PART 4
THE LIFE DIARIES
CONCLUDED
(WELL NEARLY...)
(HOW WRONG I WAS PROVED TO BE!!!! - READ ON......)
1993 - 2016
This Post / Chapter will be lengthy - and will essentially conclude this Autobiography. The detail of the years since 1994 will be filled by stories of my 3 Sons and Grandchildren, my Ascendent Career, and as always my enduring relationship with my soul mate.
HOWEVER - THE STORY DOES NOT END HERE
THERE IS MORE TO COME....
Those years were full, busy - and there were some wonderfull "Ups" - contrasted with some very difficult "Downs".
Nevertheless you will find links to adendums and appendices that will cover in more detail some of the finer points raised in the Autobiographical Conclusion.
If you have read the Life Diaries you will by now have grasped the fundamentals of the person that I think am. Thus this post. although lengthy, will be essentially a very descriptive account, a outline of events as they unfolded, with perhaps some simple reflection on the effect of those events.
1993 Onwards !! At the time of writing this was a 23 year period - in many ways that was a lifetime in itself. Moving from a family with three young children to family with three young Grandchildren.
I have repeatedly stated in these Diaries that it was never my intention to delve into dreary detail.... It was my intention to leave a legacy of event and history for future generations to reflect on. I hope that this post will illuminate the broad events of that 23 years, not the minutia.
This account is a tapestry of our Boys growing up and maturing, of Jans multiple career events, of our holidays and joys. It is and account of Fishing with your Sons, of going to the Scouts, and of shooting air rifles. It is a descriptive account of the many minutia that contribute and builds on the greater picture that describes YOU, your career, and your family.
1993-1994
By now I had finished my B.Ed in Cardiff in 1992 and graduated. I returned to the (now) College of Nursing and Midwifery as it merged with Swansea University. Thrown into Pre Reg Teaching I was initially based at the Old Portacabinn Comlex at Morriston. Shortly aferwards I was transfered to the Main Campus and was housed in an old delapidated office block that backed onto Singleton Park - a building long since demolished. I shared my office with a lovely Colleague - Lillian Carthew.
Events moved swiftly, I was transfered (with Lillian) to the Parc Beck site. My career evolved and I found muself running what was then called Part 1 of a part time Bachelor in Nursing Degree (BN) designed specifically for qualified practicing Nurses - running at weekends. It was also at this time I was approached and asked to be involved in a new innovative Diploma in Nurse Practitioning, this franchised from the RCN. That was to set me on a career path that that would define me.
And despite my better judgement, and in the spirit of untoward enthusiasm, I started my MPhil!
It was at this time, as the boys were a little older, we started to have some memorable family holidays. We visited a wondeful old farm (Raydale) in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. And then there was SouthTrew in Devon, a small pretty holiday complex - and we all swam in a wonderful heated pool and developed a passion for Carp Fishing....
1995
In this year I complete Masters degree.
It was wonderful to Graduate at the elaborate and colourful Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, with my beloved wife and smiling boys smiling up at me from the audience.
I was moved back to Morriston - now a new shiney purpose built School of Nursing building - so different from the ageing Porta Cabin I had entered a few years earlieer. The Nurse Practitioner programme was transfered to this site where it would flourish as a Degree and later as a Masters programme.
And then in a fit of madness we got a Dog. And not just any dog, a Springer Spaniel - as mad as a Hatter - this reflected in the name his new brothers (Tom, Sam and Robert) chose for him.
Fidgit - the 4th Brother
Fidgit the Springer Spaniel lived a long happy life - passing peacefully at the age of 14 years - whilst eating his final KitKat
And this year we holidayed in Scotland - an amazing week in an amazing place... It was like being in the Mediterinian....
Loch Caolisport
1996
At this time I take over the academic management of the Nurse Practitioner programme. This was a real acheivement for me, and I navigated its revalidation from a Diploma programme to a Degree - BSc.
Also at this time Jan has many different job experiences, some more positive than others.
Community Nurse (this was OK....)
Maxillofacial surgery at Morriston Hospital (this was not OK)
Finally Bank Nursing suits well - enabling flexibility around my Teaching Role.
1997
And then!!! I start a PhD!!!
This research project would ultimately define me in so many ways - my Scholarship, my determination and ambition, and one of the ultimate outcomes of the tremendous path I had travelled from the young man I had been in London.
In this year we holiday in Centre Parks in Nottingham with friends. And lovely it was to....
Jan takes a job briefly in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) Singleton.
1998
Sam gets ill............
The beginning of a very long and difficult story.
Of this I will write in more detail elsewhere - as it is truely a saga. Surfice it to say Sam developed chronic Pain Secondary to a Congenital Vascual Malformation. There was no cure. In the years that followed he was tormented by Neuropathic Pain with all the psychologic trauma that this entailed.
Our life as a family would enivitably be shaped by this.
However - 1998 was a beginning - a sore calf... Little did we know....
1999
In this year Sam became very ill - Chronic Pain dominated us all, or so it felt. There were endless visits to Specialists across the UK - but all to no avail. Sam became intermitantly a Wheel Chair user. We learnt how pain was an invisible disablement.
Sam had Surgery that did little to help - arguably it made things worse. Jan gave up full time work, and Sam would eventually recieve Home Tuition and Special Assistance when he was able to attend School.
There are many stories of woe and sadness I could tell - long painful nights and difficult events - but I do not intend to dwell on these...
HOWEVER
We strove as family to preserve some sense of normality - Tom and Robert had all the attention they deserved despite their brothers illness.
We acqured an old Caravan - and visited the New Forest and Devon.
AND WE WERE STILL - FAMILY !!!
2000
And so we entered a New Millenium
The World Celebrated
And of course we joined in....
My boys grew toward manhood, and despite all the hurdles in their way, particularly Sam
I was proud of them...
In this year my professional identity matured - and I developed strong ties with the RCN / and saw the emergence of the Association of Advanced Nurse Practitioner Educators (AANPE) - and alliance of Uniiversitities that I would eventually Chair.
In this year we holidayed in Edinburgh and South Trew
2001
It is to my and Jans eternal surprise and everlasting pride that Tom starts training as a Nurse. His own decision, following a job as a care assistant in a Nursing Home, he launched into his new career, one in which he was to be ultimately very succesful.
In this year we holidayed in South Trew again. Carp Fishing has gripped the boys...
2002
Well Well - Tom and Sam have girlfriends
We holiday in Centre Parks Holland
2003
We spend Jans 50th in the Two Bridges Hotel on Dartmoor
Later this year we holiday in Spain with Marriotts
2004
I become the National Chair of AANPE
(Association of Advanced Nurse Practitioner Educators)
We get our 1st VW Van and our 1st journey out is to St Davids in West Wales
We holiday in Cornwall - More Carp Fishing
2005
Tom qualifies as a Registered Nurse - and gets his 1st Staff Nurse post in ITU
Tom and Nia become a couple
AND I PASS MY PhD!!! Which was amazing....
We go to the Trowbridge Folk Festival- Huge Fun
2006
On my 50th Birthday.....
1st Van blows up....!!!! No seriously it did .... Well OK it caught fire....
Jan and I holiday in Jersey
Such Fun
We get our 2nd VW Van
And Holiday in Ireland with the Marriots
A Fabulaous Week...
2007
Again - we go to Trowbridge Folk Festival
I spend 6 months as a Council of Deanns Policy Officer
Which was interesting.....
Jan gets a job at the BAYS - Homeless Childrem - Barnados
Homeless rough Teenagers appear to love my wife
Jan is their surrogate MUM!!!!
2008
Dr Barton - Head of Nursing and Associate Professor of Nursing...
Can you friggin believe it......
Fidgit - the fourth brother Dies
Eating a KitKat
Sam has disastrous treatment in Liverpool
999 into Morriston
Tom and Nia Marry
Such a lovely day....
Rob reading Politics at Aberystwyth University
2009
Rufus the Springer Spaniel joins the family
Jan & I holiday in the Isle of Skye
Trowbridge Folk Festival
In this year I beginn to have bouts of Ill Health
Artheritis - Colitis
2010
Rob is in University and living the dream..
Sam still has Chronic Pain but is striving for normality.... With limited success...
Shrewsbury Folk Festival
Jan & I holiday in Cyprus with the Marriots
2011
Robert Graduates witha 2:1 in politics...
and then he meets Flavie
Tom & Nia - our 1st Grandchild = Daffyd
2012
Jan & I holiday in Longleat
Sam develops Drug Addiction problems
Adrella (Peter) dies...
And I get Hep E - and recover
I have a right Hip Replacement
A memorably bad year.....
2013
Sam & Nicola - 2nd Grandchaild = Izaak
Words Fail Me....
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2014
2015
Jan and I
Health Problems
Retirement....
2016
Rob & Flav - 3rd Grandchild = Louis
Words Fail me again....
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CONCLUSION (TO THIS LIFE CHAPTER): An Overview of the 90s 20s - the world - Janet and I were growing older - we desired stability - that was nevertheless disrupted by life events and ageing.....
OUR LEGACY......
