Monthly Archives: August 2008

30 August 2008

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This is the other Amy, daughter of the other Vicky, our friend at church. The picture was taken at Mangreen Hall nearly three weeks ago. Now we’re on the brink of the big event at Dunston Hall – our ruby wedding anniversary celebration tomorrow. Yesterday and today have been warm, and it should be warm tomorrow, but thunderstorms are forecast. Well, at least it will give us an atmosphere. I think we’re almost ready.

Yesterday Dot and I went into the city and had lunch at Caffe Italia before buying some chocolates as prizes for tomorrow’s quiz. Then I went home, via the Cathedral, and Dot stayed in the city for a while. I then returned the courtesy car and retrieved ours – without dents – from the Rackheath garage where it had been languishing for a couple of weeks. Got it home without incident, just in time to let Dot in.

Today Dot went to Park Farm, and I paid in some cheques and visited the Cathedral again. I have now finished my prostate account – or at least brought it up to date. Nearly 12,000 words, and 30 pages of A4. Dot has started to read it.

28 August 2008

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End of the road – at Happisburgh, where the cliffs are gradually eating into the land. I called in there a couple of days ago, after dropping some stuff off at Lucy’s and buying sausage and chips from the shop at Bacton and eating it in the car on Walcott seafront. I’d meant to eat it outside, but the place was crawling with little black flies. I drove on to Happisburgh to have a look at the erosion, and found that the village seemed to have given up – at least the part of it close to the cliffs. The houses were unpainted and falling apart, disused caravans and sheds lined the two roads, and there was an air of abandonment. Not surprising, I guess, but a little disappointing. What it needed was one of those eccentric Englishmen who would be painting the Titanic as it started to sink. Not enough defiance of the inevitable nowadays.

Today, after having our hair cut – and accepting an estimate for dramatic refurbishments to our shower room – we went to the hospital again, and saw Mr Sethia, my consultant. Discovered that the catheters I had been using were not what I thought they were. I was under the impression that they were solid things like pipe-cleaners. He revealed that they had a hole down the middle which was used to reveal whether or not you had reached the bladder (I leave the rest to your imagination: possibly not enough). I also found I should be using them every day for at least a couple of months, and not as suggested by the nurse. Just in time! I fixed an appointment to see him in the middle of October to see how things are going. As a precaution, I have also arranged an appointment with my own doctor for September 11 – principally to ask for antibiotics to take on holiday in case… well, it’s the best place for them.

Other than that it’s been a quiet week. The weather forecast promised sunny days, but in fact it’s been pretty cloudy, though warm. David and family arrived back from France on Tuesday, having had a much better time than last year, and Oliver and Amy are busy choosing what they’ll wear for our party on Sunday. Our car is still in the garage, but we’ve been promised it tomorrow afternoon. Dot tells me she is on schedule with her preparations for the weekend, and I’ve written my speech, though I will probably make some changes. I usually do. Thunderstorms are forecast. No, really! I have made strides with writing an account of my medical experiences of the last three months and am approaching the end of July! And I’ve entered a very short story in the Fish competition. It’s called The Threat.

Oh, I should have mentioned that today is my parents’ wedding anniversary. I think they were married in 1937, which would have made it their 71st. They would have been 96 and 95. Strange to think that my father died over half a century ago.

23 August 2008

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Flashback to Brancaster Beach, with a Dot on it, at the end of last month. This week has been fairly quiet, and I’ve spent most of it at home. However, we have been without our main car, which has been in for repair, and have a courtesy car – a Kia – instead. It has mostly been standing out in the road, but we have been short distances in it – for instance we loaded it up with musical instruments and the odd amplifier on Wednesday to visit Phil Kerrison and have a rehearsal (later discovered his daughter Emily got 10 GCSEs this week – 5As and 5Bs – which strikes me as a bit excessive). Very enjoyable afternoon – we finished off doing Irish jigs, with Dot on electric violin.

Until Tuesday evening I had been feeling rather down about my condition, but after some prayers that evening with our Tuesday Group I unaccountably (!) felt much brighter on Wednesday, and this has persisted. I was supposed to have a phone conversation with the consultant on Friday, but that didn’t happen. Instead I’m seeing him next Thursday. Self-catheterisation is going OK, but my abdomen still feels decidedly odd. Probably nothing to worry about, though. I’ve decided to be very positive!

On Thursday Dot went to Park Farm and met Anne there for lunch; meanwhile I had a lunchtime visit from Sue Moore, who brought photographs of her cuddling a koala. I’m not sure about that sort of thing. She and Richard have just been to Australia (amazingly), and seemed to have an extremely cuddly time.
Today Denise and Peter called in unexpectedly with a ruby present of two rather nice looking bottles of wine, and showed us pictures of Clive’s wedding. Peter seems to be suffering quite a bit with his leg (and foot), but it was nice talking to them.

Dot went to a YFC barbecue last night, and I thought I was going to do quite a bit of work, but I didn’t. However some time during the week I did manage to put together three CDs of music – 54 songs in all – for the party. We’re planning a music quiz – fit the singer to the song! We’re now preparing to go and have a meal with June Wallace, who rang up out of the blue this morning and invited us. She lives at Beccles, so I may have to put some more petrol in the courtesy car! And I really must get down to writing my speech…

18 August 2008

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Dot with Julia and Allan Higbee, who we visited last Friday. My last night with a catheter – at least for a while. On Saturday I went back to Edgefield Ward for its removal, and after waiting the usual two hours-plus, this was done, painlessly, by an auxiliary called Wendy. And this time I performed perfectly acceptably afterwards and was allowed home. However, it came as a bit of a blow to discover that I would have to self-catheterise. It was slightly less of a blow when I discovered what this meant, and that I could do it fairly easily, but it would be nice to be free of the whole thing. However, the guys with me in the ward were in a far worse state generally, and remarkably cheerful. I felt a bit humbled really, but at the same time unjustifiably downcast. I think I was afraid of it all going wrong again. This feeling lasted overnight, but I am now more optimistic, although I do still have this odd, tight, heavy feeling in my abdomen which I would like to go away.

Went to church on Sunday and played guitar and led prayers: a good service led by Paul. Afterwards we had a quiet afternoon watching the Olympics.

Today I tried to get some extra sleep, but was unsuccessful, although I did actually stay in bed most of the morning. Again watched some Olympics, then went up to doctor’s to take note from hospital, and Dot called in at Garden Centre to get some oasis for our party next week. Afterwards I walked home from the Ketts Hill roundabout after posting some letters. Still get tired quickly. Dot is busy organising the tables for the 31st: she is doing a great job. I need to get on with writing my speech and organising the music.

16 August 2008

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Lucy Care, Caroline Gilfillan and Lisa D’Onofrio at Thursday’s Bally meeting to discuss various aspects of the Paston Book – running order, finance, exhibitions and so on. Annette was also there. More pictures on the InPrint website. The meeting lasted two hours and got a number of things sorted out, though some were left vague as usual.

I wasn’t feeling particularly well and eventually decided to go to the doctor’s with another urine infection. I was prescribed antibiotics by Dr Macris, who I hadn’t met before. To be fair, he probably hadn’t met me before either.

Yesterday Dot spent a long time in the city, with Carrie, who she met for lunch. I walked up to the newsagent’s and the sorting office (twice) – the second time to send off my Flip camcorder, which hasn’t been connecting to my computer properly. I had an e-mail exchange with the support team, who eventually told me to send it back to Windsor for repair or replacement. In late afternoon we called in at Dunston Hall to pay for our ruby celebration, then went on to Newton Flotman, where we had a Greek meal with the Higbees. Very enjoyable: Allan revealed that he had made some lovely wooden bowls, and he offered to make us one if we supplied the wood. Back home by just after 10pm.

In an hour’s time I will be at the hospital to have my catheter removed, which will be a relief. I’m a little bit tense of course, but hope that all will go well and I’ll be back home this evening.

13 August 2008

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Another picture from Sunday – this one is of our friends Bridget and David Archer, members of our Tuesday Group and just two of many who didn’t come last night, when we almost had an all-time low of three until Claire turned up late. Vicky was the other one, and the four of us had a very pleasant evening.

Earlier Dot and I had been out to Paston to deliver some acetates for Lucy. Jack was there, looking quite chirpy at 95, and so was Naomi, plus Lucy’s sister, niece, niece’s husband and great-nephew. So obviously we had a cup of tea and passed a pleasant half hour before departing for North Walsham to drop in on Jessie for another cup of tea. She had fallen over on some uneven pavement and had a few cuts, but seemed more or less OK. I instructed her not to do it again.

On the way home we saw evidence of the downpour that had swept across a narrow band of Norfolk in the morning and kept us in bed (well, it doesn’t take a downpour to keep us in bed, but it’s a good excuse). By afternoon it was was reasonably pleasant, but the showers have continued into today, and the forecast is not too wonderful.

According to my Norfolk Almanac of Disasters, nothing really bad has ever happened here on August 13, and this record continued today, as far as I know. Dot went down to Suffolk just in case, but mainly to meet Barbara, with whom she is working on Thinking Skills for Children. I got quite a lot done in her absence, including fetching a prescription, giving a bit of money away and reading an interesting essay on Kafka by Zadie Smith (in the Telegraph Review section). Have been in contact with Flip technical help about my new camcorder, which won’t connect properly to the computer, and it looks as if I’ll be getting a new one. This evening I’ve printed out all the Paston poems on quality paper so that they can be put up on exhibition. Dot continues on her mammoth task of sorting out all our photographs.

I’ve also entered five poems (mainly from the hospital series) in the Aesthetica Competition.

11 August 2008

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After torrential rain on Saturday, we had a warm day on Sunday for our church day out at Mangreen Hall, just outside Norwich. I’d been feeling quite down the day before and woke up feeling distinctly dodgy, but in the end decided to go and immediately felt better. It turned out to be a really good day – relaxing and invigorating – and the company was excellent, as well as the setting. The picture shows Dot playing violin (electric) with Matthew, and the two of them accompanied me singing one of my old songs that I’d updated slightly for the occasion. A good selection of bring-and-share food at lunchtime, and lovely grounds, including a stone circle, to relax in. Took quite a few pictures. The day ended at 5pm, but we spent quite a time chatting to various people before leaving. Home just after 6pm, and it started to rain about five minutes later. Watched Olympics round-up – first UK gold medal from Nicole Cooke in the cycling road race, who proved to be so hyper that she was completely uninterviewable.

Today has been much quieter. Martin Laurance came round to pick up a CD with one of my Paston poems on it for transfer to an A3 acetate. He later came back with the acetate, which I’ll deliver to Lucy tomorrow. I’ve also put together four A4 sheets of Mangreen pictures which look pretty good, I have to say. Well, I don’t have to, but I will.

9 August 2008

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Haven’t seen the family for a nearly a month, and it will be the end of August before we see them again – must be the longest period we’ve been without seeing them. They’re off to Nottingham today and then to France on the 15th. So here’s a picture of us all together at Fred’s caravan at West Runton four weeks ago. Clearly the food was good.

Weather has been a bit up and down this week – the odd thunderstorm and some quite heavy rain, interspersed with warm and calm periods. Like me, really. One minute I feel very positive, the next I’m quite under the weather and suspect something is going wrong with the catheter. Have odd pains here and there, and my stomach isn’t quite right, though it’s much improved. However, in a good moment I decided to carry on living as if nothing was wrong, and I hope to maintain this attitude for at least the next few minutes – and maybe more, as they say in dating ads. Not that I read dating ads, of course.

Andrew seemed to have a good birthday, despite not coming home. I rang him up in the evening, which pleased him, and he was quite bubbly. He got our present and seemed to really like it, and he also got quite a few cards. A friend in Coventry had taken him out for a meal, and The Langleys had made him a cake. Phil has got his car and computer fixed, so quite a good week, sibling-wise. I have been in and around the house, doing some more work on the Paston book for Lucy. Yesterday Dot and I both had our hair cut, and Linda’s partner Mike had a measure-up in the shower room to see what he could offer Dot in the way of shelves, cupboards and surfaces.

Today Dot and I are practising a couple of songs for tomorrow, which is the church day out at Mangeen. I am working on the principle that all will be well, which is an established Norwich attitude originated by Julian, or possibly God.

5 August 2008

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A view of Brancaster beach, which figures in a poem I’ve just written, mainly about the difficult last few days but also a little bit about Brancaster beach.

Yesterday was very quiet: I wasn’t feeling up to much, but I wrote lots of e-mails and spoke to a few people on the phone. Today was busier: I got up reasonably early and walked up to the sorting office to post off Andrew’s card and present. Then Dot and I drove to the garage, where we got a ridiculous estimate for the vandal-created dents on our car: £1500. Pretty straightforward, said the bodyshop man: it just needs a new roof and a new bonnet. Although we’ll only be paying one sixth of this, I still feel indignant.

On we went to Wells and Big Blue Sky, who bought 12 of my poetry books!! Seems likely they would be interested in smaller booklets, too. Had very encouraging conversation with owner, then moved on to Holkham for a sandwich before heading home via the Walsingham Farm Shop. Towards home had violent stomach upset and only just made it. What next? My body should sort itself out.

The weather switched from calm and warm early on to very wet and unpleasant on the way home, but it seems to have reverted to reasonably pleasant again, though with occasional drops of rain. Shortly the Tuesday Gang will appear. Potatoes are baking.

3 August 2008

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Another very old picture – this time of Dot, which must have been taken in late 1971 or early 1972, because she was clearly learning to drive (see the L-plate on our Austin 1100, which I had bought from a second-hand car dealer on the North Circular: our second car). Could have been taken in Wales, in which case I suspect it was on top of the Berwyn Mountain, scene of a well-known UFO sighting featured recently on television, with Dot’s cousin Adrian an impressive interviewee. Or it could have been somewhere else.

Back to the present, and an extraordinary week, as heat gave way to rain. Nothing extraordinary about that, but if you remember I had a urine infection. I had been given tablets for this at Wells, but by Thursday I had reached a stage where my flow had dried up completely. This was bad psychologically (I was instinctively terrified) and physically (it became more and more painful). I tried the urology nurses and the surgery, but couldn’t get through, so we went to the hospital, where coincidentally I had an appointment at the out-patient clinic to get the result of my blood test – to see if my prostate operation was successful.

Despite the urology nurse (who had picked up my message) trying to get me in quickly, the doctor was still about 15 minutes late, and by then I had lost all interest in the blood test. He examined me, made some phone calls and got me into the Emergency Assessment Unit. I just about managed to ask him about my blood test as I left the room, and it was CLEAR – the operation was SUCCESSFUL! But I was in agony.

Dot and I walked to the EAU, and a doctor tried to insert a catheter – unsuccessfully. There was some kind of blockage. Enter my personal saviour – Wayne, a nursing auxiliary. He gave me a mixture of gas and air (usually used for births), which was the only thing that gave me any relief during the next few hours, during which I was transferred to a bed in the EAU ward. They tried morphine and various other tablets, but only the gas worked – on and off. I can’t ever remember being in such distress.

There was talk about an operation the next day, which didn’t do anything for my mental state, but eventually, after some hard praying by Dot, I got an emergency slot at 8pm (the original appointment was at 2.25pm). Never had losing consciousness come as such a relief. I was told later that as soon as this happened the flow was released, and that they went on to stretch my urethra. It certainly feels as if it has been stretched, and my new catheter is less comfortable than the old one. I am due to return to hospital early next week to have it removed – and possibly to learn how to insert one myself if necessary. Don’t like the sound of it much.

I was in hospital overnight, of course, but discharged early the next day – without speaking to a doctor or being told officially what had happened during the operation. But that’s nothing new. I’ve been feeling very fragile since, but went out for a short walk yesterday afternoon.

I’ve spoken to Big Blue Sky and had hoped to take some poetry books out to them on Friday, but of course that had to be postponed. Also postponed is Andrew’s visit to Norwich next week, which is sad as it’s his 60th birthday on Wednesday. I’ve let The Langleys know, but haven’t told him yet, because he’s out a lot. I’m trying again tonight. It will be nice when things get back to normal, if they ever do.