Went today to Halton Hospital for another pre-op assessment, I had to be there for 9.00am, I thought I had left in plenty of time but with it not being a journey I have made recently at that time I was too optimistic. Arrived 15 mins late by the time I had parked and ran across the car park. Fortunately there was only one person in front of me. High blood pressure said the sister, it's not suprising with the stress of the last month and my Steve Cram impersonation getting there but she told me to go to my GP for a course of tablets to reduce it. I had another [chest] x ray because the doctor could hear a slight bit of crackling through the stethoscope, and an ECG. Apparently it is a heart and not a swinging brick in there.
Made an appointment to see GP. It's a pleasant change and I don't know if it's connected but I find that now when I phone for an appointment I can get booked in the same day, phoned at 11.30am and got a 4.00pm slot, but not my own GP. So in the interval I chased around and went bill collecting from some tardy payers, with little success but got a load more work. At times like this I'm saying yes to everything. Tomorrow will be spent in front of this keyboard invoicing before my enforced "holiday".
I have a relative who has today had his first taste of chemo today for a particularly aggressive type of cancer, not sure of the exact name but he had a lump removed from his arm, and a long programme of both chemo and radio ahead of him. He's 40 with 4 kids, the oldest is 15 and the youngest about 3 years old. They have chosen to deal with it differently than I did and not told their children. All the rest of the family know. Whereas the first people I told was my son and daughter. I think it's the wrong thing for them to have done, and children are a lot tougher than we sometimes give them credit for, how difficult will it be when he loses his hair rapidly and goes through the associated vomiting etc. Surely it will be more frightening for them to see and not understand. And families being what they are, it's only a matter of time before someone slips in front of one of them and they overhear. I am going to drop in this week and see them, probably during school hours so with the inevitable topic of conversation being what we both face I think I should be able to put my point to them.
More or less organised for admission now, only got to find a fish feeder and plant waterer, not asking my son because he lives too far away and has a one hour minimum drive to work each day. But he can always mind the plants.
