Good Morning

Birthday Greetings

Birthday greetings goes to poliphilo today.

May you have a great day.

Wall Art

That empty wall I had when I took down the Xmas cards is now full again. I have attached my art to that wall, and as you can see have painted another in faux Rothko style. This one gently shades from blues to the darkest black. It’s now my coolest wall.

Birthday Greetings

Birthday greetings goes to hoobird.

May you have a wonderful day.

Friday Frolics

Tony,aka poliphilo, arrived this morning with the bedside cabinet and four large plastic CD cases of which three were full of CDs. A truly wonderfully mixed selection of genres as well. Quite a few Bob Dylan CDs that I did not have included in the selection plus some wonderful albums on the Topic record label. There were quite a few BBC classical recordings without the magazine which I gave to Mary at flat 27. There were a few mainstream albums - such as Brian Ferry or The Beautiful South - that did not interest me and so twenty went to the common room for others to pick up. The rest were classical albums which I will sift through tomorrow. Oh, and a few Beatles albums as well.


For now, I have been having a Dylan session.

Thank you for the great music mate

Text of an email to my GP this evening

I visited Ros today for two hours from 2:00pm. She had been relocated to a room on her own. Four walls and a door. No view of any passers by. Only the odd visit from a member of the nursing staff. Ros was inconsolable and, to me, borderline delirious. She was completely confused about what was happening, although she had been told that the biopsy would be conducted tomorrow (Saturday) after which she would be sent home. This pushed her anxiety level through the roof and I had to consider, given my sciatica and severe pain, how we would manage at home. It will be impossible for Ros to negotiate stairs to the bathroom and toilet, let alone the bedroom. As for getting her home, this would apparently be accomplished by the Red Cross. I was told that the result of the biopsy would take ten days. For heaven's sake. I left Ros around 4:00pm and had to be wheelchaired to the A&E entrance to get a taxi home. I can only walk a few steps before the pain becomes intolerable.

Ros called me at 6:00pm from her mobile - virtually incoherent. Wanted me to come back. A distressing conversation followed. At 8:00pm she called again, to apologise for her previous call. Wanting to know when she would be collected from the hotel. I heard a nurse in the background, and here's the part that infuriated me. I heard her in an angry tone say to Ros: "Switch that off or I will turn your oxygen off". Indefensible, even though I understand the risk of having a mobile switched on in the presence of oxygen. It was the tone and anger in her voice and this to a patient who is extremely anxious and confused. I am ready to issue a formal complaint.

The outcome of all of this is that I will need home help. Given my sciatica (if that is what it is) and Ros's state of mind and difficulty with breathing, we will not be able to manage. Despite all my requests I have been unable to speak with a senior doctor about this whole situation and that is unacceptable. I was led to believe by others that, after the biopsy, Ros would be put on a course of powerful steroids. No further mention of that.

I presume you will not read this email until Monday, by which time we could be in a helpless state. Please give this your urgent attention.

Thank you.

The Friday Five

What would you love to be able to make a living at doing?

What has been your best score at a thrift or second-hand store?

What are your thoughts on Feng Shui? ((in Chinese thought) a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (qi), and whose favourable or unfavourable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings.)

What has been your most flamboyant shoes to date?

What is your best put-down saying or line?

Good Night