29/11/22 Frustrations and good news

Trying to book my car into the local Ford dealer for a small job on the door seals. I used to be able to phone them directly. Not any more...

I 'phoned. Automatic voice said "We'll call you back".

Human being called back from Tyneside. I explained the problem. She said she'd send an email to the Chelmsford dealership and they would call me back...

Not yet.

On another matter, I need to speak to the secretaries at my GP surgery. All I can get is "The surgery is closed". No hint of that in my texts or emails or on their website.

Better news - the right eye is doing very well, both eyes working together as they should. But early days still, regular eye drops, anti-infection precautions etc..

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Update: good news on the car. Found a new phone number, got through and booked straight away. Much better!

27/11/22 Cataract #2

My second cataract operation is tomorrow morning - I'm due at Springfield Hospital by 07:20, which means getting up at some unspeakable early hour... The first eye has healed well, haven't had any of that flickering for several days now. Hoping for an equally good result tomorrow.

Dr.Ch decided that my PET scan was good enough and no need to go back and do it again. Nothing new to show, which leaves this leg/hip pain unexplained. It has been a lot better for about three weeks but I can still feel it there in the background and has been worse again a couple of times in the last few days. Only 10% at most of what it was at its worst, but definitely the same thing. Sue says "Maybe it's just arthritis".

Last blood test results were good again - PPs undetectable, FLCs normal, everything else ok.

The rumour of a month or two ago that the late Queen died of myeloma now seems to be confirmed by Gyles Brandreth's latest book. Highly unlikely that he would have published that story without approval from the family. The new "Royal Disease"?

21/11/22 PET scan again, and jazz

Southend PET Centre 'phoned this morning - their doctors say the scan is ok so I (probably) don't need to go back, but final decision is up to my haematologist Dr.Ch when he sees the report, which should be four to five working days. Strange, it was three to four days just a couple of days ago.

This afternoon it was raining solidly and I had some things to take to the post. So I decided to drive, as my vision is so much improved. That went fine, but even better was that my left hand, thumb and forefinger in particular, were much better on the handbrake, heating controls, and etc. than when I last drove back at the end of September. It's now six months since the neck operation and I had pretty much given up hope for any further improvement in that hand but this shows that nerve regeneration is still going on and there's reason to hope it will keep on going.

Last thing of the day was to send the BBC a complaint about "Young Jazz Musician of the Year" shown on BBC4 a couple of nights ago. I was shocked by the extraordinary and frankly ridiculous decision. Here's my complaint, much good it will do anyone:

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YOUR COMPLAINT: 

Poor choice of judges, bad choice of winner 

The judging panel represented only a small part of the current London jazz scene and were all unknown to me (a 74 year old lifetime jazz lover) and probably to almost the entire audience outside London as well as most of those inside. Same could be said of the presenters, insofar as they mattered. I have nothing against the winner - nice lad who may well have a good career - but the saxophonist Emma Rawicz was so clearly the obvious choice. She has a fully-developed and individual jazz voice plus everything you could wish for in terms of technique, feel, musicality, and all the rest. The BBC missed a great opportunity to promote the career of a real star who is already doing a lot for "diversity" and helping to build new audiences for the art form. And how ironic that this programme was followed by a repeat of one about the late "Lady Saxophone" Barbara Thompson, a true pioneer of the female voice in British jazz. Rawicz could well be her successor. Not a good day for what little is left of the BBC's involvement with jazz. 

20/11/22 More PET problems...

Yesterday I had my second attempt at my third PET scan - first try was postponed at the last minute because "the machine broke down". This time everything seemed to go ok but then I was told that the radioactive tracer had "got stuck" in my arm and hadn't circulated properly all round my body, so the images were less than perfect. Strange, as I have perfectly good circulation in that arm. At any rate, it hasn't fallen off yet... They said "it happens sometimes", and didn't mention the obvious possibility that the man who inserted the canula and did the injection didn't do it very well. Going by what they said and the looks on their faces, I think there's at least a 75% chance that I'll have to go back for a third attempt. Not happy!

19/11/22 Pet scan, second attempt

 Heading off to Southend early afternoon, and hoping not to get another last-minute cancellation. Had an early breakfast, now nothing but water until the scan.

Left eye still doing well, no pain or other issue, but still an occasional slight flickering at the left of the field. There's a slight loss of clarity and intensity particularly at full distance, but that is normal and should improve again. Still far better than it was, and no need for computer glasses any more. Reading glasses (1.0) coming from Amazon later today. With no glasses on, text on the screen is perfectly sharp with left eye only, an unreadable blur with right only. And that's the "good" eye!

No change on the myeloma front. Had another lot of bloods taken at Springfield yesterday.

15/11/22 (2) The morning after

I couldn't get the eye shield and the CPAP mask to fit together without a lot of leakage, so abandoned the idea and slept without CPAP for the first time since I got the machine. The spy under the mattress reports sleep apnoea in the Normal to Mild range (as is now usual, pre-CPAP it was always into Severe), and no snoring detected. I'll do the same tonight.

Still some slight flickering in the left visual field but the halo / diffraction effects around bright lights appear to have gone completely, although I can't be sure of that until night time.

Difficult to believe that those eye-drop bottles contain enough drops to last for four times a day...

Pleased that in these short and gloomy days the battery in the video doorbell is still showing charge of 75% or a little more on solar charge only. Starting to hope that it might get us through the winter without having to take the battery out and top it up indoors via USB.

15/11/22 First cataract done

The worst bit was at the beginning, waiting for the three lots of eye drops to have their effects. Then it turned out there was a mistake about the expected sedation - could only be done with an anaesthetist present, and they hadn't booked one in for that day. So I had the choice - reschedule or go ahead with local anaesthetic only. I decided to go ahead.

As so often in life, the anticipation was worse than the reality. Really not too bad at all, definitely better than a root canal job. I shall not be worried about next time with the other eye. There was a minor problem early on with some of my eyelashes getting in the way but that was quickly sorted out.

Afterwards, more hanging around with an eye patch on while they sorted out the eye drops and the paperwork - all taking far longer than seemed reasonable, but that's hospitals for you. Following orders, I took the eye patch off at 7pm, and the improved vision in the left eye was instant and dramatic. Everything much sharper, colours more intense, and all of that. Now typing without glasses and seeing what's on screen is far, far easier than it's been for months - in fact my "bad" left eye is now showing up just how bad my "good" right one has become.

I did get just a hint of the "grittiness" in the eye that you're warned about, but that lasted only a couple of hours. No pain at all, but getting halos and diffraction patterns around bright lights. That's also expected and should go away in a few days. Also some occasional slight flickering on the left, which should resolve itself in the same way.

A bit of a struggle to pierce the tops of the eye drop bottles, but got there in the end. One is an antibiotic for a week, the other is an anti-inflammatory for 28 days. And guess what, it's my old friend dexamethasone back again...

Have to put the plastic eye shield back overnight for the first couple of nights. That may be a bit tricky with my bad left hand because it has to be taped in place, and hopefully in such a way that it doesn't interfere with the CPAP mask. But if I have to go a couple of nights without CPAP, it won't be a disaster.

13/11/22 Mist

 A very misty morning:

After negotiating far too much data protection bureaucracy, finally got hold of the full spinal MRI report.Nothing apart from some age-related disc degeneration, which is to be expected. Should know more about the hip and leg, which is where I suspect the problem lies, after the delayed PET scan on the 19th. Before that, my first cataract operation tomorrow at 12:00 at Springfield. Apprehensive? Just a bit. Actually a hell of a lot. I think I'll need every drop of sedative they're prepared to give me...

08/11/22 Postponed

'Phone call from Southend just as we were about to leave for the PET scan. The machine's broken down...

Now re-booked for the 19th. More delay, but what can you do?

05/11/22 Pets and Cats and breakfast

PET CT scan (the one involving a radioactive injection) is booked in for this coming Tuesday at Southend, Very fast action once the process actually got started. CT scans don't take long and the machine is much less claustrophobia-inducing than MRI machines, so no problem anticipated. I've had two of them before.

The cataract operations are booked in for i2:00pm on the 14th and the ungodly hour of 07:30am on the 28th

The pain in my left thigh has given me no trouble at all for the last couple of days, so almost pleased to feel it coming back a bit earlier today.

;We decided on breakfast out this morning and went to the Axe and Compasses. There was a "Staff Wanted" sign outside. We went in - no breakfasts because no chef. So we turned back and went to The Hare. All locked up, nobody around. Ended up at the 2MT Cafe, which was close to packed out, with two chefs working flat-out in the kitchen. Even so, it was less than warm inside. All signs of the times, I fear, and I have an unpleasant feeling that The Hare is never going to re-open. It's not been the same since the ownership changed some months ago.