I find myself overwhelmed with loads of thoughts going round my head. I'm retired now, but I've had those sort of feelings before during my working days. I used to deal with it by writing everything down and creating to do lists. I decide a typed list will be better than a handwritten one and before I know it I've filled two A4 pages.
One of my friends calls me The Spreadsheet Queen. She finds it bizarre that I really enjoy working with spreadsheets. I don't need much encouragement to design a new one and I can see the perfect opportunity here. The list goes onto a spreadsheet and then I go through it line by line sorting it into three colour coded categories. Then I add a column so I can tick things off as they are dealt with.
First category is questions that can only be answered by the hospital. Things like will it be local or general anaesthetic, will there be stitches, will my penicillin allergy be a problem? I get all these onto a separate sheet so I can print it to take with me.
Second category is minor things that I can easily sort out myself at the appropriate time. Like is there enough petrol in the car to get to the hospital, have I got the right coins for parking, is there still that road closure on the route?
Third category is those horrible what if questions about the worrying stuff that might never happen. Like what if I get an infection afterwards? Thankfully there actually aren't too many and hopefully writing them down might stop me fretting about them.
I've just finished when I get a call from my dental surgery to say that the dentist has cancelled my routine hygienist appointment for next week. He thinks that dislodging bacteria could make things worse. I'm to ask at the hospital when it should be rescheduled for. I add the question to the list.
I feel so much better for getting my thoughts in order. I'm even happier when I realise that I'll now have the money I'd put aside to pay the hygienist with available to spend on treats!
