Great News!

I have a date for my neck operation which will be the 7th of February. It is on a Saturday so that should minimise the fact that it will be cancelled due to emergencies as the staff are there specifically for the purpose of getting waiting lists down.
I have a back up plan now though as a friend has offered to use his fishing knives and do the operation himself and as he said there will be a book or a video on the internet somewhere showing how to do it. Lets hope it doesn't come to that :) I cannot explain the way I feel at the moment but I will remain slightly sceptical until I have really and truly had operation. I am just looking forward now to being able to get myself fit again and getting out windsurfing in the summer.

Burnley soldier on!

What a great result for the clarets away against Premiership (just) side West Bromwich Albion back to Turf Moor on the 3rd of February still in it, could win it! Well done Owen Coyle and the lads.

Waiting! waiting! waiting!

Now I am waiting to se if another consultant will take me on, if so I could be in earlier than the 19th but if I am taken on by someone else then I will not be going in on the 19th. The world of hospital bookings is a nightmare. I have to wait now until next week when someone elses secretary will ring me. If I have not heard by Tuesday I will ring and find out what is going on. I have decided to defer my MA course for a year until this time next year as I really can't concentrate at all I tried my best but with a potential op in the middle of a data practical it just wasn't to be. Anyway I will still do research and write chapters for my disseration which I will now hand in 1 st September 2010.
Had a couple of pints with Gerry last evening, was good to go out but was really glad to come home my neck was not very good and is still aching, wish I could zoom up the list and get it done. I managed not to read last weeks Sunday Times which is crazy since I have nothing else to do, must have been a hard week so I got stuck in today and have just got the tabloid bits to read I am sure I'll get through it tomorrow before the latest one appears. I am willing Burnley on to beat or at least draw with WBA in the FA cup at the moment they are losing 2-1 I wish they would win I ws so proud of them on Wednesday against Spurs, they should have won but then that's football as they say a game of two halves and all that.

Now we want to install a wood burning stove great I hear you say but what a carry on we recived a first quote form a company and they were going to charge £860.00 to fit itwell I thought this was a lot of money especially when we were quoted £700.00 for the stove.

Well I went on the Web and found a great little stove, wood and coal just what we wanted for £400.00 but you know what we live in a smokelees zone so that was no good we need the £1000.00+ stoves to comply for goodness sake the whole thing os going to coast about £2000.00 I just hope it is justified in this climate (joke!)

So I found another firm who tells me that the lining will have to come out and that he knows a person who can do the hearth and I'm thinking kerching kerching again. I have emailed the stove spec so he can quote a price for fitting it then I suppose we will have to get someone in to create the hearth when will this ever end, I would be happy if the whole thing just got filled in or plastered over but then it would make it a feature of the room. Anyway watch this space!

Hosptial News

Well I feel as if I am hounding the staff at the hospital but I am trying to get things sorted as soon as possible. I have an unconfirmed date now 19th February 2009 for the operation. Now this is unconfirmed because the secretary needs to ask the consultant if he will take me into his care. If he agrees then I will need to meet him on the 11th of February 2009 and sign a consent form. So I feel a lot better now I just hope against hope that it will be confirmed, this will then be two months after the original dates for the operation. I don't know what is happening at present but I am feeling dizzy and not 100% it must be the pain in my neck that is causing that (some would say that the pain in the neck is me!). I went into work yesterday and they had remembered my birthday I was absolutely made up it's nice to know people think about you makes you feel good. I am struggling at the moment with what to do about my MA study, I have tried so hard and worked to keep up but my supervisor suggested I should defer for a year and concentrate on getting my neck sorted. Initially I was so against this I emailed her and said so but the way am feeling at the moment I am inclined to agree with her and take the time, I will talk to her on Friday and make the decision after hearing what she says, I am hoping I can get my initial survey out as that is done and then do work in the sidelines to make it easier when I do comeback to the taught bit which is Qualitative and Quantitative methods I will be able to understand some stuff and then concentrate on the dissertation. What seemed a crazy idea initially is now seeming to be a good idea, as long as I can keep up the enthusiasm.

Operation Cancelled

Well it happened again, I am getting used to the format of waiting in the ward now, nil by mouth from 19.30 night before, no drink from 12.00, sign in, sit down read a book swab for MRSA, blood pressure, go through the questions from the nurse, go through the questions from the Doctor then wait ..... The the sister appears with that look o her face and says "you are not going to like me..." Yep the operation is cancelled. Now I am not reeling with anger, how can you be, someone with a more urgent need than yourself has taken preference and after all I can walk out the hospital but by the same token I am in pain, I can't do the things I want to do, I am unable to do my job which is really getting me down but what happens next. Well things do get worse, my consultant retires at he end of the month now again I am not blaming him for that goodness knows the man has already come back out of retirement once and after a long career he deserves to put his feet up or what ever a successful neuro surgeon does in retirement so good luck to him but it still leave me with a problem of how to get my neck done. I am not complaining per se I just wish someone had thought about this before hand and had put a contingency plan in place. It may be I have to go back to visit another consultant and then go through the whole last six months again. Grrrrrrrrr! but then there is no one really to blame it is just so annoying, a friend has suggested filling out a form e112 to get the op done in Europe?Now if it was a broken leg or something like that I would have no reservations but the Hospital I am under is a leader in Neurosciences and that sort of makes me feel comfortable and they have an expertise which others may not have so whats a boy to do then. Well I guess talk to the administrators on Monday and try my best to get the first available date for he operation. Stop feeling so sorry for myself, and get on as best I can with things. Gosh that was a good rant I fell a little better now and I hope those who under went emergency surgery yesterday are OK!

One day to go before the Op

Well by this time tomorrow I will hopefully be recovering from my neck operation I think I will probably be still out for the count but by the afternoon I should be on the road to recovery. I hope so anyway.

I will ring the hospital later today to find out if can where I am on the list, because I was postponed from before Christmas I should think I will be on first - hopefully!

4 days to the Op

Well this is the last week before the Op on Friday hopefully there will be no emergencies and I will be on the road to recovery by Friday afternoon to say I can't wait seems crazy but that is true I just want the whole thing done and dusted so I can get on with things without pain and and discomfort.

New Year

I know it is the New Year because I had to think about the date when I wrote a cheque and remembered it was 2009 how clever I am! Still New Year old stories, war, famine, abuse, administrators. What I want to know is will we ever run out of receivers, not the American football type but the company type and how much would a company save not bringing in the receivers?
All this talk of the high street demise well what do people expect, it is far easier to buy online and have the choice to return than to go into a crowded high street and haggle to get things changed. I would do all my shopping online if I could and that then would leave the high street to change into an urban residential paradise all those shops with massive floor spaces turned into dwellings now that would be great! Only 13 days to my operation, hope the surgeon doesn't get the flu and postpone again! Anyway don't worry because you can start to save money now for your 2009 Christmas Hamper/vouchers what a splendid idea! I must go to the high street and start to save now oops I forgot there are no shops i the high street anymore, will this mean that it will be called the low street now after being brought down a peg or two. Ok I'm in rambling mode so end.