Bearsy

On a cold, foggy night in November 1959, a group of seven unknown boys knocked on my door. The reason that they were there is not relevant to my story. One of those boys was Bearsy.

From that time on he was my friend. He was always there, somewhere – utterly dependable, and honest.  It was probably inevitable that we should, finally, marry. 

Wednesday morning my Bear collapsed. He was in surgery within three hours – and although there seems to be some improvement, he has not yet regained conciousness. 

He’s a stubborn b*r, and we all hope that that stubbornness will bring him through.

I have debated whether to post this, but we have been a little ‘community’ for a long time now.

Thank you all. 

80 thoughts on “Bearsy”

  1. Oh, Boadicea, I genuinely wish The Bear a swift and full recovery and you were absolutely rtight to post this.

    OZ

  2. Thanks OZ. I’m back to the hospital soon. There seems to have been some improvement over night.

  3. Dear Boadicea.

    I’m so sorry to hear this and I am thinking of you both. I hope the news will be better when you return to the hospital.

    Sincere wishes to Your Bear for a speedy recovery, and keep strong!

    Love to you both,

    Araminta.
    xx

  4. So sorry to hear this, Boadicea. I am sure all Charioteers join me in wishing the Ursine one a rapid and complete recovery and you the strength to see him back to health.

  5. What a terrible shock, Boadicea. All sincere good wishes for Bearsy’s recovery. I’m thankful to hear that he has improved overnight.

  9. Thank you for telling us, Boadicea. I wish Bearsy a speedy recovery and you lots of strength.

  10. Whilst i’ve had my disagreements with the bear I was sad to hear this. I sincerely hope he recovers soon.

    Stay strong.

  11. Boadicea – thanks for sharing this; if thoughts and prayers were to help then a large slice of that surely comes from this “little community”. i hope given more rest and attention he will come through. We know he is a fighter. Bear up Boadicea, we are with you from afar.

  12. The first thing that he’s going to want to know when he wakes up is who won yesterday’s cricket final, make sure you tell him that The Aussies won a nailbiter.

    Why am I up at this ridiculous hour? Well, we’re playing NZ over in Dunedin in a 5 day test which has sort of turned into a second innings shootout, we should walk it on paper, give the New Zealanders a cricketing lesson but as we all know, cricket’s played on grass, not paper!

    You are both in my thoughts and prayers, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

  14. Hello Boadicea, my sincerest best wishes to you both and I hope that Bearsy makes a full recovery. Thank you for letting us know.

  16. Well it’s the hospital staff I feel sorry for. Anytime soon that grumpy ol’ Bear will be up and demanding to know who put the superfluous apostrophe in his porridge. They’d just better watch out that’s all.

    So sad to hear this dreadful news Boadicea but thank you for sharing it. My best wishes to Bearsy and fondest hopes for a speedy recovery, but makesure you take care of yourself too. It’s all too easy to neglect your own health when others are ill.

    I will look in very regularly for further news of you both and rest assured you will both be in our hearts and minds.

  18. So sorry to hear the news and my very best wishes for a speedy recovery.
    Take care of yourself as well Boa.

  19. Thank you all.

    By the time I reached the hospital this morning, Bearsy had recovered sufficiently for the hospital staff to be sure that he was aware of his surroundings and was able to understand and respond to simple questions. I have no doubt that he knew I was there and was struggling to communicate. They seem to be truly amazed that he is doing so well and so quickly, but they also made sure that I know that, at this stage, they can offer no certainties.

    I may not know many people here in Brisbane, but my daughter, with the support of her new husband, has helped no end. – and my grandson not only cooked a tempting meal for me yesterday evening, but also managed to take my mind off my problems by engaging me in a discussion on his newly found interest in Greek mythology. He knows me well!

    I would hope that you all continue to use this site in the way it was intended – and that I can in the days to follow look in and find discussions that will help me take my mind away from more serious matters…

    Thank you all again… 😉

  21. Encouraging news, Boadicea, I’m so glad, let us hope that Bearsy continues to improve! Thank you for the update.

    I understand your feeling about the site continuing as normal, if only to offer you a distraction for you. I’m just off out but I’ll see if I can find a suitable knitting pattern to publish on my return. 😉

  22. Boadicea: I’m very sorry to hear about Bearsy, I’m late to this as usual. Halfway up England and just found a wifi spot. Give him all my very best wishes for a full recovery.

  24. Very encouraging that Bearsy is awake and responding, Boadicea. Thinking of you both. x

  25. I hope he is on the way to recovery and soon gets back to being bearish.

    Strange how this bit of news has brought back many people who we have not seen for some time.

  28. Bearsy has not yet recovered consciousness, he has only responded to simple questions and recognised my voice.

    Many thanks again for your support. I must remember to warn the hospital not to inadvertently drop apostrophes into his medication ….

  29. Sorry, Boadicea, it sounded as though he was conscious, but it is still encouraging news. I like your last paragraph very much and I am sure he will too. 🙂

  30. Best wishes to the Bear and yourself, Boadicea. I hope he soon recovers.

    Like Ara, I’ll try to dig out a tractor blog or something to keep the site ticking over.

  32. Soutie,

    Considering the importance of this post, do you think it should be a sticky at the top of everything else? At least until the Bear is back on his paws.

  33. Update.

    Bearsy is off sedation. Still very disorientated and dozy. He is doing amazingly well. He is obviously aware of his surroundings and managed to say my name today. As you all know I’m not the emotional sort – but I did nearly cry… I left early today to let him sleep.

    Ferret – I can stick it at the top if people think I should.

  34. Great News Boadicea,

    I asked Soutie because I assumed you had enough on your books. The sticky was a mere suggestion and not a three line whip. 🙂 I would consider news of any charioteer who was unwell, important enough to warrant the top spot.

    Do the medical types have any idea what happened to Bearsy?

  36. Boadicea: It is good to hear that the Bear is making progress

    It is, of course, entirely up to you if you make this post sticky but I am sure many Charioteers would like to follow his progress, and it would be much easier for everyone to post messages of good wishes and encouragement to both of you if the post stayed at the top of the blog. All the best to you all.

  37. Ferrett – I look in here at night for some light relief… my grandson did a magnificent job the other night by cooking me a great meal and engaging me in a discussion on politics, economics and comparative mythology – he knows me well!

  38. I’m late to this as I haven’t been around much: so I’m very glad it has been put at the top of the page, so I found it just now.

    I’m sorry to hear he is unwell, though the news of improvement is encouraging.

    Please, when he is well enough to take it in send my best wishes and (dare I say it…?) a bear hug.

  46. Would you mind if I ask what sort of collapse and surgery Bearsy underwent, Boadicea? (Delete this comment if too personal)

    So glad he’s out of intensive scare.

  47. Boadicea – you are right, Bearsy IS a stubborn bugg*r. . That you have been there for him no doubt has been a life-line. I do hope continued rest and attentions from the medical staff keep his progress inching forward day by day. But more than that I hope Bearsy is up to it – he may never regain the full swing of his paw but any old growl from him would be sweet news. Hows about putting a troublesome wasp in a jar by his bedside?. His recovery so far is testimony to the man his is. Thanks for keeping us informed. .

  49. Very good news, Boadicea. I shall raise a glass of Australian wine to the health of both of you.

    papaguinea – as regards the troublesome wasp by the bedside, how about a recording of a speech by Julia? That should have Bearsy up and growling.

  59. Sorry for silence – no news is, as they say, good news. My daughter has been carting me off in the evenings to make sure I eat.

    For fairly obvious reasons, I hope you all understand, I don’t want to post too many details on an open site. But, Bearsy is waking up more frequently – and seems to know what is going on. He is doing so well, in fact, that I managed to get a decent night’s sleep.

    🙂

  60. Boa: I am quite sure all Charioteers respect your feelings, but all of this is promising news. I trust the Bear will continue to progress.

  67. Good, he’s going to want a bit of news, so-

    1) Australia thrashed the West Indies in a low scoring game yesterday.

    2) We completely annihilated New Zealand in the 2nd Test beating them well within 3 days.

    3) Sashin finally got his 100th ton.

    That’ll do for now 😉

  68. I know Bearsy’s not a follower of Formula 1 racing, but it might cheer him up to know that their are two Aussie drivers in the top ten on the grid for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne tomorrow.

  69. In the Six nations, Wales beat France to take the Grand Slam; England beasting Ireland.l

  70. Hi Boa, I haven’t been on the site in quite a long time, life being at bit overwhelming this past year and a half. I’m not sure what made me decide to log on today, but in one way I’m glad I have. I am so sorry to hear your bad news, but I do wish you and Bearsy all the best, and a speedy and full recovery. Do take care of yourself as well. Jaime

  74. At the moment, Bearsy is not following the cricket – or much else. He is still very drowsy. He slept through most of my visit today – but I’m told he was awake most of the night.

    He is making progress, but it will be a long haul – two steps forward, one step back.

    I feel much encouraged today because I’m quite sure that he came out with one of his short wise-crack comments that have annoyed so many people for years, accompanied by the grin that no one here has ever seen.

    Thanks, once again for all your kind wishes.

    I’ll edit out your mistake, Sheona, before printing this to show him

  76. Thanks you all for the comments here. I’ll keep people posted as the situation changes. It really is time to take this off the top of the page.

  77. That’s your decision Boadicea,

    It’s your post, but for me at least it is always the first place I go 2 or 3 times a day. I see no reason why it should be unstuck until the Bear is up and about once more.

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