HOSPITAL VISITORS!

Joe was pain-free and cheerful when I visited the hospital yesterday so this post is a complete change to that of yesterday. The doctor finally managed to fit a catheter which was an extremely painful experience but the good news is that Joe is now pain-free. 

He had palled up with the guy in the next bed and we all had a good laugh. One of the main causes for laughter was the fact that they had ordered turkey for dinner but were later told there was no turkey. 'The bird had flown' was the joke of the day. But then I added to it with this tale. 

On my way to the ward I spotted something through a huge picture window that overlooked the roof covering the hospital entrance. I thought it was a bird so I had to go and look, didn't I? You know me and birds. Well, I was right, it was a bird. A dead one, with a gentle breeze ruffling it's feathers. As took the picture this thought passed through my mind....

Hospitals are supposed to take care of visitors, even those on a flying visit....

That, plus the tale of the missing turkey had the patients in stitches (not literally!)

Titbits... and other issues

CHRISTMAS... so much to look forward to, so quickly over. Ours was lovely. It started with a phone call from Australia and a later call from my son. Joe and I had Christmas Day lunch at Moor Hall, one of our favourite hotels. We go every year because we know we’ll get brilliant food and meet some nice folk. Afterwards we came home to indulge in cake and open presents. Now I want you to listen very carefully over the next few months because I’m sure you will hear me laughing wherever you are. Why? Because I am now the proud possessor of Series 1, 2, and 3 of Mrs Brown’s Boys plus a book entitled Mrs Brown’s Family Handbook. Already I’ve learned what to do with a tea towel!!!!! 

These should keep me out of mischief for a while, don't you think?

BROADBAND

Thank goodness we have Broadband working again thus enabling me to send greetings over the Internet. It was awful not being able to get on line. It was like being deprived of a daily fix, which I guess was true. Heehee not only that but it could have meant you being deprived of Christmas gift viewing for a few days longer than necessary. Isn’t it astonishing how reliant we are on computers and other gadgets that keep us in touch with the world?

LATEST MEDICAL NEWS

Joe never misses the opportunity to crack a joke. During a recent emergency visit to hospital with a suspected infection the following took place.

We went on the advice of the district nurse who was unhappy about there being so much blood in the urine. Of course, we had to go through A & E before being referred to a ward (now well known to us) to await consultation with a man who knows about these things.

The paperwork was in front of us and it struck me that it was exactly a month since our last visit for the same thing. When I pointed this out to Joe he remarked that it was like a monthly cycle and wondered if he was changing into a woman. Stick with me on this, folks, in case he was right and I need help!

I won’t go on, except to say that as yet nothing has been cleared up. Chemo is supposed to take place on 2^nd January if the doctor will allow it. He didn’t the last time!

FINALLY – THE LATEST ON HOOVER

In the wisdom of the Correspondence Team they did not notify the engineer that nobody would be home on the Thursday, nor did they take any notice of my email in which I opted for an offered Tuesday visit ... thus when I got back home on Thursday I found a note from him to say he had called. He included a phone number in the note but it wasn’t his number ... it was one of those irritating-button-pressing responses to umpteen questions scenarios.  Fortunately the engineer had the sense to ring me to arrange another appointment. I explained about the Tuesday/Thursday mix up to which he replied that the Correspondence Team had not notified him of any change. He mentioned that he wasn’t surprised! There and then we fixed a future date and he emailed it back to CT. Pity he didn’t turn up!

Today's News

I’ve just dropped Joe off at the hospital Day Case Unit. We left home at 07.30 for an appointment at 08.00. The traffic wasn’t as bad as expected.... that’s because it waited for me to return home. Phew... I’d forgotten what chaos is caused on the roads by commuter and school traffic. Oh well, I have a few hours to recover. I say a few hours but it could be longer since I/we have no idea what Joe’s there for.

Tomorrow he has another nuclear medicine scan so that rules out a scan for today. There was talk of replacing the nephrostomy tube and a suggestion that they might even update the nephrostomy bag. It can’t be more serious than that because he goes in for a minor op on the 13^th to have a stent removed. This is the start of the investigation into what has always been thought of as the ‘good’ kidney. Hopefully the nuclear scan will clear up the mystery. One thing is certain, until the puzzle is solved Joe can’t undergo any proper treatment. However, bless him, he is still remarkably cheerful. I had hoped that treatment would have started before now but I can see Christmas looming so maybe it will all happen in the New Year.

So I’m looking round the house and wondering what to do with myself until I have to collect Joe at the hospital. All the housework is done, breakfast things cleared away, and beds made. Isn’t it strange how a change in routine affects our movements? I suppose I could knuckle down and finish the story I started to write several weeks ago, but somehow my heart isn’t in it.

By the way, talking of stories... I have another two orders for the cat and dog books. I am so thrilled that they’re proving popular. The way it’s going I can see another reprint on the way. 

That's it for today, how about if I put a few pictures on this post as a means of tailing off... then perhaps I can devote my time to doing... nothing.   

An unusual shot of the television

Loitering with intent!

Reflected Glory

Last Night's Sky!

LATEST NEWS

My lovely stepdaughter is getting married in November, in Australia, and it’s really sad that her father is unable to attend because of ill health. So what we've done is to give Rosanne a wedding present that we can all enjoy. A video, professionally done, of the whole occasion, the wedding and the reception. I just know we'll be choked up when we see it.

Without going into too much detail, I’ll just touch on the various appointments with doctors and hospitals. After one of the yearly ‘well man’ blood checks our local doctor was worried about Joe’s kidneys, and that led to numerous hospital appointments and the discovery of a cancerous tumour on the bladder. A failed attempt was made to fit a stent to move it away from the kidney and another one was planned.

In the meantime an emergency visit was made to our surgery where we were seen by a new-to-us doctor, Dr Begum, believed to be a locum. Dr Begum, a lady of Asian [presumed] descent, was apparently a former surgeon. Since then she has telephoned twice to see how Joe is and to offer assistance in the form of explanation about what goes on inside the body and what the operation attempts to achieve. Bearing in mind she is not the doctor we are registered with, I think it was very kind of her to take time out of a busy schedule to check on Joe’s welfare.

So the BIG C hits home. Not something you plan for under normal circumstances, is it? However, whilst Joe is not overjoyed at the news he is being level headed about it and I know that as reality sinks in he will face it and the future optimistically. There are two choices on which medical route to take, surgery or chemo plus radiotherapy. Both were fully explained so make a decision easier. At the moment we’re thinking about surgery, since there is a chance the cancer will grow again after radiotherapy. However, the final choice may well be influenced by the outcome of the next scan (known as nuclear medicine). It’s definitely a wait-and-see game. 

Right now Joe is back in hospital having had an operation to fit a new stent. Please God this works.

View from the ward window

View from Joe's bed

Needless to say my blogging time is limited. However, Joe and I are indulging in the good wishes of friends. My heart overflows with all the kindness, concern and encouraging words.

PRINTED BOOKS

To give me something to do while spending so much time at home I’ve been sorting out all my writing and getting it printed. Yes, I’m having everything turned into books by a great printing firm I found on-line. Not overly expensive, either. It was something I had wanted to do for years to pass on to the family.

 I’m half way through the operation and enjoying it immensely. Several copies of each book have been ordered and I’m donating one of each to the WI to raise funds. We have an auction coming up soon so it will be interesting to see if there are any bids! I’m actually enjoying this more than when I put stuff on Kindle, and the print is more accurate than Kindle manages to achieve. I get the layout I want, and spaces and indentations where I want them, instead of submitting it correctly and having Kindle change it to their way of doing things.

I get rather frustrated when I read downloaded books and find so many large gaps between paragraphs and layouts that I’m pretty sure are not the fault of the author. Gone are the days when publishers edited our work before printing but since we can’t get them interested in the first place I guess we have to put up with second best. It’s a tough world!

Will visit you all as soon as I can.... you can bet on that. Hugs to you all.

SCRAPS OF STUFF

Isn’t it great when a bit of humour appears out of nothing? Quite often I will send reminder notes to myself by email. With a memory like mine it’s a dependable way of making sure I don’t forget something important plus the fact that it’s faster than trying to find pen and paper. Occasionally, if I find something on the internet that I think would interest Joe I send him a link by email. Recently though, when one of the emails didn’t arrive on his iPad I went back on line to search for it. Could I find it? Could I heck! At that point Joe made the comment that it ‘shouldn’t have lost its way, after all I’m only in the next room.’ Droll or what? He’s quite a comic on the quiet.

Do you ever have spiders on the bedroom ceiling? If so, does it worry you? Can you sleep if there’s one hovering above you? I had one visit me the other night. It hung down on a thread then scurried back up. After a few seconds it tried again but when I sneezed the silly arachnid took fright and went back to the safety of the ceiling.  Or so he thought. What he hadn’t reckoned on was my ability to get out of bed and fetch a long-handled duster from the next room. It must have seen me coming because he scarpered the minute I went back in the room and now I’m wondering exactly where he is..............

(Picture courtesy www.hsj.co.uk)

I had to take Joe to the hospital for tests the other day for an appointment at 19.00 hours. While he was being seen to I stayed in a little waiting room shared by a nurse/receptionist, who was on the phone the whole time.  Her one-sided conversation was fascinating. The person she was talking to, known to us listeners as Darlin’, had obviously missed an appointment and was trying to get another one for that day. The nurse explained that the department closed at 20.00 hours and pointed out that the journey would take too long and by the time she/he got there they would have all gone home. She offered to fix another appointment for next day but Darlin’ obviously didn’t want that.

To us that would be enough of an explanation, but to Darlin’ it was obviously a big problem and she/he kept repeating the request for an appointment that evening. Well, the nurse went all round the globe trying to explain but Darlin’ just couldn’t get it. Eventually, a nursing sister arrived and took over the phone, and the listeners were treated to yet another extensive one-sided discourse with the same things being explained over and over again. Their attitude and patience over that twenty minute period and the way they treated the patient was incredible and I got to wondering how many people, in this day and age, would be as tolerant? If medals could be handed out I’d give one each to those remarkable nurses.

With Google Reader on the way out I joined both FEEDLY and BLOGLOVIN just in case Google removed my blogroll as well. So far, so good with the blogroll although I have noticed one or two hiccups in recent days. Normally I just click on the blog title and get straight in but once or twice certain blogs have been missing in action  from the list. I found them by visiting Bloglovin!

I have to admit that I didn’t get on well with Feedly (couldn’t get the hang of it) so made Bloglovin the main one. Having found the blogs I wanted I went on a visit, via Bloglovin. No problem, that is until I tried to leave a comment and found I couldn’t. I got round it by copy/pasting the blog’s URL but it was a bit inconvenient. All is well on Bloglovin today though, comments could be left, but it just shows that it’s not only Google that occasionally backfires. I have yet to check the blogroll.

Now for a bit of macabre humour:

I have just completed my funeral plan at the funeral parlour and what a laugh that has provided. I thought it would be a gloomy thing to do but it was just the opposite. I now have to think what I want to wear on the big day and if I want people to visit. Gosh, a visit means having a decent coffin and best clothes, doesn’t it? I’m a bit proud, you know, I don’t want people to think I hadn’t bothered about appearances.

In discussion with the person arranging my plan I was asked what music I wanted. I chose West Life’s ‘You Lift Me Up’ on entry and ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ at the end because I want people to go out smiling. One thing that made me feel good was a suggestion she made to me. I had given her my ‘profile’... you know the sort of thing, where I worked and why ... and she remarked on the bit about achievements. So I told her about the story that won the Lady Denman Cup... A Man In My Life. She asked to read it.... and the upshot of that is that she thinks it should also be read out at the Crem. If that’s not an honour, I don’t know what is. For obvious reasons I won’t be able to let you know how it goes.... grins.

Oh well, that’s enough stuff for today. I don’t want to bore you to death ... especially if you haven’t ‘done a plan’.