A long few days

It’s been an odd week.

On Wednesday the car disappeared off for its MOT. It failed – nothing unduly serious, the sort of thing that routinely needs to be done, new tyres, new brake pads etc.  We mentioned we were thinking of changing cars, but like everything else at the moment the actual getting to garages to look at what else was available was on hold. But in the end we rang back & authorised the repairs.

The car did not return that day.  We said we didn’t need it next day so the garage kept it to get the repairs & service done.

Thursday there was no word of progress. I was getting anxious as we’d left my wheelchair in the boot of the car, so I felt housebound. Admittedly with it being as cold as it has been of late, the temptation to go out wasn’t too great. I could always have gone on the Mean Machine, my mobility scooter.

Come Friday lunchtime I gave the garage a ring. The car was done. They would bring it back to us later that day.

By 5pm I was anxiously wondering whether to get on with dinner then or wait until the car had come back. I decided I could at least get started with prepping a few veg. I was just in the midst of slicing some mushrooms when the doorbell went. The car was back.

What is more the car looked resplendent. The colour of our car has a tendency to fade. Some panels definitely were looking shabby. Now the car was once more brilliantly coloured. 

The garage had been so alarmed by the thought of us selling the car, which they greatly love, that they’d decided to buff it up. That was the reason why it had taken so long. They’d only managed to get half the car done by Thursday evening.  They didn’t charge for the rebuff & are clearly hoping it will convince us to keep hold on to the car longer. It certainly looks as good as new, straight off the showroom floor. 

What they don’t seem to realise is that we were thinking of changing our 16 year old car, not because we were ashamed of  it’s appearance, but because it is rather large for our needs, & the Fox is finding it rather heavy to manoeuvre since he’s had his stroke.

Still we were relieved to have the car back as I had to get to the hospital on Saturday. For that I needed my wheelchair.

Friday had finally brought us a little snow, just enough to cover the ground. By Saturday morning, most of it had disappeared as the snow had changed to sleet & rain during the night. What remained by the morning had turned to ice. During the morning I watched anxiously the progress of people on the street. Pedestrians were very nervous as they tended to slip at every step, but cars didn’t seem to have any trouble. Nonetheless we thought it would be wise to set off to Lancaster early just to be on the safe side.

We soon discovered, once we were off our side street, the roads were clear. We had one of the fastest trips we’ve had for a long time. We arrived within half an hour. That meant a long wait as we were over half an hour early & then the appointment was over half an hour late.

Still the good news is that the MRI scan showed I was headed in the right direction. The lesion on my pancreas showed no sign of turning cancerous, so no ops would be necessary. I will have to stay off anti-inflammatory drugs probably for life. I also have to stay off alcohol for at least another 6 months, maybe longer.  The hospital will continue monitoring my progress with another appointment in about 6 month’s time, & another scan in about 9 month’s time.

We went off to a nearby pub to celebrate over a diet Coke.