Hospital again

We’re off to the hospital yet again. This time we are just visiting.

One of our cruising friends is in hospital. He was admitted last week. He had difficulty breathing. After a day they suggested he went home. He told them he was 80, his wife 79. There is no way she could look after him in the state he was in now, especially as she has severe back problems of her own. He wasn’t going until he knew what was wrong & they’d done something to ease the problem.

It’s just as well he did erupt. Since then, after numerous tests, they’ve concluded he’s had pneumonia brought on by lung cancer. They’ve removed 6 litres of fluid off his lung.

He’s now been in hospital a full week. They are having a consultation to try to decide what treatment they can offer for the cancer. Meanwhile his morale is sinking as he watches fellow inmates dying around him. His wife is exhausted with all the trips into Lancaster to visit him.

His son & family are coming up this evening, so we said we could pop in this afternoon. That way his wife could take it a little easier, do the pyjama shopping he needs, rest a bit & prepare to go in with  their son this evening.

So we’re off to try to cheer him up a bit, make him feel appreciated & possibly cause a bit of laughter. It’s fortunate I don’t start my treatment until later in the week so we have the time to go in.

Happy memories

 

One of the bridges across the canal in Annecy

Over the weekend I went off to Annecy in France. By jigsaw of course. We visited Annecy in 2016. As I put the pieces together I couldn’t help reminiscing about going along that path along by the canal, remembering that bar just visible in the gap in the tall buildings on the island in the midst of the canal. Our hotel was by the lake just a little out of the city of Annecy. Whenever we went into the city, or even just passing it, we would stop at this bar for a convivial drink, just watching the people, most of them locals, meeting each other there. Good memories of a better time.

The bar visible in the gap between the tall walls

The bar

The bar

Joys of using up

The Shepherd’s Pie has been put together ready to go into the oven. It always amazes me how long it takes to make such an apparently simple dish. By the time you’ve got the filling done & the mash made & put on top half the morning has gone by.

We’re once more using up from the freezer. It can be quite a challenge to decide what to do with odd little bits. Today‘s use-up was a substantial bit of leftover roast lamb, hence the shepherd’s pie.

The next item on the list is more problematical – half a tin of condensed chicken soup. At the moment I’m contemplating chicken rissoles with chicken sauce (i.e. warmed soup) or chicken vol-au-vents. I’ve got the weekend to decide. The Fox will be making tomorrow’s dinner. He hasn’t decided what yet.