Loose ends, first of all. The coffee machine works. But it only works with Lavazza's own compostable "Eco Pods", despite all the advertising implying that it would take Nespresso and other standard types. Just one of Lavazza's own range of Eco Pods is decaffeinated. We should have some of those in later today, and I hope we like the taste, otherwise we've got a bit of a problem. I suppose one cup of caffeinated coffee wouldn't be much of a problem, it's not as if either of us drinks five or six a day... Be that as it may, we now have a stock of non-compatible capsules that Amazon won't take back for a refund. Off to Ebay, I suppose.
Careline - they've taken the mentally deranged old one back and I've now got a fancy new redesigned Mk.II GPS alarm instead. As I write it's in its charger and behaving itself perfectly. So far...
The main business of yesterday was to go to the Shard Medical Centre to see Dr.Ib The cost of the expedition - hire parking space in Redbridge, taxi from there to the Shard, and the same again in reverse, is not small...
Mr.Ib's consulting room is just outside the waiting room, and when he showed the previous patient out he saw me in the wheelchair and came over to help push me in. That made a good first impression.
We went through the history, the examination, and the scans. Sue thought his explanation of those was clearer than the other two neurosurgeons managed. Anyway, it's going to be surgery (as expected) to screw C1 and C2, and possibly C3, together, plus whatever additional metalwork as may be needed once they get inside. There's also the possibility of myeloma-related softening of the bone, which might require reinforcement with "artificial bone" (I had to google that when I got home). I suppose my two years of Zometa may have avoided that problem - I forgot to ask the question in the midst of all the rest that was going on.
The likely time-scale is two to three weeks, either at the Shard or at the London Clinic where I had my stem cell harvesting a couple of years ago and would have had my transplant if not for Covid. Likely stay just four days, and lots of intensive physio. As everyone else has said to me, the primary aim is to stop things getting worse. Getting better - if it happens at all, will be a long slow process. All this, and myeloma as well, lurking in the wings getting ready for a come-back. But not just yet - latest set of blood test results came in a few days ago - paraproteins still undetectable, free light chain ratio good although one of them is a little out of range. Not something to worry about, it'll probably come back next time. Everything else is good.
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