General Chat

Hi Gill,

It's lovely to see you posting as I was thinking of you at Christmas. I'm sorry to hear your OH has Prostate Cancer and can imagine that it has been a difficult time for you both and waiting for results is horrid. Hopefully his treatment will be started soon and fingers crossed he won't have to wait for long for the MRI. It sounds like he is getting pain with the rheumatism/arthritis in his spine too which can't be good when you have had such a big job renovating your bungalow and re-doing your garden.

My OH is waiting for an MRI scan too following back and neck pain that started last summer, but he also had a cardiac arrest at home 6 weeks ago. He's doing ok though and has a heart checkup on Friday.

I've passed on your kind birthday wishes to OH and he says to thank you all. :-)

No, private is being much quicker than the NHS in this case AnnG. The NHS waiting time just to see a consultant was 18 weeks and he saw someone privately in less than 2 weeks. He spoke to them at the private hospital earlier today and they needed to ask a lot of questions due to the cardiac arrest eg you can't have an MRI scan if you have a pacemaker as the scanner uses magnets. The lady he spoke to expects to ring him this afternoon or tomorrow with a date for his MRI scan. The scan for his spine, which will take 90 minutes, will cost £1,500!! With the cost of the consultations it will be just within what the small private insurance will cover, so that is good to know, It's 10 degrees here now and was really chilly earlier, but no rain so we stayed dry doing our errand. I have sorted a box in one of the top cupboards in here, some glass paints had solidified so can go and there was a box full of blank DVDs to record what you want on, some unopened. I'd forgotten I had them and don't seem to be able to play the few ones I had recorded on on W11. I was going to bin them but will check if they are in demand on Ebay first.

I'd better get a wash on now and help OH get the bins down our steepish drive as the recycling is full and heavy this time.

Hi All

Happy Birthday G, hope you have a lovely day

Sorry it's been so long since I was last on here, my OH has got Prostate Cancer so as you can imagine this past year or so has been really hard. He has another MRI at the end of this week so it's a bit of a worry until he gets the results.

He will have to have an operation at some point and chemo but he's not sure when yet. Hopefully they'll tell him on his next consultation after the MRI.

He started with a pain in his back on Christmas Day and thought the Cancer had spread. It hasn't and turned out to be two compressed vertebrae plus he has arthritis and rheumatism in his spine too.

We're still trying to sort this place out and have almost finished getting all the garden cleared, it's taken over 4 years but is looking much better even if it is full of building materials we've found in the garden which we're hoping to use. It's such a big garden 90 foot long and over 80 foot wide. We put a fence along the back where the fields are but it became wobbly with all the storms we had, so we might have to take it down and have another stronger one put up instead. We'll probably pay someone to do that though as it's to much for OH and I to do ourselves.

Sorry to be all doom and gloom. I haven't read any of the posts so I hope everyone is okay.

Happy birthday G.
Sorry you both had a bad night Ann. any idea when the MRI will materialise? Seems private is not a great deal better than NHS. Hope you both have a nice day for his birthday anyway.
we have had some very light rain, almost not worth mentioning except it is the first for a while. Temp is 8 with a high of 14 degrees expected.

I have showered and washed my hair and stripped the bed (not re-made yet though) and the bedding is in the drier. I have also done a bit of paperwork/admin and am now going to get a coffee.
Yes Gwyn the spring flowers are a welcome site and do re-pay the hard work. :-)

Morning all I overslept this morning.

Grey skies I'm afraid at the mo but it was brighter when I got up. Pc is teling me rain to stop but Iv'e not seen any this morning and its 12 degrees. Positively sweltering!!!

Sorry to hear you had a bad night Annx please give him my love for a lovely day.

Iv'e amended my asda order and had a wash and thats about it so far today. I want to get my hair washed today and thats always an ordeal.

The deer have eaten a lot of my crocus in the orchard but seem to have missed the ones further up the snowdrop patch, the original patches leaves have all got straiaght across ends to their leaves its either them or rabbits.

Morning All,

Misty here too AnnG and 6 degrees. A bad night's sleep with OH so I sat up with him for a few hours. He's better this morning again, poor chap and it's his birthday today as well.

I've just done some more clearing of paper in here and will set to on the final decisions for the en suite later, unless OH fancies going to the garden centre that has a big section on The Works. He might find himself a cheap book or two. :-)

Thank you Mandy for forwarding the photos.

What lovely spring flowers adding their colour there Ann.
It's always heartening to see a garden 'come alive' again after the dreary winter months and I know it gives you a lot of pleasure even though it is sometimes hard work maintaining it.
Thank goodness for Jake and co. who have made it easier for you to manage things.

Another lovely morning here, although it was a little misty earlier. So far laptop is telling me it's 8 degrees, but I'm not looking forward to the weather cooling later in the week.

Good morning all, overcast and a bit misty this morning and 7 degrees now. I slept ok and finally woke at 0715 plan so far today is to have a shower then change the bed and then wash the bedding. (exciting things! Life doesn;t get much more exciting than that!)

I am not sure I took very good photos with my phone or maybe it was the light. I was amazed when I looked at the patch of Helebores etc to see how many spring flowers there are in there. Helebores tete a tete, snowdrop remains and several primulas.

Thank you Mandy. I can never get the iPad to do a group email but thought I would try again. Thanks for saving me the job.

Thanks for forwarding the photos Mandy. Your garden is starting to look colourful AnnG. The Hellebores are nice and those crocus are such a vibrant colour and everything is waking up with the sunshine we've had.

OH has the same performance at the Opticians Vera. He often needs two lots of the eyedrops to get his pupils wide enough for the Optician. Once he was given the eyedops to put in at home before we set off, so it would save some time. Don't forget his sunglasses when you go again. OH reckons it is always sunny when he has an eye test and those drops.

Thanks Mandy.

Ann, the garden is looking good, tidy, colourful and spring like.

Thanks Mandy got them now. The garden is looking good and tidy Anng.

I've sent them on Anng to Mel,Ann Vera and Gwyn.

Sorry about the photos I may leave it until tomorrow to try again. I sent Mandy’s separately and she got hers :-D

I haven't received anything AnnG.

OH saw the optician and had various tests and scans but he's got to go back on Monday week to have drops put in and another examination. It's annoying as it means I will have to go with him again to drive home. Apparently they couldn't do them today as he has to wait for half an hour after the drops go in before the optician can examine him. If they knew that, why on earth didn't they ask him to come half an hour before his appointment time today for the drops?

I don't seem to have achieved anything much today. I wandered round Waterstones which is right next to the optician and bought a book and this afternoon I've responded to some emails and done a bit of banking and a bit of filing. Now I'm sorting out our dinner which I'm planning for 6 pm.

The two Anns are making me feel guilty as I know my wardrobes need sorting out and there will be stuff for the charity shop. I won't find anything with labels still on. I hate shopping so much that I only buy clothes for me when I really need something. I do have a wardrobe full of clothes but most of them date from the year dot. I may have to try and get out in the next week or so and try and buy a really nice blouse or top. We've got a diamond wedding 'do' to go to on 22nd and I don't know how formal it is going to be. It's a dinner for 65 people in a hotel with some entertainment after. I've got to find something to wear between too casual and too overdressed. I've got 2 possible skirts with jackets if I can find the right top to go with either of them

If we are going to eat at 6 pm I had better go and get some veg on to cook. I think a glass of rose wine might go down nicely while I'm cooking ;-)

No photos here yet either AnnG.

Jake is going to drop the boiler panel in on Wednesday evening, so I just hope my measurements were right and it fits!

Your garden bin day is the same as ours Gwyn. I'm going to do some cutting back in the morning to top ours up.

I ended up doing more admin and tidying my desk today. That was lucky finding the orchid had survived Mel. I must dig up some of the self set Cyclamen under the arbour. I thought they were petals that were falling from the main clump at first.

I know th efeeling Gwyn.

NO photos here either.

Iv'e come in Iv'e had enough and am thirsty so going to have a COC.

No photos here Ann.

I've been cutting back in the garden too.
The garden bin is almost full and will be collected Tuesday.
A little bit of warmth and sunshine and I feel much more inclined to get out there and get stuck in.

I have sent a few garden photos but, as it is from my IPad I am not sure if the emails went ok.

Can you let me know please.