General Chat

Good morning all 2 degrees here now but there was a frost last night. I was a bit restless but mainly slept ok. I did see the full moon at 3.30am.
No plans for today, bed stripped and bedding in the wash so probably housework.

Ann that is ok. I did get what you meant.

Vera thanks for that ‘picture’. And thank you for not sending out the photo I have never liked slapstick! Poor OH I bet he needed a shower to get rid of the smell of the dressing. I hope it was not a garlic one.

My son in law always really tightens bottle and jar tops. Daughter and I are always complaining.

Have a lovely time tomorrow with grandson and family.

I just re-read my last post which wasn't very clear AnnG. FIL had stiches to attach the graft, but the site the graft was taken from didn't need stitching.

Vera your day just gets better with surprises! It will be lovely to see the baby again won't it. They grow so fast. Only £10 for a scan at the opticians.....mine cost £25 this time but, like you, OH's are free at the hospital. Well I had to laugh at the image in my head from your description of your OH with the bottle of dressing! :-D We have disputes about pickle jar lids as I leave them loose so I can undo them easily and lift the jars with their sides, but OH tightens them and picks them up by the lids with not a good outcome sometimes when they are loose! When I still can't undo one he's used, he swears they must tighten themselves, but how does that work?

The house the couple have had built sounds ideal with the room over the garage Mel. I would love to have a room for craft stuff and be able to leave a sewing machine out and have a place for everything. They've incorporated some useful things too that will make it cheap to run as things get more epensive.

Thank you Gwyn and everyone else for my birthday greetings. I had another 2 cards in the post and so many texts and phone calls that my head’s spinning. People are so kind and generous. While I was in the shower OH took an Interflora delivery from a local florist and it was one of those packages of items. There was a small arrangement of dried flowers and grasses, which sits beautifully on a small table in the hall, a box of Belgian chocolates, a scented candle in a tin and a pack of sweet pea seeds. They were from son and dil. I am having such a lovely day, made even better by a long phone call from my lovely granddaughter in Edinburgh.

I can’t remember if I mentioned it or not but grandson and his partner and the baby have come south for a long weekend. They stayed at my daughter’s last night (his Mum) and are staying at her ex’s tonight (his Dad) and tomorrow they are coming to us for the night. We’re looking forward to seeing them, particularly the little one. Daughter and her partner will be joining us for a meal if he feels OK but at the moment he isn’t very well so it will be a last minute decision.

AnnG, I’ve heard other people say they paid £10 for the eye photographs taken at the opticians. We have never had to pay at all. The hospital scans are different from the photographs our optician takes and do take a bit longer but not so long that you can’t do it without blinking. It was something my optician saw on the pictures taken at an eye test that made him refer me to the hospital and I am so glad he did. I think to an extent you are right about the cultural differences between nations. The lady doctor. I saw seemed to have the attitude that she was the doctor and what she says goes. She certainly didn’t like me asking questions. The doc I usually see isn’t British either. I am not sure where he is from, possibly Turkey or the Middle East but he acts as though any treatment I have is the result of collaboration between us. He’s certainly prepared to listen to me.

Anyway you’ve heard more than enough of my boring medical experiences. I said I’d tell you of something else that happened on Thursday. I decided for our meal in the evening I would cook gammon steaks with some baby potatoes and sweet corn and do a side salad. We sat down to eat, OH picked up the bottle of salad dressing and shook it violently. The top flew off and the dressing flew everywhere - all over the table, both the chairs we were sitting on, the floor and mostly over OH. There was an enraged yell of “you didn’t put the top back on the bottle” but it went very quiet when I pointed out that he’s the only one who uses that dressing. I don’t like it. Then I started laughing. He did look so funny with his black jumper and trousers covered in this gunge but most of all it was him. He sat there poker faced with this stuff running down his face from his hairline and dripping off his chin. Luckily he saw the funny side and let me take a photo on condition that I didn’t send it to all and sundry so it has only gone to our son and daughter and one close friend. You’ll just have to imagine it but it could have come from an old Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd silent film :-D :-D :-D

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY VERA <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Sorry I forgot to put that in the heading of my first post. You had a lovely lot of cards, do you have space to put them all out? It will be lovely to have a new ipad from oh and you can get on with watching iplayer and reading your books. I would'nt have any idea how to set a new one up so I hope you get on ok with it.

We have had sun for most of the day with occasonal rain just as I was going up the shop. The couple in the shop have had a new house built behind it and a garage with a workshop ove it for Ann for her sewing. Shae ma\kes some lovely things of all sorts on her sewing machines. Lovely quilts and pictures and dolls and loads of other stuff. They had a huge rainwater tank sunk in the ground to feed the washing machine bathrooms etc. She has some very unual lighting in the house too some nice some not to my liking there's two bathrooms and three bedrooms and still some garden left and they are keeping the two outbuildings as one is Keith's workshop nd the other one they let to a hairdresser.

Yes, thank you. You are the first person to know somebody with a problem in the same location.

Yes it was all done at the same time AnnG. If a graft was necessary, maybe they could use skin from your other arm or your thigh. It was only a small graft that was needed and he didn't need any stitches for that. You'll be able to clarify things at your appointment but it's good to think about what you need to know.

Annx was the skin graft done at the same time as the removal? I think I would be wary about having a skin graft from my left arm which has already had four BCCs on it. difficult decision I think.

Hi Everyone,

<3 <3 :-DHAPPY BIRTHDAY VERA :-D <3 <3 What a lot of birthday cards you have had and the new version of the ipad will be good!
It sounds like you had a good day with the ladies and a tasty Shepherd’s pie for your meal. It was good they showed their appreciation with some lovely flowers and a nice cake for you. Not such a good day to the hospital though and it does sound like an apology was due after your long wait. The manner of the Indian lady you saw does sound as if you were squeezed in with her. Still at least your scans showed nothing new which is good and hopefully you will see your usual man next time. I have the ‘don’t blink’ scan at the optician’s, which has never been a problem either so it must have been the operator. OH always has to have another lot of the dilation drops, so his eyes stay blurry for ages.

AnnG it’s good you will soon be seen by the hospital. FIL had a BCC removed from the outside of a nostril when he was in his 90s. We had noticed he had a reddish spot there for a long time and assumed he or MIL had mentioned it to the doctor on one of their routine visits. When it started to bleed they saw the doctor and he couldn’t believe he had missed it himself. His was big enough to need a skin graft from his arm and it did look a bit of a mess immediately afterwards and we wondered how it would heal and look. It amazed us how quickly the swelling went down and how soon the redness went. After a few months we had to look hard to see where it had been. Using a mask to go out at first is a good one. Since Covid a lot of people still wear one so it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary now. I liked the topic ‘Alleys’ for your photography group! It’s surprising how many there are when you start to look for them! I think ‘Doors’ would be a good topic too.

Mel OH had a single CD come in a similar size box last week! He was wondering what on earth he had ordered!

Mandy, I love how the slow cooker does enough for a couple of days or a helping to freeze!

It’s a nice sunny day here and we spotted the Buzzards, five of them, for the first time this year, circling really high above the back field. They must be able to see so far from up there. OH has gone to a local match today.

My next task is to clean the kitchen sink, gas hob and microwave and maybe do some dusting. :-S

Ah yes... My face mask came in handy. ;-)

thanks Gwyn, I am no stranger to ops for BCCs, this will be approximately the 14/15th one to be removed and so far they have all not been suspicious from biopsies. I had one done on my face during Covid and, as you say the scar is hardly apparent now but this one id on the outside of my nostril, not on a fleshy part, knowing how deep they need to go I think it will or might take away that part of my nose. I am trying not to be spooked by it and it has to be done so will have to make the best of it. Post op and stitches I might well wear a face mask. :-|

Sorry Vera I forgot to wish you A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY..... Hope you have a great day xx <3 <3 <3

:-D <3 Happy Birthday, Vera <3 :-D

I hope you have a lovely day and the sun keeps shining for you.

Sorry to hear of your hospital experience.
It's maddening watching later-coming patients being called forward and being left waiting. It happened to me once and having sat for about an hour and realising that if I wasn't called soon, I would miss yet another 'only one an hour' bus home I spoke up and I really do think that I had been forgotten.
The doctor could have had a better attitude, after such a long wait :-|

AnnG sorry to hear that you have health concerns. I hope you can be referred and treated quickly, because I think that the waiting gives time for worrying. Don't be too worried about a scar, they heal and fade.
I don't know if I told you that I had to have surgery on my cheek for melanoma back in 2021. The resultant wound and stitching seemed huge to me, at first, but I had a lovely consultant / surgeon who was willing to answer any of my questions both before and post op.and I trusted his word completely. When I went back to volunteering at school ( op. was in Covid restrictions time) I thought the children might comment on my scar, but none ever have and it really is hardly visible now.

A lovely sunny day here, but very chilly, so I don't know that I will be out in the garden today. Usually on the weekend before our Monday garden bin collection, daughter and I get busy to make it worth while subscribing.
It will be so wet underfoot on our clay soil, so maybe this time, we will give it a miss.

Thank you Mandy, Mel, AnnG and Annx for your lovely cards and birthday wishes. They are much appreciated. I have had 24 cards plus an e-card and 3 phone calls this morning. OH has given me an IOU for a new iPad. I use mine all the time for everything but it is now very old and no longer supports some of the apps. BBC weather has already disappeared and I understand that BBC iPlayer is going soon. I’ll be pleased to get a new iPad but I am not looking forward to setting it all up.

Phone’s ringing. Must go. BBL

Morning all,

<3 <3 Happy Birthday Vera <3 <3

Hope you have a lovely day with lots of nice presents, sounds as if you have lots of cards .

A frosty morning here ,now the suns up and shining its all melted .
Just getting a sausage casserole in the sliw cooker will turn that on later and I've doubled up so there's enough for tomorrow.

Morning all,

I have a bright sunny morning at the moment and I am wondering how long its going to last? Its 6 degrees with blue sky and lots of white clouds.

Just the usual shop to do today.

Vera it sounds like you went through all that my mum used to go through with her eyes and she was forgotton on two occasions. As you were explaining things I could see mum sitting in the chair at all those machines and experiences. She used to get a yellow eye drop that stained her water too. I used to see her pictures of the back of her eyes to see where the bleed was and how it had reacted to the injections.

Good morning all. slight frost last night and still-1 so winter is back!

Vera I love shepherds (or cottage) pie with cheese on too so I would have enjoyed your meal.

Your hospital trip was not a lot of fun. and if they really did forget you an apology would have been nice. I am sorry by no means am I racist but I do feel that sometimes there can be a cultural and language barrier when seeing doctors, dentists etc which does make things difficult. That sounds a very uncomfortable visit. Having said that my visit to the doctor (definitely Caucasian and English/British.) Professional but abrupt.
I have that camera 'don't blink' experience every time I go to the optician. Used to cost me £10 a time but last two times was free.
Yes I will have a hospital visit from the referral to 'look' at the problem. Then that will entail another hospital visit for the removal of the BCC, whether by freezing or cut and stitch. Neither of which is going to be pleasant and I have no idea how it will affect the way I look afterwards either. Not looking forward to the experience at all. Besides the effort to actually get to the hospital.

Mel, I don’t know how you have the patience to do all the fiddly little bits on your Tudor people. It’s worth it though as they always look so good.

I’m glad your doc’s appointment went well AnnG and you can get the BCC dealt with. Will it mean a trip to hospital for you? Btw, I chose something simple off the menu yesterday, a shepherd’s pie. It was one of the best I have ever had with a flavoursome minced lamb and mashed potato and a cheese topping. It came with mixed veg and a separate jug of gravy which I didn’t use as I don’t like gravy with cheesy things.

On to yesterday and the visit to the hospital. The weather was atrocious but there were no road closures and no real floods, just some deep puddles. We got there 10 minutes early and I was called in almost immediately. So far, so good.

The system is always the same. First I have a sight test but it’s not like the optician’s test. I have to wear my glasses for this and hold a plastic contraption which blocks off one eye at a time and then we do the same looking through an eye shield with pinhole piercings. Then my eyes are anaesthetized with drops and pressure is tested by the nurse tapping a pen sized machine against my eyeballs. Then dilation drops are put in. The problem yesterday was that the nurse who did it was driving me mad. She looked about 15 and was treating me as though I was about 5. Everything I said to her got the response of “Bless you” or “Ah, bless” and everything was slowly explained in words of one syllable. I felt like screaming “I may have grey hair but I’m not in my second childhood!”.

Next I have to go to have both eyes scanned which only takes a few minutes and involves me putting my head in position on a chin and forehead rest. The nurse adjusts the machine and when she is happy I have to stare at a green star and not blink while the scanner takes the pictures of my eye. No problem at all until yesterday when I either had someone new to the job or the most incompetent eye nurse around. She would say “Don’t blink” and then start adjusting the machine which she couldn’t get right. I would have to keep staring ahead, unblinking, like some demented zombie till my eyes were actually hurting. That was the point when I couldn’t stop myself blinking and the point when she started the scan, at the end of which she would accusingly say “You blinked” and it would have to be done all over again. Would you believe it took 5 goes before the scans were OK? She clearly believed it was all my fault but I have these every time I go and it’s always been successful first time.

Anyway, the next step is to see the doctor and there is always a little bit of a wait here. There were 2 doctors operating in adjacent rooms. One was the doctor I usually see and the other was an Indian lady. Well, I waited and I waited. People were coming to the waiting room to see the doctor, were sitting there for a short while and then getting called in and I started wondering if I had been forgotten. There is a large notice on the wall making various points about the system and one of them says “If you feel you have been forgotten, please speak to a member of the nursing staff”. After more than an hour of waiting I decided to speak to someone. Was there a member of the nursing staff anywhere in sight? Was there, heck! In the end I went all the way back to the main waiting room where OH was and to the reception desk there, praying I wouldn’t get called by the doctor while I was away. One of the reception staff said to go back to the doctor’s waiting area and she would find out what was happening. After a few minutes she came and found me and told me I was next to be called and a couple of minutes later I was called in to this Indian lady and not to my normal man. She was very abrupt. She had a brief look at my scans on the screen and a very brief examination of my eyes and then said it’s stable and we’ll see you in 8 weeks and I was out. The doctor I usually see always asks how I feel things are going and shows me the scans and talks through the options with me. I may be wrong but I think I had somehow been missed and my normal man had gone off for his lunch and this lady doctor was asked to fit me in her schedule.

We got soaked just walking from the eye treatment centre to the car park so I arrived home cold, wet, tired and very fed up. There was something else that happened last night which ended up quite funny but I think I’ve had enough for one night and I expect you have too so I’ll tell you about that next time.

Goodnight all, sleep well.

PS I’ve already been sent my next appointment for 16th April. I can’t wait!

So good to know you had a great time Vera with all your friends and good things to eat.

Its been so cold here today and we have had a little sun but mostly heavy rain and hail showers.

Iv'e got his boots on now but mucked his jacket shoulder bits up a bit and they have frayed a bit so I am going to cut them back a bit and put some white glue on them to stop them fraying again. I did put hemming tape between the material and thought that would stop it fraying but no so that will have to be seen to and now it just some hair and a hat and belt with maybe a purse or something. I am not getting any casting done playing with this little man.

Em called round for eggs and we had a nice long chat. She was saying that Sam had hurt his foot and was supposed to rest it but he played football and hurt it agian. He said mum I was only in goal so not running around. Both boys love their football and I can hear them in the garden playing most days.

I meant to say the dr’s appointment went ok yesterday. Appointment was 1620 I went in early and got home at 1630. Nice doctor it terribly chatty and not terribly empathetic but he got the job done. Agreed it is a BCC and did the reffal form. Amazing to see a doctor touch typing.
I can see why T didn’t get anywhere with him, not one to offer sympathy I think just blunt and get the job done. I would imagine he was very no nonsense on the phone. That would not have suited T.