People can fail you.
When the world fails you, we just grit our teeth and get on with it.
But when your body starts to fail you, and your teeth are long past being able to chew, let alone grit anything, you know you have just stepped on to that slippery slope.
Very slowly…over the years, various bits of us have stopped performing as we would want them to, but we manage to find ways to get around each problem.
Those handy little rubber mats for opening stubborn bottles and jars. Kneeling pads and handrails, stronger reading glasses and tablets for the arthritis. Little tricks that fool us into thinking we are as good as we ever were.
Secretly though, we know our shortcomings only too well. We just wish the list would stop getting any longer.
This has been brought home to me quite strongly, as I help Anita to regain some of her usual abilities after being fitted with an ICD. Implantable cardio verter – defibrillator. A small battery-operated device to monitor the heart.
All the reports about this procedure said that after the initial six weeks, Anita would be blessed with a new lease of life, stronger and more able to cope with life in general.
So far, we have yet to see much improvement.
Her damaged heart seems to be behaving, thanks to a strict and intensive drug regime, although this is tough going for someone who is rarely ill and never takes as much as an aspirin!
Breathlessness is still a big problem, leaving her weak (and bad tempered) and the site of the implant is still painfully uncomfortable, but as yet, only mild sensations from the device have been experienced.
Between the two of us and help from our family, our life rolls on much as it always has, but for the ever-present shadow of the elephant in the room…
© Jaye Marie 2020
Jaye Marie and Anita Dawes 
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