Wednesday 27 March – Our pond man paid a return visit to install the new tube and bulb in the RV  water purifying unit and switched on the pump for the first time this season. The fish were soon investigating as the water began to fall into the pond once more and they would now benefit from the oxygenating water for the rest of the season. On the same day I made my weekly visit to Infectious Diseases for a check-up and a blood test – all was moving in the right direction.

HUNT THE DRUGS

A few days earlier I became aware that my first prescription was going to run out on Easter Monday and I had better make sure the follow up was in the pipeline. I signed up for our GP’s online service and was pleased to see all my drugs were listed. In the comments box I asked if, when I called in to collect them, I could have double the amount to tide me over whilst out of the country next month. Confident that all was in place, a few days later on Maundy Thursday I called into the chemist linked with the surgery to collect the prescription, only to be shown a handwritten message on the prescription stating ‘do not prescribe’. The pharmacist advised me to speak to my doctor urgently to get the prescription verified. I recalled, during my last visit to the hospital a few days earlier, the doctor telling me there was a dispute over who would be paying for the drugs – the hospital or my local surgery – but if I had any problems to let them know.  She was sure it would be resolved quickly … it had obviously not been resolved. So, I booked a duty doctor’s phone call which came through in the next hour and I explained the situation … what with Easter weekend coming up and my current prescription about to run out I was getting a little nervous. The doctor authorised the prescription and I returned to the surgery to collect it and have it prescribed by the chemist. No such luck – he didn’t have any of the drugs in stock and it would take till the following week to get them in, well after I had run out. The alternative was to find a chemist in town who stocked the drugs, and the names of some of the larger chemists were suggested. I took the opportunity to start driving again … some short local trips would be a good break in, especially as the car was automatic, once I had selected ‘Drive’ I only really needed to bother about the handbrake once parked (and Mrs G proved very good at assisting with this!). So, off we set to find a chemist … the first one only had some of the antibiotics and the second one had none at all, so I phoned the late night chemist which hopefully had the largest stock. They said they could have it all by Easter Saturday after 11.30 – that seemed ideal so I placed an order. As a fallback position, I had also contacted the Registrar at the Clinic for I.D. at the hospital who was concerned I might not be able to get all the drugs, in which case I had to phone by midday on the Saturday to give them time to put the prescription together for me to collect before they closed at 13.00. Easter Saturday came and at 11.30 I drove down to the chemist to collect my prescription, only to be told their delivery had not arrived and they could only give me part of the prescription. With the holiday, there would not be another delivery till the following Tuesday, but they were confident the remainder would be delivered in time. I worked out that I had enough antibiotics  to get by over the weekend and although the missing drug would run out on Monday I could replenish on Tuesday – problem solved. And so it worked out – the remaining drug was delivered as promised and I could continue the treatment uninterrupted. From now on, my local chemist at the surgery would have my repeat prescription set up each month for the next 2 years.

MRI TIME

With Easter over, including a nice family gathering with the important exchange of Easter eggs I was due for an Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan at the hospital … not my usual hospital in town this time but it’s sister hospital The Princess Royal in Haywards Heath. Fortunately, we live on the bus route that links both hospitals so it was no problem to catch the bus – car parks in our hospitals are very busy and on street parking is expensive. On arrival, we followed directions to the MRI Unit which was run by a private company within the NHS hospital, but still free at the point of delivery to NHS patients.

The waiting area was a much more plush affair than in the NHS and with plenty of staff on hand who didn’t seem to have that much to do. After quite a long wait and having exhausted all the OK! and Hello magazines (notice I didn’t say ‘read’!) I was eventually called through to the machine room and went through a series of questions to make sure i was fully aware of the procedure. I was asked to remove all metal objects and lie on the bed on my stomach as if I was Superman … that is, with my left arm pointing forward, my legs up at a rakish angle for comfort (not very Superman), and resting my right arm and head on a pillow, with my left hand strapped into a cradle to keep it from moving (no photograph available!).  It was far from comfortable but with the additional instruction of having to keep totally still I immediately wanted to scratch my nose and flick the hair out of my eyes (only joking … I had long ago flicked the hair off my head!). The doctor in charge had told me that on the slim chance they couldn’t get a clear image he might have to inject me with a dye and run the programme again, though it was unlikely. Headphones were placed on my head to blot out the noise of the machine and at the press of a button I was propelled into the tube where my hand only would be scanned. It was very noisy even with headphones on – the doctor spoke to me occasionally but I couldn’t tell a word he was saying.

Fifteen minutes or so later all sounds ceased and I felt myself being trundled back out of the scanner to be told I would need to have the dye injected as they had not been able to get a clear scan. I was told on no account must I move MY LEFT HAND whilst being given the injection in my right arm, and to hold the Superman position until the dye had taken effect and the second scan was completed. By the time I had been locked into this position for a further fifteen minutes I was aching all over and have never been so relieved when I was eventually ejected from the machine and could move about once more. In fact, I had become locked in position and had to be assisted off the bed! Poor old chap. It was good to be back out in the fresh air as we ran for the bus which was about to depart. The results, I was told, would be sent to my doctor at the hospital in a few days. I had previously made an appointment for 10 days time to allow time for the results to be processed.

Ten days later – with various other commitments fulfilled including another very successful band gig in Bath – on Friday 12th April (yesterday) I was once again at the Clinic for Infectious Diseases in good old NHS territory and decor. After being weighed and a longish wait, i was called into the doctor’s office where a specialist I had met once before and two student doctors were waiting.  He checked over my hand and finger and asked me how I was feeling after nearly 6 weeks on the antibiotics. I said I felt fine except for my continuing loose bowels, so he asked me to bring in a sample next time (a tiny sample jar (!) was handed to me on departure) to rule out if I had developed any further infection. Unfortunately, due to a backlog in the scanning analysis department he was unable to give me the results of the MRI scan as it had not been authorised by the radiologist. My doctor had seen the scan but, not being a trained radiologist, he didn’t want to pre-empt anything that might come up in the analysis. However, although he thought the bone looked undamaged it was impossible with his untrained eye to see the state of the tendons. he promised to chase up the results at the beginning of next week. The only small problem was that I am due to leave the country for a couple of weeks holiday in France. On the slight chance that the MRI scan might throw up a problem, the doctor made sure he had my contact details in case I had to be called back urgently.

Which brings me nicely up to date – I’ll let you know what the scan results are as soon as I’m told. Thanks for sticking with it this far – I’m sure there will be more to come once back home in early May. I’ll reward those of you who are not so squeamish with the most recent images of MY LEFT HAND (the rest of you can stop looking now) – it’s definitely looking a bit better but will take many months to see any noticeable change.