On Monday Husband emailed the consultant's secretary to ask if there were any news on when his op might be. On Wednesday she replied saying she'd speak to the doctor about it.
On Thursday I emailed the secretary - Husband was reluctant to give me the contact details initially - and said that it was now thirty-six (36) weeks since we'd been told that his condition had changed from moderate to severe, and asking her to make sure the doctor was aware of how much deterioration I had noticed in his condition since he'd last been seen. I was very polite.
On Friday Husband emailed the secretary again asking if there were any news.
Last night I went to bed feeling cross, frustrated, and helpless. If I'm in this state how much worse must it be for him?
I know they're busy and the NHS is struggling with lots of flu cases on top of its normal load but, in Cardiac, they're dealing with seriously ill patients who are just asking to be acknowledged, heard. Is a short email response so difficult? Even if it says you're going to have wait another three months. (Please no.) At the start of September we were told it would likely be within six to eight weeks.
I got very excited this morning when a letter arrived for Husband from the hospital. But it was only from another department saying some blood tests he'd had were normal.
Sorry, I just needed a rant. I'm going to prune some roses now. Watch out rose bushes!
Postscript
The lady I emailed to ask about pruning leggy roses said to be ruthless and that roses are hardy. Now I've attacked them I hope so.
Husband bought it in 1975 when he got his open-topped MG. In 2008 he took it with him to Canada on our holiday. Then he left it Middle Beach Lodge in Tofino on Vancouver Island.
Since Husband dug out the old music machine and I've been able to listen to cds I've enjoyed George Ezra again. I was listening to him singing Cassy O this morning when something struck me: he's not singing about a girl; he's singing about his Casio watch!
Although the video features girls if you listen to the words there are lots about different aspects of time. Mr Ezra himself says he was just messing around with words but I know the truth: it's a love song to his watch.
Cassy's got a new plan, gotta get herself away
Well, I'd better act quick, yeah, I'd better ch-ch-change my ways
Oh, maybe I'm wasting, maybe I'm chasing time
Oh, come on, let's face it, I'm only ever lost in mine
Well, I've got my tracing paper so that I could trace my clock
And the bastard face kept changing, and the hands, they wouldn't stop
Well, I was ripping out the battery, I received myself a shock
And to add insult to injury, I could still hear it tick and tock
Cassy O
Cassy O
Please don't leave
Cassy's got a new plan, gotta give herself a break
And I try, I try, I try, for heaven's sake
Well, I travelled to Australia
And I travelled there by train
This something might sound strange to you
But on the way I gained a day
And I wrote to tell my family
And I wrote to tell my friends
I arrived home, it was lost again and this torture never ends
Inspector, fix me, my Cassy O's burnt out
We're losing memories that I can't replace
She says she's tired of me running in circles
She says it's time that we took a break
In the car on my way to meet Vivien at Verdi's for brunch (hazelnut sundae as usual since you ask) I switched on the radio just as the morning service was starting. They began to sing the old hymn, What a friend we have in Jesus, except it was the wrong tune.
It took me a moment to work out what was wrong and then I realised they were singing it to the music of Calon Lan, an old Welsh hymn. It was very disorientating.
* * * * *
Our walk this afternoon took us along Swansea bay.
I had cause to go to Davies the Baker yesterday and when I was there I spotted some custard tarts.
When I was a little girl my grandmother would send me, maybe once every week or two, up the lane to Davies the Baker's shop. The shop was on a little side road of terraced houses. The bakery was behind the house and the front room served as the shop. I had to ask for two shillings' worth of cakes and I could choose them.
My favourite was an iced bun but I always put a custard tart in with the mix of five or six cakes. Seeing them in the shop yesterday I had to buy a couple to take home and have with a cup of tea.
So now it seems, unless I have got it wrong, which wouldn't be entirely out of the question, that I have two 365 subscriptions. One is the paid one I got as trustee, the other - well, I possibly installed by accident thinking it was the other one. Or it might just have appeared by magic. Both equally likely.
Just when I thought I'm getting the hang of this, I realised I wasn't at all. The thing is, my free subscription has 5gb of cloud storage - and mine is already full, which seems pretty amazing to me as I didn't know I had it.
So I'm thinking, can I use cloud storage from my other account for personal use? Or will that show to everyone? If I can, how do I do it?
I've just been for a short walk with Husband to clear my head so I'll come back to this tomorrow or maybe the next day or maybe never.
And remember I said I'd worked out his very simple way of transferring photos from phone to pc? Yes? Well, it's decided to disconnect itself.
I'm going to the kitchen now to do some cooking. Before I throw something. And in the hope that the computer fairy works its magic and makes everything right again by the time I get back.
First day of my holiday began with me tidying up before my cleaner came. I do more tidying in the hour before she arrives than I do the fortnight in between. Also put in washing, and considered fitness trackers. Not for me but as a present.
Am bemused when I read one such tracker can be used to remotely control your phone to take a photo.
As if that isn't baffling enough I do what I've been half-heartedly trying to do for almost a year: I install Microsoft 365. (I think.) I had it as a perk of being a trustee but haven't been able to work out what it does that is so great - until today!
There is something called OneNote - yes, you probably already know about it - and I can write and draw on it. In fact it says you use it to replace your paper notebook, after I had googled to find out what it was for. Well, that's not going to happen but I had a fun five minutes doodling.
But on another page it says, Coming Soon! The Microsoft 365 app will become the Microsoft 365 Copilot app with a new URL m365.cloud.microsoft.
Obviously as soon as I get to grips with one piece of technology they're going to replace it.
In other news did you know that it is Mr Webster, of dictionary fame, who is responsible for Americans spelling things wrongly? He took the u out of colour etc. He also had a lot of other crazier ideas that were stomped on otherwise American might have been a completely different language.
Thank you for your advice. I've just found out that it's easy to share from my android phone to my pc. It took me a long way around the houses to get there - and in fact was trying to do something completely different when I discovered the method - but I am happy now.
So here's a picture of ice.
I am very tired, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Normally I'd work through it but as we're still hoping that Husband will have his op in late January/early February, and things can only get harder then, temporarily at least, I decided to book myself a week off.
I'd like to say, "In a spa hotel," but that's not going to happen. What is happening is that I'm not going to do my volunteering on Wednesday and Friday, and we're going to eat ready meals or the equivalent all week. (It's the thought of planning food as much as anything that grinds me down!)
I messaged Stu in Zac's early this morning to ask/tell him I wouldn't be in, before I could chicken out and guilt got the better of me.
* * * * *
This afternoon we walked with GrandSon1 and Toby and had great fun breaking ice. I would show you a photo if the connection between my new phone and my pc would work. What do you use most, phones or pcs?
I use my pc for just about everything so need a good method to get photos from phone to pc. I currently use Phonelink - or would if it would work - but that doesn't share videos either.
Incidentally GrandSon1 is learning Japanese on Duolingo. He will probably be fluent in Japanese before I am in Welsh.
