Friday 31 May 2013

Z's day

Met the Head, phoned the Sage who had walked home, so I said I'd buy bread, the BBJ (local paper) and veggies and be home in twenny minutes.  But I wasn't.  On my way past the Buttercross, I met Nidge.  His wife is Patsy, who cleaned for me when we first lived here.  And he gave me the dreadful news that her son died last month at the age of forty.  Of course, I went straight round to see her.  What a shocking thing to happen - he had pancreatic cancer and lasted two years from diagnosis.  Patsy herself has emphysema and she and the boy took it in turns to use the wheelchair when they were out.  Hasn't stopped her smoking though, roll-ups with no filter are her preferred smokes.

There seems to be so much bad news at present.  Gill and Andy's fractures, Anthony's prostate cancer, Mary's broken leg, Willie's death, Sean and Wink's arthritis, Beryl's broken hip and that's by no means all.

Anyway, I was home at least an hour later than I'd said.  This afternoon, we've been to the hospital - that was a near miss, I assumed there'd be a mobile unit at the little hospital in the next town as usual. but fished out my letter to check, and it was actually at the main hospital at Gallstone.  Jolly efficient, the walk to and from the Breast Imaging Department (okay, for people with active imaginations) took quite as long as the appointment and I was in and out within the time allowed for free parking, which is a first.  There were lots of stats in the accompanying leaflet, such as "for every 14,000 women screened regularly for 10 years, one woman may develop breast cancer she will die from because of the radiation from the mammograms."  Oh, okay.  I suppose that's the reason Britain screens every three years and not more frequently, it's a balance.  Though how they know the cause is a mystery - that is, if it's caused by radiation from those specific x-rays, rather than anything else.  Anyway, it's done and won't be again for a bit, unless there's a problem, of course.

After that, we went to check the venue for the auction next week - same place, different room - and I decided on the layout of the room.  The Sage's suggestions were bizarre, so everyone went with mine.  *Toothy grin*  Then we went to call on friends who aren't well, then home.

I've accepted offers of tea and coffee everywhere and didn't confuse people who were already anxious by mentioning that I prefer black.  So I've felt slightly queasy ever since.

The rest of the day is school-related and so I can't talk about it.  Sometimes, I wonder how I have anything to blog about at all.  Because school seems to take up most of my waking life, some weeks.

Oh, and now we're keeping Ben, I've changed his diet a bit.  He was fed solely on dry food, but I had a dozen tins of dog meat in the cupboard, left from when we had Tilly.  I've been adding half a tin to his dry food - and he adores it.  Dinner is greeted with enthusiasm rather than indifference and he wags his tail as he eats.  

3 comments:

janerowena said...

I feel queasy if I have milk too - yet I can drink a glass of cold milk occasionally quite happily. Most odd. I suppose it's our age, but our friends and acquaintances seem to be dropping like flies, although only in their 50s. We must hear of one a week. You do rather start to wonder when it will be your turn.

Z said...

Tea and coffee with milk seem a bit greasy and heavy when you're not used to it. Although I do have milk if the tea is very strong.

luckyzmom said...

Mammos being one of my least favorite yearly requirements, every three years (if you don't have history) sounds reasonable to me. I wonder and have asked about too much exposure to xray. I am suppose to have hip xrays every year as well as the mammo and a sonogram on my thyroid. I don't want to be listed as noncompliant so I comply!