If you have followed this blog from the beginning, you will know that a good part of the reasoning behind it was as therapy for me. A place to rant about cancer, the NHS, things in general. I know that it sometimes sounds a bit "off the wall", but I suppose that is one of the inevitable effects of writing in real time. Thank you for getting this far, but please feel free to put me back in my box if I start to get out of hand; there is a comment option, a Twit option (@phil_woods) or just plain old email!
I am not sure whether you get access to the stats that come with the blog and, if you do, I doubt that you would have bothered to take a look. They set out how many times this has been read, what country the readers are in etc. I expected the UK and Australia (g'day to you), but there have been a few surprises.................the USA, Republic of Ireland (I think I can guess who you are!), Germany and, just once, Russia! Given that I do not know anyone who lives permanently in any of those, it is quite a thrill to have had an international audience. Just this once, I shall use a word that was in use when I was young and seems to have crept back into the lexicon of the younger generation: Cool!
I hope that none of you ends up in a similar situation, but this bit might be useful just in case.
- Being diagnosed and told (albeit through a clinic code) that I had cancer was a shock and left me raving for a day or two, but has no real effect on me day to day.
- The occasional discomfort of diagnostic procedures is no problem, just a matter of focussing my mind elsewhere
- Waiting in poorly maintained rooms and sharing the odd bit of banter with fellow NHS consumers (I hate the word "patient"!) is irritating and a waste of time, but it is what you expect from a service with first world clinicians working in a third world environment.
- Waiting for the next letter inviting you to be seen, prodded or tested is the real killer. You dare not commit to anything for fear of receiving a letter which tells you to be somewhere else at the same time; whenever I see our friendly postman, Lawrence, on his round I am tempted to stop him and ask whether there is any mail for me rather than wait for him to get to the end of his round (which happens to be here); as soon as a postal delivery arrives, I am off like a greyhound in hot pursuit of a bunny to the postbox at the end of the drive...................
Meanwhile some songs. These are a bit on the "romantic" side, but are some of my favourite classics along with one I found this morning...................
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FirBvR1HmKI&list=AL94UKMTqg-9BTCc5E4xHD-1ayh1fmfuiO&index=3
Late news: nothing in the post! Ho hum, it is only day 80 i.e. national target +18 .......mustn't be too ambitious, this is the NHS in Medway after all...........
Late news: nothing in the post! Ho hum, it is only day 80 i.e. national target +18 .......mustn't be too ambitious, this is the NHS in Medway after all...........
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