I was awake at six. Went out with my wife. She went to work. I went to the hospital for a blood test. Then a bus to a coffee shop. Priorities! Then another bus to Costco. Waiting outside for them to open at 10:00.
Well, half an hour and £260 later, Costco shopping is done. Waiting for Uber now, as too much to get on the bus!
When I got home, it took me much longer to portion the meat for the two of us. Still, we have enough meat for 44 days. I also got yoghurt and cheese. I do prefer cheese from the cheesemongers, but the Costco stuff is better than regular supermarket stuff, and good enough for my sandwiches for work. Now, I think I might have a stroll to the pub for a couple of pints. I need to check when Amazon is arriving first, though. It’s Subscribe & Save Delivery Day.
I had 3 pints of London pride and a Lamberger and fries at the Queen’s head and then I’m on my way home because Amazon delivery flagged that going to arrive any time from 315 actually turns out that I’m more than one delivery but the first one only arrived at 5:15. But it doesn’t matter because I didn’t really wanna have any more to drink at the pub anyway. I feel quite tired, and I have to get up early for work.
I’m not allowed to lift much. I’m not allowed to turn my head much. I’m not in any pain, just discomfort. I feel rather drained, but other than that, I’m fine in myself.
I have a ton of jobs to do around the house, but I cannot do the mright now. I wanted to get out in the garden and get some stuff sorted out, but it will have to wait.
What can I do right now?
Well, I can sit here and write like this. I can read books, blogs, and magazines, and I have many of each, so no shortage there. I can take myself out for a walk. That’s fine as long as it’s not raining or too cold. I can listen to music. I can watch TV, which is my case will mostly be YouTube videos of interest. I can do some photography editing indoors, and if I go out for a walk, I can take my camera with me. I could walk to the pub for a couple of beers, as I’m not on any medication that would prevent it. At the moment, though, I’m not really feeling like that.
Right now, after I’ve posted this, I’m going to go get myself another mug of hot coffee.
So the day has finally arrived. I was told initially that I would have this operation last February. I was told this the previous August, so it’s a six-month wait.
Non-urgent operattions are often pushed back, which, although this can lead to extra discomfort, and perhaps a longer time in pain, have to give way to the life -theatening events.
The whole thing really goes back about ten years or more. I started getting a cough. Not all the time, but sometimes when sat down after walking about or other exercise, or after eating. Down theyears it got slowly but surely more persistent.
I went to my GP. As I have a history of Acid Reflux, he prescribed an extra dose of Omeprazole. That didn’t do any good, and I didn’t really want to be taking more Omeprazole, as there’s some evidence that long-term use of it isn’t always good, in any case.
In 2016, I had been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. In 2023, I mentioned this cough to my gastroenterologist, as I know that Crohn’s can effect the digestive tract anywhere from the mouth to the anus. He didn’t think there was any evidence that it was Crohn’s causing the cough, and he referred me to ENT for investigation.
I was also referred to the Royal Marsden Hospital, which is the UK’s leading cancer centre, to check if the cough was due to anything malignant. I waited a little while to get the result, but it was returned negative.
Meanwhile, I had a CT scan in ENT, and then a further CT scan that found nodules on my thyroid. Many people over 50 have such nodules, but in my case the nodules were growing inwards and pushing against my osephagus and my gullet. This is what was cause the coughing and it was gradually getting worse as they grew.
I was referred to the thyroid team at St. Mary’s Hospital, and after further scans, I was offered an operation to remove the offending part of my thyroid. As i said above this was originally, scheduled for February 2025, but got pushed back. I would have had ot when it was rescheduled for August 2025, but as I unfortuately had a major DVT in May, it was felt that August was too soon afterwards. It is generally felt that at least a six month wait after such an event is prudent, and safer.
So, I was then offered the date of January 16th 2026. I had to go through a number of tests and appointments to determine I would be OK to have the procedure done. Everything was completely and clearly explained to me, and I was a reassured as I could be.
As the day approached, I felt rather apprehensive of course. How much pain would I be in afterwards? What if I had a bad reaction to the annesthetic? It turns out there was no realy reason to worry..
The pre-op care was excellent. The operation went well, and the post operative care has been very good too. Im in a room of just four beds.
It’s relatively quiet, and I have no complaints about the food either. I have to stay in until at least tomorrow for observation, after which, if all goes well, I will be allowed home
One thing I have to restart for the New Year is my regular eight-weekly infusions at West Middlesex Hospital. The first one was this morning.
After having a little game to get there, with various buses and ending with a short walk from the main road, I got there just in time for my 09:30 appointment.
West Middlesex Hospital – Main Entrance
After leaving there and just missing an H22 bus, we took a 117 and got off at Bell Corner and went into The Moon Under Water, the local Wetherspoons Pub on Staines Road.
Wetherspoons Large Breakfast
We were both hungry. Kathy had the American Breakfast, with pancakes and syrup, eggs and sausages, and I had the full English above.
Some decent beers were on the handpump there too. I had a couple of them.
Cask AleCask AleCask Ale 5.0%Cask AleCask Ale
There are the snobs out there who complain about Wetherspoons, but I’ve always had a decent cask ale in my local one, and found the food to be of decent quality too.
I was awake this morning around 7.20. I toyed with the idea of trying to go back to sleep but by the time I had made the obligatory bathroom visit I was too alert.
Time to go to the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. That done, I went back to bed for another hour, sipped my coffee and read the morning’s news on my iPad. News has changed over the past few days; Brexit has given way to coronavirus or Covid-19 to give it its official title. We’ve had four deaths so far in the UK. All four were reported to have established underlying health issues before their demise. It’s still a bit concerning of course, as I’m in one of the higher risk groups myself, being in my sixties.
Had a quiet morning and a bacon sandwich for lunch before heading out to go to the hospital for an appointment regarding my hernia. We got there in good time and waited quite a while as they were running about 45 minutes late.
I’ve got to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy to check everything is OK before they do anything else, so I just have to wait for an appointment for those to come through.
As we left the consultant’s office disaster struck. As I put my shoulder bag back on, my mobile phone fell out and hit the floor. It broke the screen protector and also the screen itself. Now the selfie camera doesn’t work so I have no Face ID. Everything else seems to be working though.
Cracked iPhone XS Max Screen
We decided to get a new phone so we’ve ordered an iPhone 11 Pro Max from Apple and it should be here in about 4-5 days.
Kathy is making dinner right now. We had some rather tasty fried rice and left over ham, along with some steamed cauliflower and runner beans.
Sat and watched three episodes of The Coastal Path with Paul Rose on BBC2, followed by University Challenge and Miriam Margoyle’s Fat Adventure.
