Quick Update and Wishing Everyone A Belated Happy New Year

Hey all. Apologies for not being around and posting much over the last few months. As some of you know my grandmother has been very ill.

A few months ago she went overnight from being active and independent to being bedbound (due to a suspected stroke).

For weeks my little brother (who is also a GP trainee) and I struggled to get help for her (as most of the rest of my family were in different parts of the country at the time).

There were all sorts of problems with getting professionals to take her case seriously because she is elderly. It also coincided with one of the busiest autumn and winter seasons in the history of the NHS.

Anyway I could write a whole book on that debacle.

Since then she has had multiple bouts of pneumonia, meningitis and at least two further strokes with periods in and out of ITU.

This has been really difficult and I have been doing my best to support my mother and the rest of my family as they try to spend as much time with her as they can.

My mother has her own problems with severe osteoarthritis which makes it quite difficult for her to drive.

Family must always come first and I think you can probably understand why I have not really felt like posting about medical topics right now.

It just feels too close to home.

That does not mean I have not kept up with Steemit. I can't read as much as before (my eyes just aren't good enough for long posts on a phone screen) but I do try to keep up with the news.

I was very pleased to see Steem and Steemit getting more of the attention they deserve and it is good to see the platform continuing to improve its interface.

The increase in price has been really nice to see as well and will help to pay for some of the extensive rehabilition and care my grandmother will need once she is stable - unfortunately the NHS isn't really good at providing this (particularly for elderly people).

Personally I think the NHS is institutionally ageist (I may talk about this at some point but that is for another time).

I wanted to say thanks all my Steemit friends who have given me their good wishes and support.

A belated Happy New Year to all of you and hopefully this year will be better for all of us.

None of us know how long we have. All we can do is make the most of now.

Make sure you check in on your elderly relatives and make the most of them while they are with you.

I will try to post when I can but will apologise in advance if it is a while and also if I'm not able to respond to comments. If you need to get hold of me the best way is probably via twitter message or in the chat.