I can get round the house easier without taking door frames and wall corners with me. The other brilliant thing is that on a reasonably level surface I can easily keep up with whoever is with me rather than them waiting for me to catch up. Never mind that I am out of action for a few days after such an outing as back pain and weariness get me big time, at least I can with a bit of company to assist on hills or when I get tired I can now have some kind of life outside the house.


All in all this was a huge operation, and the work involved to be fit for it was excruciatingly painful; but the benefits have been huge for me. Polly is now a good friend I couldn't be without, and at 56yrs of age I don't think I need to worry to much about my quilted tum.