Just a short update to say that I hadn’t seen Aslan for week since taking him back to his owners. I hoped everything was okay and they were giving him the tablets every day. Well I saw him yesterday evening just as I was going out and he was jumping around in the road outside my place and trying to get me to play with him. He is obviously a lot better, his skin seems to have lost it’s tendency to flake off but he has bare patches which I assume will eventually regrow. The way he jumped around meant that his feet must have been better too, his eyes are still a bit weepy but then they always seemed a bit like that anyway. He generally seems full of the joys of spring, I’m more than pleased.
Archive for the ‘Medical’ Category
Better dog
Egg dog
I was down in Kaş this afternoon enjoying the warmth when a big cloud came over the horizon to sit right on top of me. Just as I pushed the door to the bank to pay my monthly Social Security Health payment my phone rang. I saw that it was a friend of mine in my village and when I answered she had bad news for me. My white dog, Molly, was round at her house and had been chased there by a very angry village woman shouting and screaming.
Dogs that upset the local domestic animals don’t last long here, so I was dismayed to hear that Molly had been caught red handed, more correctly yellow mouthed by the owner of chickens. It seems she had discovered where the chickens laid their eggs and had been seen with yolk dripping from her mouth. Normally she looks as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and won’t touch anything edible in my house unless I first put it in her dinner bowl or physically give it to her.
She has made a serious error of judgement this time.
Luckily the woman who owns the chickens (her name is Safiye) is a neighbour and friend of mine and I have bought some eggs to replace the ones eaten. I don’t know how many Molly ate but I bought a couple of dozen so hopefully that will placate Safiye and compensate her for the eggs.
Molly is going to have to have some training in order to teach her to leave the eggs alone, I don’t know how I’m going to do it, hopefully I can find some ideas or lessons on the internet but if not I’ll just have to come up with something myself. Wish me luck.
While I’m talking about dogs I thought I’d update the story last week about Aslan. I took him to the vet in Kalkan a few miles away for some tests and it was found that he has a disease called Leish Maniasis. This is a particularly nasty disease that dogs can suffer from and if not treated it can kill them. All the symptoms that he had are typical of the disease and Hasan the vet had no trouble in diagnosing him, he even had a little blood test specifically designed to confirm it. That was very disappointing but I bought the necessary medication from the pharmacy and started him on it then took him back to my neighbours and showed them how to administer the pills. There is sufficient medication to last for a month and I’ll get some more, it’s not expensive, when this lot runs out. We’ll just have to wait and see how he does.
Finger (again).
Hope I’m not boring you with an update on my finger. There are a couple of photos of it this time so if you’re eating don’t click on them to see the larger version until you’ve finished. They’re not particularly gory though.
As I said before the bit that was sewn back on had gone black like frostbite, it was probably my fault for having put it directly on ice instead of just keeping it cool on the way down to Kas. Anyway, as it has been healing it has been re-attaching itself and most of it has come to life again. Just the outer skin remained dead. Around the edges it has been curling up and I’ve been trimming it off and putting antiseptic ointment on it. Well now I just have a scab with a tiny piece of the original skin left and it’s obvious that I am losing only a very small part of the tip of the finger. I’m very pleased and relieved although I’ll be glad when the pain stops, I had to take some painkillers to be able to sleep last night.
So here are the pictures, looking at them now you would probably wonder why I made all the fuss! As you can see the nail is now at an angle, don’t know whether it will straighten up or not and I’m wondering whether I will grow a new fingerprint or will it stay smooth? Any ideas anyone?
Finger, France
It’s now three weeks since the accident with my fingers and it seems that one is OK and one is not. The third finger of my left hand that was cut has healed, the village doctor here in France has taken the stitches out and apart from looking a bit red now it seems to be doing fine. I suppose it will take some time for the nerves to heal and the sensation to come back in it but that was to be expected. Stitching the piece back on the other finger hasn’t gone so well, it has turned black and it’s pretty obvious that it is dead. I’m only waiting to get back to Turkey to have the surgeon look at it and I’m expecting to lose the last joint of that finger. Bugger!
There is a lovely bed and breakfast / chambre d’hote place here in Normandy called Le Grand Mesnil in a place called St Bomer les Forges. If you’re ever in or around Normandy it’s well worth staying at.
There are plenty of places to go and see here, one of the most visited is Mont St Michel, a monastery situated on an island just off the coast at the mouth of the Cousenon river near the town of Avranches. Apparently it is the most visited tourist place in France. In summer it is extremely busy but at this time of year there are no crowds.
We visited the abbey at Lonlay L’Abbaye, I was intrigued by the carvings under the pew seats. Some of the pews had a high back and a lift up seat so that people could stand and lean on a ledge sticking out from the bottom of the seat. This ledge was supported by a carved wooden wedge, the carvings depict various designs and faces, this one is a smiling village woman, possibly the woman who used that particular pew?
One of the things Normandy is best known for in England and America are the D Day landings of World War 2. The landing beaches. Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, Point du Hoc and Utah are interesting places to go and see, it is easy to imagine the hundreds of ships discharging the troops in the effort to bring the war to an end. There were thousands of casualties too and this photograph of the American cemetery overlooking Omaha beach is where a small percentage of them lie.
Çardak
My veranda faces west and while it’s nice to able to sit in the sun, it’s impossible to use that space in July and August because it’s just too hot. I’ve been thinking about having a frame with vines growing over it for a few years and yesterday the first part of the plan was completed when the frame was erected.
While they were putting it up I was a bit concerned about it. It looked a bit stark and angular but I know it will soften as soon as something is growing over it. Ramazan, a neighbour and local steel fabricator, brought all the necessary stuff and, along with his brother, started the job about 9.30. He asked me if it was too early for me, bless him he doesn’t realise the dogs have me awake at 5.30 every morning, and before that quite often. Recently Bayram’s big dog has been baying nearly all night at just about everything that moves and because I have my bedroom window open at night I’ve not been getting much sleep, I’m getting fed up with it.
When it was finished I started to paint the frame green (a vine frame is called a çardak in Turkish) but only had a small amount of paint left from a previous job. Tomorrow I’ll get some more and some thinners and gloves to keep the paint off me. I’m very messy when it comes to painting and always get it all over my hands, most of my clothes and even in my hair sometimes. This morning some of the green paint was on the side of the bath, how did that get there?
Once the painting is done there is some shading material to put over it to provide shade until the vines grow, the legs will need concrete put round them to secure it for the winter winds. The second part of the plan is to remove the wooden veranda, level the area from the house foundation to the outer limit of the frame with sand and then pave it to make a big patio with the same flat stone I’m using for the drive. The level will be about eight or nine inches lower than the veranda so it will need a step down from the house too.
My eyes are still improving and I’m so glad I had the laser surgery done it’s making a big difference to my life. I had a check-up a week after the surgery and there is a tiny bit of astigmatism left but if it doesn’t rectify itself after a month I can have it done under the guarantee.
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