These are better days

Today is a red-letter day in the saga of Hilary versus the Churchill Hospital - which, btw, I am fairly sure is not supposed to be a contest. We had three slightly iffy things to do, all three of them turned out fine, and we were on our way back home in under two hours.

Well, okay, when you say 'under two hours', it doesn't sound all that good ...

First off, Judy wanted to see the parking office about getting a blue badge permit so she can park in the staff area free. (It would have been useful if they'd sent her the form before I spent ten days in hospital, or if anyone had told her ahead of time that you can get a lower-cost ticket if you have to spend a lot of time there. But they didn't. Too late now). The parking office is, I hardly need say, tucked away in a remote area of the hospital - with a sign on the door saying 'beware of the leopard' - and is only open occasionally - occasionally when differs depending on who and what you're getting your information from. But today Judy tracked it down, and found someone who claimed to man it, and now we can park wherever we like, within reason although, need I say, the places the badge entitles you to park are fairly random: this car park, for example, but only in these two rows.

Certain persons, I name no names but they are closely related to me, had been parking in the staff car park anyway on the grounds of, and I quote, 'fk this for a game of soldiers'.

Then I had a follow-up chemo appointment ... possibly. We didn't have a confirmation letter, just the card Dr Nickum gave us when we saw her - whenever it was, three weeks ago now? - so we weren't sure whether we really had an appointment, especially as it's meant to be a three-week follow up, not a ten-day one. But whose fault is it that it's only ten days? Okay, partly mine for insisting on having my chest drained first, but the rest of it was all them. But, again, this all went smoothly: we saw a registrar (what the hell is a registrar, anyway? We didn't want to get married!), she asked lots of personal questions and had a poke around, and yay, we are all set for Chemo #2 in a couple of weeks. Well. I say 'yay'. I'm not quite sure what the correct emotion would actually be.

The appointment itself was our third query, as it's on a Saturday. Judy went and checked while I was waiting and, yes, they do, in fact, do Saturdays 'in the run up to Christmas', she was told. How very seasonal, I'm sure, and a happy new year to all.

Hospital duty done for another couple of weeks, unless the ascites decides to do anything gushy, and we headed home, taking in the garden centre (the actual garden centre for Judy, Lakeland for me), chav Tesco, and my GP's surgery en route. I need to see my GP to sort out a pre-chemo blood test, and to see about getting my DRUGZ re-upped, and for something else, I think, that I cannot remember but which is probably v important and which I had better bring to mind before next Monday. Might happen. Might not.

Then home and, unsurprisingly: sleeeeeep. That was a lot of moving about for a crabby person.

I've had loads of lovely visitors over the past few days: friend and colleague Rebecca on Thursday, our friend Lynn (who used to live in our sitting room; I have mentioned before, I think, that our lives are oftentimes unlike those of other people) over the weekend - Lynn cleaned all our downstairs windows, and mowed the lawn; this is my type of guest - and ex-colleagues (still friends) Nairne and Jackie on Sunday. I'm expecting my brother tomorrow, and my sister is arriving tomorrow evening to stay for a couple of days. I am bustling about as much as possible - which isn't much - to get the house as clean as possible - which isn't very (although we do have sparkly windows!) - before she arrives. My sister is quite particular, and my house would barely pass muster even when I'm at my best. At present, even I can see there's room for improvement. "Play the C-card, Hils," I hear you say, and I'm gonna ... but I'm also going to do all the housework I can manage so that she thinks it's usually cleaner than it really is ...

Oh, what a tangled web (etc).

Oh, yes! Hospital insurance. That's the other thing I need to see the doctor for. I'll tell you about my laughable hospital insurance some other time, I'm tired.