For the Love of Textiles

After coming home tonight I felt really sad. Sad to leave him alone there and sad in the way that it is going this way right now...Writing all the things happening to us over the last few weeks has helped me to keep on track but I am not sure if this blogpost will do the same.. Yesterday Bram has left the hospital to go to a Medical Nursing Home for further treatment because in the state he is in now he can't come home right now. So we had a talk last week Friday with a lady who is in charge of the transfer from a patient either going home to a Rehab centre . All possibilities were discussed but there were not so much choices. There are 2 of those institutes in our city and both are situated in old buildings. For other places we either have to drive long distances or you are place in a bedroom with 3 other patients.. So we opted for a single room (I can't promise right now but will do my utmost for it!!) in a home in our city. Later that day the "Transfer-lady" came ...

Bram is still in the hospital. Of course I had hoped that the progression would go faster but there are some complications which still need attention. So he has to stay in his double room which he has shared already with 3 different persons. On the right side of the unit is place for people with heart problems. First there was a 83 year old woman with whom Bram had a nice contact. Next there was a man who only liked to listen to horrible music (and he even sang while having his earphone in) and was keen on the ideas of Geert Wilders (never thought I would mention his name in my blog). Bram immediately told him that it was very bad for his heart to get into a discussion about the ideas of this man. So not a good company that was. And than there was a 91 year old man who -yes it is a small world- happened to be an uncle of our neighbour. He is on and off in the hospital but has given a big birthday party a few weeks before. He was a sweet and quiet man who cried a little every afternoo...

This afternoon when I came home I had a "slight lighter feeling" than over the past 2 weeks when everything which happened over the last 2 weeks felt very heavy and difficult to cope with. Bram has come back to Deventer on Tuesday. He was very happy to leave the hospital in Zwolle because he really didn't feel good over there and for me it is much easier to visit him here than driving off to Zwolle. It is a strange and very busy hospital he had his operation, and it felt like a "kind of factory" where patients came in and had to leave as quickly as possible when everything was fixed. The building is very dark with small rooms for patients,old and not very comfortable beds and a depressing atmosphere. They are building a new hospital right, now which will open in 2013 so I guess they leave it like it is. But on the other hand: the hospital is specialized in heart operations and it is the best place to go if you need on. The hospital in Deventer is rather new (al...

As was to be expected: everything tumbled again to the positive. At 17.45 on Friday-afternoon I got a phone-call form the surgeon who told me that everything went well with the operation and he could tell me that Bram has got 6 By-Passes. After I had put down the telephone I got a phone-call from the nurse who who had guided me through the operation telling me that I could come to see Bram at Intensive Care round 19.45. They had started the operation with 1 hours delay at 14.00 hrs. I got phone-calls form the hospital every 2 hours telling me how everything was going and how I was feeling. I have found this very useful for the family and friends round the patient and it gave a more secure feeling to it. Usually this kind of operation can be done between 3 and 6 hours and with Bram it almost took 5 hours. So there were tears from relief,phone-calls and sms messages from friends and I felt that this was one of the special moments in my life and in our relation and while writing this t...

Bram's operation will take place this afternoon. Yesterday he was brought by ambulance to the hospital in Zwolle. The hospital in Zwolle is very different from the hospital in Deventer which is brand new. But nurses and doctors are usually very friendly people and they really take good care of him. I went by car behind and was round 10.30 in the hospital. While driving among the river Ijssel I listened to music I bought on Shetland which moved me. I am really found of the landscape which surrounds Deventer and the drive to Zwolle goes almost among that river. Blood was taken, tests were done, all to prepare him for the operation which would start at 7.45 today, but a little later they put him round 13.00 hrs and if nothing comes between (like an emergency case, so they do need Operation Rooms which happened yesterday) it will happen. Till tomorrow it wasn't sure because yesterday some blood values started rising and if they wouldn't have been dropped today the operati...

And just when I had saved a part of the 2nd episode of my Shetland Holiday everything tumbled in my life. Last Friday I got a phone call from a friend of us and she told me that Bram was with her and not feeling well. I went there as fast as I could on my bike and found him looking very pale and having pressure on his chest. I phoned the emergency doctor but because I sounded calm he mentioned to me to wait till our own doctor was back from lunch. I picked up the car and we drove home. But being at home we both got slightly panicked. I phoned the doctor again because he felt more worse. After 5 minuted he was with us and checked and decided to get the ambulance and Bram was taken to the hospital. I grabbed the things he might needed and packed them in a bag.I felt like being in a film and there was no time to think. Driving behind the ambulance which was one of the weirdest moments in my life knowing that he was in it. Strange, but I had to take this picture, probably to realize what...

Work has started this week but we came back form our holiday last week Friday. Looking back at it now it had ups and downs. Bram has suffered being ill for almost all weeks over there and taking care of him did take a lot of energy from me. But on the other hand we both are very happy that we have done it. Not really what we had expected it would be but sometimes life sends you to take another route. We left our home on a Thursday and took the ferry from Ijmuiden to Newcastle. Our brand new car was packed with everything we thought we needed (later we discovered that we went on trip very chaotic) and on top of all package was the wheelchair. We has asked if we could be placed by the elevator so everything would work out fine. So it did....in a way.... Bram seated himself in the wheelchair, I packed the bag and we went into the elevator. All fine till that point and the button to level 6 was pushed. Small mistake.. Bram asked me on what deck we were. Guess what happened? I stepped out...