More busy days!

Yesterday, being Wednesday, we anticipated Quiz Night. I had very carefully prepared a couple of rounds in readiness but, when it came to it, there was a flurry of comments on our little WhatsApp group which offered a postponement. Well, that suited me! I was flat out with preparations for next week, when we take another well-earned rest and spend half-term in Somerset with the family.

In between being out and about and entertaining (see below), we were making best use of the washing machine, washing line and tumble dryer, to get all our togs clean and ready in time for slotting into suitcases.

We had spent the morning to-ing and fro-ing from Heartlands Hospital and Solihull Hospital as well as home, where John had his immunoglobulin treatment at the former hospital, and I had a blood test at the latter.

I popped home mid-morning and was just about to make a pot of tea when the doorbell rang and it was Linda again, returning the cardigan I had left at their house a couple of weeks ago! We had a good natter for half an hour before she set off, heading home to Devon, and I set off back to Heartlands.

Pete and Dawn came for a cuppa and chat-chat in the afternoon, which was lovely. Always so refreshing to see them, even though we talk about our woes! It’s nice to share, isn’t it? Despite our woes being the topic of conversation, we always have a good giggle at ourselves and our spirits are uplifted. Smashing.

At the point of Pete and Dawn’s departure, Paul and Freddie arrived, bearing bags of goodies to make a barbecue meal. Oh, lush! Harriet arrived soon after, and then we were into the throws of playing with Freddie – and boy, did Grandpa have a whale of a time with Freddie-in-a-Box! Howls of laughter coming from the pair of them as the ‘newly-carved-into-the-box-and-designed-by-Freddie‘ windows were opened and closed, and the lid lifted and shut.

Shooed out of the kitchen and away from the barbecue, I wandered into the garden to continue that bit of pruning of the jasmine, and Freddie joined me to play in the sandpit. That was nice. We were chatted companionably as we worked – particularly exclaiming over the spiders, the ants, the unidentifiable bugs and the very-nearly nest in the jasmine. So lovely.

The meat was superbly cooked on the barbecue by Paul, and the salad-y bits were skilfully prepped by Andrew. No work required from John or I. Boom!

As it was such a lovely evening, we took the opportunity to sit outside on the patio to eat our food. Oh, how blessed we all felt.

And, to round off the evening before we had to say our goodbyes, Freddie and I played in the ‘woods’ at the bottom of our garden, hacking our way through the ‘jungle’ and emerging triumphant back into civilisation where mowed lawn meets wilderness. Cool, eh?

Another hospital day today, with John at the Urology Clinic this morning in Solihull, to discuss the state of play with the ‘bag-for life’. Appointment was at 11 o’clock, at which time we duly arrived. We waited patiently for about fifteen minutes, then a nurse came along to say the the Urology Consultant, whom John had been keen to collar, was delayed. He’d been called into theatre to an emergency surgery. Rats!

Fortunately, the senior Registrar took his place and John was able to talk freely and easily to him. After our initial wait of over an hour to be seen, we came away with a plan to trial the ditching of the ‘bag for life’ – although John isn’t holding out much hope of the trial being successful. We’ll see – fingers crossed.

Home again and we had a short break for lunch before I toddled off to see Mum, and Andrew toddled off to see about a temporary job, leaving John to do a tidy-up in the kitchen while we were out.

Mum was a little bit better when I visited today, although she didn’t recognise me at first. However, we soon got into our little way of entertaining each other and she remembered then. We were able to have a chuckle together today, which is the first time for a while, so I came away a bit happier than I had been previously. She is still not eating much, but she has tucked into one or two things this week, so the carers felt a bit more confident that she really is on the mend.

So that’s us, folks! Nearly Friday already! Gosh, where did that week go?

Take care and God bless.