Update on oggbashan's health

[oggbashan]

Hoping you can slip in these next two days of therapy before the effects of the virus skyrocket there and then that you are left in peace at home for the duration.

I'm hoping so too. My oncology consultant said "Do the radiotherapy NOW - before it's too late because of the virus".

So far, so good. Only two more sessions to go but the number of patients visiting the oncology department is reducing daily. All of us are at risk but radiotherapy, unlike chemotherapy, does not affect the immune system. We can park right next to the department's door, and be in and out in half an hour.

The hospital website has announced that oncology will continue no matter what but all other non-urgent issues will stop on 1st April. I have an appointment with a neurologist that day that I expect to be deferred.

 

[TxRad]

I was hoping you’d say that you can now fly and read minds. It would show the doctors what we all already know: that you’re a superhero.

He just wants to use the old glow in the dark trick with all those beach bunnies across the road from his house.

Oh wait, the beach is pretty much empty. Don't ya just hate bad timing and lost plot bunnies.

Keep up the good work on the health front.

 

[oggbashan]

He just wants to use the old glow in the dark trick with all those beach bunnies across the road from his house.

Oh wait, the beach is pretty much empty. Don't ya just hate bad timing and lost plot bunnies.

Keep up the good work on the health front.

The beach SHOULD be empty. It isn't. The beach hut owners have been out in force preparing their huts for social isolation (and replenishing the gas supplies for the heaters!).

There were nearly as many people on the beach this weekend as there would be in high summer but everyone was wrapped up against the strong NE wind.

 

[oggbashan]

After the UK lockdown I will have to carry my radiotherapy appointments letter tomorrow or we might be stopped by the police.

Our route to the hospital goes right past the police station.

 

[Rustyoznail]

After the UK lockdown I will have to carry my radiotherapy appointments letter tomorrow or we might be stopped by the police.

Our route to the hospital goes right past the police station.

Give the police a call with your car details and the reason why you're on the road. I'm sure they would prefer not to stop you.

Stay safe.

 

[Edward Teach]

Good Luck, Ogg. We'll be thinking of you.

 

[oggbashan]

I have just returned from my penultimate radiotherapy session. The last one is tomorrow afternoon. The only difference tomorrow is that the reception desk will not be manned. There will be a phone on the desk - ring this number and then clean the phone!

For those who cannot use a phone e.g. the deaf, there will be an old fashioned school bell. - Ring the bell and then clean the handle.

 

[KeithD]

Looks like you're making it in just under the bell for essential services (for now). Good timing.

 

[yukonnights]

I have just returned from my penultimate radiotherapy session. The last one is tomorrow afternoon. The only difference tomorrow is that the reception desk will not be manned. There will be a phone on the desk - ring this number and then clean the phone!

For those who cannot use a phone e.g. the deaf, there will be an old fashioned school bell. - Ring the bell and then clean the handle.

If it were me, I'd clean the phone, then call — then clean the phone again!

 

[oggbashan]

I have just returned from my last radiotherapy session. Despite yesterday's warnings, the hospital changed its mind and the reception desk was peopled (or rather personed - one woman on duty instead of three). The other two are now working at London hospitals that need them.

My local hospital (and the two others in the group) hasn't yet had a single Covid-19 case but they are expecting that to change hourly.

My next consultant appointment on next Wednesday has been changed to a telephone consultation so I don't have to travel. I am expecting him to say 'Wait and see and come back in three months' time' so doing it by phone seems sensible.

I am booked to see the oncology consultant on May 18 if the hospital is operating normally then.

I have now finished the radiotherapy so we wait and see whether that deters the recurrence of the cancer, but it wasn't the way we wanted to celebrate our 48th Wedding Anniversary. We can't go out for a meal or have friends to visit so it will be a very low key celebration.

Edited to add PS. The bolded bit is now wrong. A pregnant woman from my town is now the first Covid-19 case in a local hospital with pnemonia on both lungs.

 

[KeithD]

Yay, that hurdle managed.

We canceled our April 1st dentist appointments yesterday. They are still taking appointments but I'd think of dental work as high risk for both patient and dentist/hygienist.

 

[oggbashan]

Yay, that hurdle managed.

We canceled our April 1st dentist appointments yesterday. They are still taking appointments but I'd think of dental work as high risk for both patient and dentist/hygienist.

My dentist is shut unless you are bleeding profusely or very swollen but even then they suggest visiting the local emergency dentist at our main hospital but they MIGHT see you themselves.

 

[oggbashan]

This evening we are celebrating the end of radiotherapy and our 48th wedding anniversary.

48 years ago we had a very low key wedding in a Registry Office with immediate family and a very few friends. We were given the option of a full-scale wedding or the money towards a house purchase. Going beyond immediate family was always going to be difficult. On my side going further than my brother and his family would mean hundreds; on my wife's side it would be tens.

The house purchase was stalled a week before the wedding. We had an unexpected six week's delay but found a 'holiday' flat from where we could both go to work. Normally it wouldn't be available for six weeks but the owner had taken it off the letting list because his house was sold and completion was in three months' time. Six weeks' rent was useful even if the basement flat really needed maintenance. The new owner was going to make it into a series of games rooms for his children, ripping out the kitchen and bathroom.

The fridge needed defrosting every day. The cooker only had one working gas ring and the oven didn't work at all. Our first night together, we couldn't cook. We had to walk to the nearby Fish and Chip shop. Our first solo meal together was Fish and Chips.

On the Monday I managed to buy a secondhand tabletop electric cooker - not ideal but better than nothing.

Tonight we did slightly better - a takeaway Indian meal but again on our own.

Several of the other radiotherapy patients would be very jealous that I could eat an Indian meal a few hours after treatment. They can eat nothing but mush for days. Og's stomach seems invulnerable.

 

[Handley_Page]

 

[JamesMiehoff]

This evening we are celebrating the end of radiotherapy and our 48th wedding anniversary.

Several of the other radiotherapy patients would be very jealous that I could eat an Indian meal a few hours after treatment. They can eat nothing but mush for days. Og's stomach seems invulnerable.

Congratulations on both your wedding and being able to celebrate it. In these days of disposable marriages coming up near the half century mark is a milestone and a tribute to both of your persistence.

James

 

[gordo12]

Congrats to you both on 48 years. I know the kind of dedication it takes to keep a marriage alive and happy for that kind of time. Kudos to you both and you aim for 50 now. You owe it to her for putting up with you all those years

 

[TarnishedPenny]

x12, Mr and Mrs Ogg! So many reasons to be happy today!

 

[yukonnights]

Congratulations Ogg ! You are indeed an anomaly. One the world needs to stick around for awhile longer ~

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks to all.

My wife's oldest friend - they met when both were three years old - has just celebrated 53 years of marriage.

Just before last Christmas, one of my oldest friends celebrated 50 years of marriage. 50 years ago I was his Best Man, the only time I performed that role. They intended a large celebration but the wife was in the middle of hospital treatment for back issues so they postponed until March, and now because of Covid-19 they have postponed indefinitely.

As Best Man I had some issues to deal with:

1. While waiting outside the church the groom noticed one of his shoelaces was undone. He bent over to tie it up and split the back seam on his trousers. I produced my sewing kit - every Best Man should have one - but 2 happened. I thrust my sewing kit into the hands of the woman next to me - the groom's ex-fiancée - and rushed off. She sewed him up. 50 years later his ex-fiancée is still a friend of the husband and wife.

2. I had a frantic message from the church's parish office. The hire car bringing the bride and bridesmaids had broken down. I rushed back to my car - then a large limousine - and retrieved them. The bride was only two minutes late as I rushed down the aisle to join the groom.

3. It was a Catholic Wedding Mass but the local priest had never done one in English before. He had the assistance of the bride's uncle - a priest from Argentina who had only celebrated weddings in Latin and didn't speak much English. They didn't really know what they were doing. They told the congregation to follow me to stand, sit and kneel and they would signal to me. But I was a Protestant and had no idea how a Catholic Wedding Mass went in Latin or English and no one except the priests had a service book in English. The messages from the two priests were contradictory. After the first ten minutes I decided to play it by instinct. As I was very definite in my actions the congregation followed me exactly even if the priests sometimes looked surprised when they turned around from the altar.

But my friends were satisfactorily married even if the two priests afterwards admitted the groom's choice of a protestant as Best Man had meant I had confused them during the service. After a few glasses of wine they admitted that they had been nervous and my definite signals to the congregation had covered up their errors.

 

[oggbashan]

50 years ago - the Wedding Reception

The wedding reception was to be held in the bride's flat above a shop that she had been sharing with three men - none of whom were her fiancé.

The three men had provided the food for the wedding guests. The plan was to hold a formal reception for the relations, some of whom were elderly and very distinguished, while the friends gathered in a private room in the public house across the road. At 6 pm the formal reception would end and the friends would gather for an all-night party.

After I had made my Best Man's speech I was with the friends across the road. It was just before Christmas so after a few drinks we started singing Christmas Carols. Our 'private' room was only separated from the main bar by a head-height partition and in the bar, the staff of the local Tesco supermarket were having their staff Christmas party. They joined in the carol singing and soon both groups were inextricably mixed.

After an hour the relations decided that the formal reception was boring and all trooped across the road to join the friends. Some of them treated us to a demonstration of the Argentinian tango and sung carols in Spanish. The Bride and Groom joined us as all their guests at the reception were now in the public house.

At six clock both the friends and relations returned to the flat for the party. The relations decided, despite their ages, that they were going to party all night too - and did.

At 3 am I was sitting on the stairs - the only quiet place in the whole flat - with the two bridesmaids. They were twin twelve-year-old girls, cousins of the bride, but living in London. I had a bridesmaid on each knee with their heads resting on my shoulders, both sound asleep. I had an empty beer glass in one hand and a lit Cuban cigar in the other.

I was slightly embarrassed when their father passed on the way to the toilet.

"Enjoying yourself?" He asked, before thanking me for looking after his daughters. I said it was part of the Best Man's duties to protect the bridesmaids.

When he returned he took my empty beer glass and replaced it with a full one.

 

[fifty5]

The beach SHOULD be empty. It isn't. The beach hut owners have been out in force preparing their huts for social isolation (and replenishing the gas supplies for the heaters!).

There were nearly as many people on the beach this weekend as there would be in high summer but everyone was wrapped up against the strong NE wind.

My experience near Keighley, driving round to keep the car's battery charged was very similar. Lots of people waking around, some with dogs, some without, but the weather has been warmer here, many of the folk were wearing shorts!

 

[oggbashan]

This morning I had a letter canceling my medical appointment for next Tuesday. I was expecting it. It was for an annual eye check-up for changes caused by diabetes. My eyesight was checked at the hospital last week.

On Wednesday I was due to see a neurological consultant for a progress report. That has been changed to a telephone consultation.

 

[yukonnights]

This morning I had a letter canceling my medical appointment for next Tuesday. I was expecting it. It was for an annual eye check-up for changes caused by diabetes. My eyesight was checked at the hospital last week.

On Wednesday I was due to see a neurological consultant for a progress report. That has been changed to a telephone consultation.

Well, dang! Now you're all fixed up and ready to get out again — and this stupid virus has you in lock-down But, your a survivor and this too will pass

 

[oggbashan]

Well, dang! Now you're all fixed up and ready to get out again — and this stupid virus has you in lock-down But, your a survivor and this too will pass

At least I can look at the sea from all rooms except the downstairs toilet. I can sit on the john in my ensuite and watch the sea.

 

[yukonnights]

At least I can look at the sea from all tooms except the downstairs toilet. I casn sit on the john in my ensuite and watch the sea.

That certainly helps lift the gloom of being stuck indoors. We have a nice place too, lots of open space. I, like everyone here, am so happy that you have been blessed with your outcome of this illness. May you have many years!

I know it's selfish to say this, but since you had to start this thread to keep us updated, I have been entertained by your stories about the interesting, and I'd say unique, life you have lived. I doubt that I'm alone in thinking you should continue to amaze us with more

Perhaps there should be a movie made about you!