On the phone

I seem to have spent a lot of the last few days on the phone to one hospital to another.

The cause of all these calls is that I’ve finally heard from Wythenshawe Hospital with an appointment with the man who may operate on me.

I was due to start radiotherapy next week. I thought first I ought to check whether this potential surgeon would prefer me to delay radiotherapy if he is possibly operating. So that was one call. No, actually it was about 20 calls trying to locate the right person.  Eventually I got to his MacMillan nurse. She told me she was certain he would prefer me not to have the radiotherapy at this point in time as radiotherapy can make operating more difficult.

My next call was to the RLI, Lancaster. When I’d seen the radiotherapist who’d organise my sessions, I’d warned her I was going for a second opinion which would mean a possible operation. She’d told me to leave a message there to cancel the radiotherapy if necessary. So that’s what I did. The radiotherapist herself was on holiday so I tried to leave a message with her secretary. The secretary told me I should ring Preston hospital to tell the radiotherapist’s secretary there as that was the one who would see the radiotherapist first.

My next phone call was to the Royal Preston Hospital, where I was due to start treatment next week. This secretary was away from her desk so I left a message with another secretary, explaining why I was not going to attend the radiotherapy session. This secretary told me she would pass it on. She took my phone number so the correct secretary could ring me. I’ve heard no more.

I feel I’ve done my bit. I don’t see any point in ringing Preston again as the correct secretary will probably be away from her desk whenever I ring.

In the midst of this I got a ring from Orthotics. They’d finally got to my message sent over a week ago for my second pair of new knee braces. That’s got the go-ahead so now I’m waiting the call to say they’ve arrived & are ready for collection.

We’re still waiting for the call to tell us the fourth lotion, the brown gunk, for the Fox is ready for collection. It has a short shelf life. It’s supposed to run out early in March. At this rate it will have run out before the Fox has even collected it, let alone had chance to test its efficacy. I’m just hoping it comes soon. Meanwhile the Fox itches on.