So far this year has been unlike any I can recall. It's the first year since I started blogging that I've been away from Blogland so frequently.
I lost my younger brother. I still keep wanting to send him wee messages about things and have to remind myself that he's no longer around to answer them.
This week my son, Gaz, had his fiftieth birthday. What!!
When one gets to one's eightieth year life should, in theory, be slowing down. In practice it seems to me that it's speeding up instead. The date of my birth seems further and further away on a daily basis.
All of a sudden things that I thought nothing about like climbing up ladders and wandering around roofs checking them have become things to either avoid or think very carefully about because my sense of balance isn't what it was.
My electric foldable bike has suddenly become too heavy and cumbersome to fold and put in the back of my car. Indeed my balance riding it had become rather problematic too.
I've suddenly realised that I'm no longer the spring chicken that I once was.
Don't get me wrong I'm neither complaining nor being maudling. I'm intensely proud of the fact that this body I inhabit and which, but for the then newly formed NHS would never have got past its teens, has served me well and is continuing so to do.
Despite having cancer since my diagnosis and operation in 1997 I am still being treated successfully. Every 4 months now I get my uretic stent renewed.
I have 5 or 6 stents in my heart since a heart attack in 2000.
I had a new knee eight years ago and it is so good I usually forget that it's not the original.
All this makes me realise that despite the underfunding and apparent attempts to privatise it and all the unfortunate hundreds of thousands of people waiting for appointments and treatment there are still millions of us who have benefitted hugely and who are still here to say 'Thank You' to the 1948 Labour Government which had the courage to establish it.
I too am very grateful that we have universal health care in Canada, in stark contrast to our neighbours to the south, where illness can bankrupt you - and frequently does. Our system is not perfect - it’s rare that anything is - but it certainly beats the alternative. Continued good health, Graham, with all your replacement parts to keep you going!
ReplyDeleteThank you, David. We take the NHS for granted and many do not realise that a freat deal of the world both rich and poor do not take care of their ill in the way that we do (even if our service is creaking at the moment).
DeleteYou have good reason to thank the NHS. I just wish people wouldn't abuse the system and use their commonsense sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Janice.
DeleteThe Beveridge Report which was the White Paper proposal for the NHS was a cross-party report. If Churchill had won the election after the war he would have announced the formation of the NHS.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it Rachel, Churchill was in favour of an NHS but on different lines to that implemented by Labour. I seem to recall that his model was not 'nationalisation' as was implemented but more based on the way GPs were paid. Only the poorest would have had full free hospital treatment.
DeleteIt was the Labour Party concessions that led to the two tier system that we have in the NHS by allowing private work to be carried out by the consultants. My studies show that the progress through Parliament was at many stages held back by Labour and not the Conservatives and it was a myth put around that the Conservatives were not going to implement the bill in order for Labour to win the election.
DeleteWell, I am pleased that, thanks to the NHS, you are still here with us in Blogland.
ReplyDeleteThank you JayCee. I'm pretty happy about it too 😂
Deletesending hugs,
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea.
DeleteSuch a lovely positive post, Graham. Wishing you much good health and happy adventures for years to come!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ellen.
DeleteThe NHS is certainly keeping us going well.
ReplyDeleteLong may it survive
I'll drink a toast to that GZ.
DeleteNhs does it's job but you have to work hard on your end to keep well. In our 80's we slow down so things seem to be moving faster.
ReplyDeleteRed, you are absolutely correct in my humble opinion. We all need to take responsibility for our health and our actions. To abuse one's body and then expect the NHS to mend it is irresponsible.
DeleteAgeing already seems to me to mysteriously affect my own concept of time as well as my use of it (and I'm not even 70 yet). Whenever I look back a few decades or so I usually end up wondering how on earth I found the time (or energy) for this or that (whatever it was) "back then", as I can't see myself managing it now. - With the loss of your brother on top of your own health issues this year, no wonder if you've found less time than usual for 'Blogland'. Always happy to see you "around" when I do, though - and I know I'm not the only one! :) - Here in Sweden we have a regional health system rather than a "national" one and I don't really know enough details about the NHS (nor perhaps even or own system!) to make comparisons. But I think England and Sweden are probably more alike than different (at least compared to for example the US where more seems to rely on private insurances).
ReplyDeleteI suspect, Monica, that our perspective of time alters all the way through life. It's just that we don't think about it until we get older. Our health and circumstances probably have as much effect as age alone.
DeleteNo doubt you're right about that, Graham!
DeleteI hear you Graham. I'm 53 and I no longer feel like I have the energy that I did 10 years ago. As you get older you just want to slow down and relax more. I'd be happy puttering around the house but I still have to work until I retire. I should feel blessed and happy that I'm healthy.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I'm sure that our physical health has a great deal to do with how old we feel and affects our mental health too.
DeleteGraham, You mentioned that your brother was more active on Instagram in the past few years. I was one of those who was lucky enough to enjoy photos and reels that he could quickly send to me. Even though I can't send him anything on Instagram, when I see something that I know he would love, I think of him and say a prayer for his loved ones who are missing him. You are lucky to have the NHS! I have only good things to say about it, knowing the care that my English in-laws received. God bless them all!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts and wishes, Kay.
DeleteI feel the more I slow down, the faster time passes. Except when I'm exercising. Then an hour takes an age to go by.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that the NHS has given you such good service but I doubt you would be enjoying the benefits of that service half as much as you have without your unfailing cheerfulness and positivity.
Anonymous (Pauline?) I wholeheartedly agree with your view of exercising. An hour at the gym always seems like two hours and so on. I'm fortunate to have been built of positive genes.
DeleteYes, that was me, Graham. I've been so absent from blogland I'd forgotten I need to sign in to your blog. I've long ago given up trying to figure out why.
DeleteI thank the NHS for still being here, too. Were we of our grandparents' generation we would both have departed long ago.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, Tasker, and it's a very sobering thought.
DeleteI'm glad the nhs is available. Illness is worrying enough without having to find money for treatment.
ReplyDeleteKylie, you are, of course, correct but even more than that in many countries many just can't find the money and suffer or die.
DeleteThe NHS was never perfect but it was moving ahead quite nicely until tragedy struck in 2010 - the election of a Tory government under Cameron. That is when the erosion started and their neglect has been so fulsome these last fourteen years that Labour will find it exceedingly difficult to turn things around.
ReplyDeleteYP, it's difficult to see what anyone can do now to return to the original system because, amongst other things, the increasing number of people who need treatment, the success of treatments and their costs now require such vast sums of money and the UK's economy has been brought to its knees and will not return to it's heyday in our lifetime. And I'm an optimist by nature.
DeleteI am glad you are still going.
ReplyDeleteAging is a unique the way brings health care to be such a large part of our lives.
In America, when companies found they can make tons of money off folks, the health care system became a disgusting nightmare.
Certainly, Maywyn, we are still fortunate in this country compared with many despite the current underfunding of the NHS.
DeleteI'm glad that you have benefited from the NHS. Life does get harder as we hit the eighties and the weeks seem to be filled with medical appointments. I get depressed at times but I try to find positives like seeing family. We too have benefited from our Medicare health system but we also have private health care too. Take care and don't climb ladders.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diane. I know from your posts that you have much for which to be thankful.
DeletePlease stay away from ladders and roofs, Graham! That's an order! :)
ReplyDeleteKeep taking good care of yourself...you are cherished by many..because you are a special kinda guy! :)
Gosh, Lee. You've actually brought a wee tear to my eyes.
DeleteThe NHS‘s and your own efforts combined have enabled you to still be around and still enjoy life. As you say, we have to take responsibility for how we live our lives and treat our bodies - we only get the one chance at it, although a lot can be mended now. If it weren‘t for affordable health care in Germany, I would slowly be going blind - instead, in my mid-50s I have better eye sight than at 7 years old!
ReplyDeleteYour brother is still very present in your mind and heart, as he should be, and I am sure it is the same for his wife and son. Your son turns 50?! Somehow, I had him down being much younger than I, not just a few years; maybe because his son is still little… or am I mistaken there, too?
Meike, Gaz's son is just 6 years old. Gaz only married 10 years ago. I always think of you and your positivity over your eyes because I have two close friends who were/are both almost blind but are benefitting greatly from modern medicines and treatments which were not available until relatively recently. So they are both still independent.
DeleteJanice is absolutely right - commonsense seems to have gone out of the window. Even in my tiny little village I see people not taking the slightest care of themselves - eating stupidly, drinking too much, no exercise, and then expect the NHS to fix the consequences of their stupidity. Many of them seem to believe it is their right to do what the hell they like and take no responsibility for their own health. Which just stretches resources for those who are ill through no fault of their own.
ReplyDeleteAs always Graham, you have summed up so eloquently: Thank You to the 1948 Labour Government which had the courage to establish it. I wonder if we will have a government in future who have the courage to try to change the behaviours which have contributed to so many current problems.
Thanks for your comments, Jayne. I am by nature an optimist but it seems to me that the problems we are facing as a country not just in the NHS but in many other areas are such that the generations coming after us are in for a rough time.
DeleteLike our system, it must be constantly defended and while far from perfect, it doesn't send people home to die if they can't afford to pay.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, when I was living in New Zealand there was an incident where an New Zealand student was left to die when visiting another country. It caused an international incident. The country simply shrugged it's shoulder and said no travel insurance and no money then no treatment. We are so fortunate.
DeleteIt sounds like America to me. Land of the haves, where nothing is free, and the crowds are all crazy each day.
DeleteBefore Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law that allowed health care to become 'for profit', we had a working system. However, once profits became the driving force, we now have a broken system. Some people have insurance. Some do not. The insurance companies can bargain with hospitals for lower pricing. People without insurance do not have that ability. The costs of medical care is mindboggling. Yet, when we talk about systems like yours, the argument is always about socialism. As if 'socialism' is worse than what we have now. People die here because they don't have access to proper medical care.
ReplyDeleteDebby (apologies I missed your comment) I suppose when one is wealthy and a 'have' it is very easy to believe in socialism as being undesirable. I've never been quite sure why it's undesirable though.
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