Days 388 to391

Apologies for missing a day in this blog. This was due what is known as IT problems.

The good news comes from my visit to Hospital. We met Mr. Byrne who is the Consultant who performed the operation. He said my recovery was proceeding ahead of what he would expect from someone who had had the "procedure." It was a reminder that what I had done to me last year was a major piece of surgery. Apparently my feelong tired was down to that rather than my age. It was nice to be told that I looked and sounded healthy. We discussed the acid and cough problems. He is recommending a stronger version of what I am already taking. In the meantime on his suggestion I am taking double the dose of existing tablets at night. It may be a coincidence but I have had two nights minus cough and acid. This visit was a wonderful tonic for morale.

At the end of the consultation I remarked to Mr. Byrne that I was grateful to him and the team on the grounds that without them I would not be here. I suspect he knew that but you could tell from the look on his face he knew that but was obviously pleased to hear me say this. I know it's his job but I remain a firm believer that it does no harm to praise where you have been given excellent service.

I am due to have my next appointment with him in 9 months time. I shall still be seing the Oncologist in June and every three months just to keep monitoring my progress.

My next blog entry will all being well on Wednesday.

Days 386 to 388

I trust we have not finished with Summer already. I only ask because we have had four glorious days with temperatures up to around 25/26 degrees. The forecast for the coming weekend though is not so good and it's holiday time.

The collecting day on Saturday went well. Thing is though when it's as fine as it was folk tend to not go shopping preferring a trip to the beach. However a lot of people were very generous.

I have done two shows this week. One was for Vectis Radio an on line station. The boss seems happy with what I am doing. On Angel Radio today I had as my guest a guy called David George an independent film maker and professional actor. He was great fun.

Ev went back to the Doctor today. Although the chest infection is improving it's still not 100% so some more anti biotics have been prescribed. Hopefully after another few days things should clear up .

As fer as my health is concerned I can't get rid of this very dry cough. However I do have a hospital appointment tomorrow morning and you never know they may have some bright ideas. I shall report in if not tomorrow then Thursday.

Days 377 to 385

First of all many apologies for lack of entries over last week or so. This was partly due to me heading North for a couple of days(of which more anon) and partly because to be honest I don't know where the time goes(to paraphrase slightly the Sandy Denny song).

I would like to start this homily by saying the night time acid problem has all but disappeared. Well I would like to but...........

Things have been improving. Occasionally I have been waking up with a slight bad taste in the mouth but nothing worse. However last night it came back in all its gory detail. By that I mean much coughing, sore throat and heart burn. In reality it was no worse than other such attacks in the past but the fact that it followed a period of relative calm was and is a big disappointment. However life goes on.

Last weekend saw a visit by two great friends of ours Peter and Gill. They live in Norton on Teesside. I don't know about anybody else but when we get visitors from another part of the country or world it makes us check things out such as local visitor attractions. Thus on Friday we went for a short walk on the bit of the coastal path around Bembridge. Saturday we went to Tennyson Down and Allum Bay on the West of the Island and on Sunday we visited St. Catherine's Lighthouse,a quite fascinating place. I say we but poor Ev has had for the last 10 days or so a nasty chest infection. This meant she had to stay in the house. The Doctor has given her a course of anti biotics and asked to see her on Tuesday. I shall let you know how that goes.

Coincidentally I had been invited to an ex Revenue colleague's retirement do in Durham. Our original intention ws to combine this with a 2 week break at the caravan. However I got a letter from the Hospital for a follow up appointment in Southampton for next Wednesday which I didn't want to miss(and it would have been a moot point if Ev had been well enough to travel). Thus I went North on the train and stayed with Peter and Gill. They looked after me very well. The Lunch was great seeing former members of the training team in some cases for the first time in 5/6 years. Work wise it was the happiest time of my life so there was a touch of sentiment about it. It was also nice to be told by so many how well I was looking.

Of the journeys I would make two observations. Outbound the train was 30 minutes late. Oh horror but if I were flying 30 minutes is neither here nor there. Second on the return journey I of all people misread the ferry timetable and as a result got back 30 minutes later than I needed to have done.

Oh yes and I have two guests booked for the next fortnight on Angel. Today on behalf of Hospital Radio I shall be out with the collecting tin. This is something I hate but needs must. It is also a baking hot day.

My next blog will hopefully be on Tuesday.

Days 375 and 376

I have the new anti sickness pills and touch wood they seem to be helping. I have been able to avoid acid attacks in the night for about a week now. The curious thing is though that I still wake up in the night but don't seem to know why. It could be just force of habit. Long may this improvement continue.

I am sure dear reader that you will have come across the bugbear of I'll call you back and of course they never do. Unlike the dear old BBC who had researchers to do this sort of thing, any guest bookings for my shows on Angel Radio have to be done by me. I would say that the numbers of people who promise to call you back and don't is in the region of 40%. Thus if you find me doing music only shows for a couple of weeks that will be why.

Otherwise we are preparing to welcome our good friends the Clarks for a long weekend. Last time they came it was in May and like this time the temperatures are unseasonably cool, not of course that we are holding them personally responsible.

Days 372 to 374

The acid has subsided somewhat to be replced als by something of a dry cough. I am begiining to come to the view that this will come under the heading of you will just have to live with it. I have put 3 pounds on since last week.

Ev came back from the Barbershop Chorus Convention in Gateshead tired but happy. The Chorus improved both their marks and placing from last year. The Chorus is something she really enjoys.

My guests on Angel Radio today were from the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. This very lively tourist attraction has much going for it. I learned how come the Island Line between Ryde and Shanklin got to use the old London Underground trains. In the 60s when a decision was taken to electrify the line if new trains had been used the bridges would have had to be lifted whereas with their low height tube trains could cope.

I wish it would get warmer.

Day 371

The temperature today staggered up to 9 degrees. The wind is from the North East which makes it feel even colder. Call me a scrooge if you like but I do get depressed at having to put the heating on in the middle of May.

I had another disturbed night with the acid again. Having said that if I total up the number of hours slept it came to about 7. Fortunately I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself because of Adam's Birthday Party. He is a lucky lad because one of his classmates had a party at Lunchtime to which he went. I just kept a watching brief. Then it was on to his do which he shared with another pal Ben from school. Over 30 kids plus an entertainer masses of food. It was all great fun.

I am now gently unwinding and hope the weather picks up soon.

Days 366 to 370

I got a phone call today from the specialist nurse at the Hospital. They have suggested that in addition to various other pills and potions I take something called Domperidone. Sadly this is not a superior glass of champagne but is in fact some medicine designed to increase the flow of food through the gut. Evidently they think that is why I am still having acid problems at nighttime. I should get this sometime next week so I shall report on how it has gone.

I am though learning about coping with the acid flow at night time. I keep a supply of Gavascon Tablets and a glass of water on my bedside table. What this means is that the attacks last for a much shorter period and more often than not I am able to go straight back to sleep. I really feel I am making progress here.

The week has been busy as usual. I had two interesting guests this week. On Tuesday a woman called Sandy Kealty spoke about a project the Alzheimer's Society are running called singing for the brain. Evidently this is about stimulation through song, dance and movement. It involves both patients and carers. In contrast on Thursday I interviewed a local Town Crier who was a real character. In his mid 60s he has only recently given up marathon running. He has competed at various places including London, Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and New York.

What else oh yes we have had an election which has produced an inconclusive result. Everyone has an opinion. Mine for what it is worth is that us Brits know what we don't want(Gordon Brown as Prime Minister) but we are not sure what we do want.

To clear my head today I went for a 3 mile walk through some pleasant countryside here on the Island. Tomorrow it's Adam's Birthday Party so it's all hands to the pumps.

Days 364 and 365

It's turned cold again. Just when we all thought it was safe to turn the heating off it's perishing.

On the acid front things are once again mixed. I had had two nights in a row with no problem. This morning I was going along okay until just about seven when it all started again. When it first began I had some pain in my chest. It took me a little while to realise this was heart burn rather than anything else.

On a good news front I have managed with Ev's help to find some reasonably priced travel insurance for our cruise to Norway next month. For Saga and Age Concern to be unwilling to give me a quote I found quite galling since they are supposed to cater for older folk.

Thank goodness the election is almost upon us. Maybe it's just me but hearing the same things over and over again wearies me. Whoever wins is going to have to do some unpleasant things which they are not telling us about. It's not that they are dishonest. It's more likely we would vote against the honesty party.

Finally let's all hope and pray that all works out for Clare's Husband Shaun who had a serious operation today. The procedure went well evidently.