Ouchie

Jamie and Aisling came through to visit me last night and we had a pleasant evening. I felt full of the joys and so glad to be home safe.

This morning however is a different story! My post op euphoria is over. My eye aches, there are tears mixed with blood coming out of it, and now that I have taken the eye patch off my poor eye looks ghastly. It looks like someone has been attacking it with a knife, which I suppose they have! Ouch. 

I have to bathe it with sterilised water and put in my eye drops so hopefully that will help. 

Cataract surgery

Oh boy I'm glad to be home! Today was my cataract operation on my left eye. To my surprise and some alarm, I was told as soon as I arrived that I was being moved from afternoon to morning surgery because one of the patients had not turned up. This was a good thing of course, because it meant that I wouldn't have to hang around for so long. I was taken straight through to the pre-op area, got into my gown and soon was in the anaesthetics room. I had already been given lots of drops in my eye to numb it, and now one of the nurses put a sort of metal frame around my eye to hold the lids open. Unfortunately this sent me into a fit of coughing and wheezing, probably because of nerves. I managed to get control of it and I got a big jag of local anaesthetic into my eye socket before being taken into the operating theatre. Then a big sticky patch was put over my face and the operation started. The good thing was that I couldn't see a thing. That may sound strange but I had been worried that I would see exactly what the surgeon was doing to me in horrible detail. But I think the local anaesthetic made me unable to see, which in turn made the operation easier for me because I could at least try to ignore what was happening. I could feel pressure and was aware that the surgeon was working away. At one point the nurse said something and I said "Did you say disco?" which made everybody laugh because in fact she had said something like "viscous" - I had thought she was referring to the music that was playing in the background. Also the surgeon kept saying "drops" to get more liquid squirted into my eye, but before I worked that out I honestly thought he was saying "Oops" which worried me.

The operation was soon over; I have a big patch over my eye! I was taken up to the ward where I was given a cup of tea and a biscuit. I was glad to get home to my kitties.

Silver Sands

James and I went on a lovely coastal walk today from to Burntisland in Fife. It was a club outing and there were 14 of us in total making for congenial company. As we drove over the Forth Road Bridge we could see that the construction of the new bridge is well underway. The sun was shining and the sky was blue with no clouds at all. We walked along chatting and looking at the beautiful views and stopped at Silver Sands beach for lunch. It was nice to see the beach busy with families out enjoying the spring sunshine. And unusual to see people in swimming costumes cavorting outside in April in Scotland! The sea was sparkling blue and we could see Arthur's Seat and Edinburgh to the south. We ended up in a pub garden for drinks and headed home where we sat outside and spent the warm evening watching the kittens climbing alarmingly high in the trees.

Easter holidays

Since we came back from our holiday in France time has flown by. On Tuesday I had my pre-op at Gartnavel hospital. I found some of the information that they gave me about the cataract procedure rather alarming so I won't go into details about it here because I'm trying to put it out of my mind for now. Later on Cat and I took Alasdair to Edinburgh airport for his flight back to Oslo; it was sad to see him go but we have had a great time with him. Cat and I then had a film afternoon where we watched a French film called "Les Intouchables" that Cat got for me - it was funny and moving and very very French! I loved it.

The weather has been brilliant all week and I have spent time sitting outside in the garden reading and drinking coffee and watching the kitties in their new domain. Tom and Ruby are enjoying being "outside cats" very much, and are now expert at using the catflap. Ruby has been climbing very high up in the pear trees; The first time we saw her up there, we thought she might get stuck but she clambered down backwards without any trouble. It's strange to see Tom and Ruby exploring the garden that Jack and Jill loved so much, but James says it's a good thing for two new wee cats to have fun there. They have not yet found out that it's possible for them to go to the bathroom outside so they are still diligently coming back inside to use their litter tray! 

Today I had another visit to the dentist where I had to get a filling and also a permanent crown fitted. Unfortunately the crown didn't quite fit so I had to arrange another visit for a couple of weeks time. Hopefully that will finish my current course of treatment. 

This evening after tea, James, Davie and I went down to Wetherspoons for a drink. It was the first time that James has been there and he was suitably impressed by the decor and the atmosphere. It was nice to go for a stroll down to the pub on this lovely spring evening. 

Tom and Ruby venture outside

We collected Tom and Ruby from the cattery on Sunday morning; they were amazed to see us. When we got home they explored the whole house. Then to their further amazement we opened the French windows to let them go outside for the first time. When they were tiny we carried them outside a couple of times and they were very excited, but we decided to wait until they had their ops and we returned from holiday for their first proper excursion. They stood looking out for a while then tentatively stepped out into the garden, and made their way up onto the grass. Unfortunately at this point there was a sudden rain shower which alarmed them; they started running about frantically, not knowing how to escape the water falling on them! Ally and Davie ran outside to rescue them.

They went out again later and ventured a bit further, even going round the front of the house. Tom has started (with encouragement) to use the cat flap. He can go outside without too much trouble, however when he comes back in he seems to need to take a run at it, so he bursts in and runs the length of the room before stopping! Ruby however can so far only use the cat flap when it's held open for her! By the evening both kittens were absolutely exhausted by all this excitement and collapsed on our bed without their usual evening shenanigans! 

Sunbathing at Chambéry Airport

Our last day in France was rather leisurely because we weren't being collected for the airport run until 2 p.m. So we breakfasted, packed, deposited our luggage at reception and went for a wander round the shops. We took the gondola down to Bellecôte and bought some of our favourite sirops in the little supermarket there. We had lunch sitting outside on the terrace at La Godille in the sunshine. The bus journey to Chambéry was only two hours and when we checked in we went back outside to sunbathe on the grass with many other travellers until it was time to go through security - not something that is normally possible at an airport but Chambéry is so tiny that you can just stroll back outside if you wish. There was a holiday atmosphere and some other travellers gave Ally and Cat a bottle of wine which they proceeded to quaff al fresco! 

Our journey went smoothly (well perhaps smoothly is not the right word because there was a bit of turbulence due to headwinds!) and by 9 p.m. we were back home and enjoying a fish supper. 

Holiday memories

* The lovely Jéremie giving Susan and Cat ski lessons - and the tender yet slightly strange moment on the ski lift when Susan told him he was "gentil et beau." Also Jéremie's amazement when Cat sang him a "conjugating French verbs" song on the piste. 

* Davie "rugby tackling the mountain" - a spectacular fall which amazed onlookers with an explosion of snow.

* Davie doing the water ski challenge.

* Team Anderson triumphing in the pub quiz where we won a bottle of sparkling wine and a zip wire experience for David.

* Ally's record speed of 99.7 kph, closely followed by Davie with 98.3 kph and James with 90.2 kph. Too fast.

* Cat skiing down the red run on Aiguille Rouge in Les Arcs after less than a week in total of ski lessons.

* Jamie's big wipeout off piste at Champagny.

* James' amazing farting on piste.

* Susan's horrific vomiting after her "pizza quatre fromages"

* Having drinks and taking in a few rays on the deckchairs at L'Arpette restaurant. 

* The wee guy with the green ski jacket that Susan accidentally knocked over.

* Lunch at Chalet des Arcs above Arc 2000.

* All four boys drinking Grolla from a wooden bowl on the last night. 

* Dinner at L'Alpage at Belle Plagne. 

* Lots of snow and brilliant weather all week.