Quite a nice week. Signs of returning to normal, tender times with my mother and a colourful chat with my kidney consultant. Find out what he’s been saying on Saturday….
Monday
I spotted one of our neighbours was having a tree cut down. Naturally I wasted absolutely no time in rushing around there, trying to scrounge the wood – for next winter’s firewood or even the following winter. With everyone readily agreeing that we could have it, even more so when the tree surgeon kindly agreed to bring it around in his tipper truck and dump it on the driveway. Must be about a ton there and there’s plenty of time to ‘season’. Happily I will pay our friend Harry to cut it up with his chainsaw.
Tuesday
Following on from the gradual easing in COVID restrictions, recently our church leaders announced we could meet again in our home groups. First time in over a year and we were pleased to join in.
It was to be a no-agenda evening, for a nice change, so we were free to simply meet and catch up with each other. And so we did, in the rain.
So there we were, standing in someone’s back garden, drinking tea with soggy biscuits in the pouring rain. I couldn’t help thinking it was such an English thing to do. After a little while the rain got even heavier and so I was invited to join the other men in the garden shed (Men in Sheds!) while the ladies stayed outside. Was I the only one who thought that was all a bit odd? I’m already far too much of a rebel to question anything else these days.
Wednesday
My mother arrived for a few days with us. We always enjoy listening to Mum as she talks endlessly about her journey. Mind you, at 86 she is doing well to drive the 140 miles herself. I am unsure how long she should continue to drive – a difficult conversation is looming.
Thursday
I took Mum to Ampthill and had a little stroll around the park. The town centre is a pretty little area with quaint shops and a Waitrose, evidently a sign of an affluent neighbourhood. Amongst other things, we bought ingredients for making some marmalade. In the evening we binge watched The Crown on Netflix, something she loves but cannot see at her home and we both probably rested our eyes a little.
Friday
We enjoyed making lots of marmalade using a Delia Smith recipe and a ragtag of jars, as you can see. Although cutting everything up by hand is a tedious business, I always used to find it was a relaxing thing to do, often while listening to the radio. This time I was listening to Mum as she recounted family stories for the umpteenth time and it was a very tender time. These are precious moments.
Saturday
Mum left mid morning, just before my telephone chat with the kidney consultant. I always look forward to these chats which take place every 2-3 months (apparently I’m in the system for life now). Having said that, this consultation had come around quicker as the consultant wanted to see how things were following my previous urinary tract infection.
I explained I’ve just had yet another course of antibiotics, prescribed by my GP and it had worked by clearing an infection, although I suspected it was returning. Then I got into a rant, saying how fed up with this continuous cycle of infections, each one dragging me down further. I have felt quite unwell in the last few weeks.
He was very sympathetic to me asking if there is another way of dealing with this problem, giving him the opportunity to be imaginatively creative. Before I go any further, I should say he’s the Maverick Consultant, who I have blogged about before. I like him for all his irreverent outbursts and yet he has a knack of putting things into perspective. There never seems to be any rush and I think we were talking for at least 30 minutes although this did include his theories on why Heathrow Airport is facilitating the spread of Covid and how the NHS only give him second class stamps to post prescriptions to his patients.
When it came to discussing some of the urine test results he burst into “oh they’re idiots in the lab. Firstly they threw away one of your samples because they misread the date. Another time they didn’t understand what they were looking at. Idiots!”.
The conversation rolled on. I queried some advice I’d been given from elsewhere in the NHS as I didn’t quite agree with it. He didn’t hold back when he blasted out “that’s bollocks!”. I do like his straight talking and afterwards I felt a great weight had been lifted from my mind. We have a plan about dealing with these infections differently da da daaarrrr…..
Related: The Maverick Consultant