I finally made it to the Doctor. I missed the previous appointment due to rank carelessness on my part. I had to wait a week for a new one. I figured the results of the tests would be not serious or they would have hauled me in earlier.

Anyway the good news is that the 24 hour blood pressure monitor showed up no abnormalities. I was within the 140/90 range throughout. The ECG is fine and though my cholesterol is slightly high it's apparently nothing to be alarmed about. The Diabetes test showed no symptoms.

Whilst all this is fine it still does not explain the flushes and sweating. The Doctor did point out that these kind of incidents do happen. He did think(and I agree) that I don't drink enough fluids so I must make a better effort to drink at least 2 litres of liquids a day.

My voice still comes and goes a bit. This Wednesday I am going to have an x ray whilst swallowing in the presence of someone from the Speech Therapy Department. Well it's different I suppose. In my next blog I'll report on that result.

But hey it's two years since the operation and I feel great.

Truth to tell I've been waiting for something concrete to report before completing my latest entry. So to matters medical.

Last Monday I went to see the good Doctor Cave, Oncologist. She told me that my latest blood tests are fine, my weight is steady and my chest and lungs are fine. I have to say that I consider myself fortunate in my reccovery. My brother Perry pointed me to an article about somebody called Bryan Gould who has had two operations for this type of cancer and for a time had to be fed through a tube. At the self help group some of my fellow ex patients suffer from what is known as dumping. This is where food is digested too quickly due to the re arranged digestive system. This causes all sorts of stomach pains. For me I have missed all of this and I am eating larger portions of food. Curiously the one item that I have really struggled with is the good old English Sausage. However that is still a very small price to pay.

Health wise, it has not all been plain sailing. For some time I have been getting hot flushes and thought little of them. These have been accompanied by a tightness in the stomach and shortness of breath. I had one such problem whilst we were in Florida. A couple of weeks back we were out walking with two visitors in the Botanic Gardens in Ventnor. It was sunny but hardly hot. We had been walking for about an hour when I felt rather odd. I didn't feel I was about to faint but I definitely needed to sit down. Sweat was pouring off me. A welcoming cup of tea and a sleep did a fine job to pull me round.

I mentioned all this to Dr. Cave who bless her arranged for an ECG at the Hospital which showed up fine. I was however recommended to go to my GP. I saw Dr. Groves who asked a number of questions and took my blood pressure which she noticed had dropped momentarily when I stood up. She sent me for a blood test to check for Diabetes. Fortunately that did not show up. I was also given a 24 hour blood pressure monitor which I had to wear. They seem to think it may be Vasa Vagal which affects the Vagas Nerve causing a slowing down of blood circulation. I am going back to see Dr. Groves on Tuesday afternoon to get the results of the various tests and see what she suggests. They say a little learning is a dangerous thing but from a cursory reading of Google it does not seem anything to worry about. I shall report here next week.

Onn the Radio front, alas the FM transmitter for Angel is off the air at the moment due to an electrical problem. Hopefully it will be up and running again soon.

It's been a while since I blogged here. It's been a good news month health wise.

Since increasing the gavescon dose and in particular taking some every night last thing before bed time, the incidence of acid attacks has mercifully all but disappeared.

I have also been referred to a speech therapist. She has given me all kinds of exercises to do the purpose of which is designed to improve my swallowing. She thinks the problems I have been having with my voice originated with the acid reflux. The exercises do seem to be helping to improve matters. The next step is for me to have an x ray whilst eating something and drinking no doubt a revolting liquid. The therapist will be present to observe what actually happens when I swallow. This will happen either on 20 July or in August.

Elsewhere we have just returned from 10 days at our caravan in Topcliffe North Yorkshire. The site has new owners who are making changes that are as far as we can see an improvement.

Just a short note to say I have had tooth removed. The injection numbing the mouth was very effective as I didn't feel a thing. Now the numbing has worn off it's another story.

Back to Angel Radio tomorrow to interview someone from the Salvation Army.

Since I last posted, I had a very productive meeting with first of all a specialist in the ENT Department followed by a visit from someone from the speech therapy department.

I was referred by Dr. Cave in view of the fact that my voice has shown signs of strain. The |Consultant put a camera up my nose(charming). The voice box showed a haematoma. This was a cue to send for the dictionary. Haematoma is a collection of blood in the tissues which causes bruising. Apparently this has caused the voice box when I speak to move both side to side and backwards and forwards. The good news is that this condition is likely to heal itself. We had a useful discussion at which having plenty to drink was emphasised. Whilst I can have tea and coffee with caffeine if I want, this shouldn't count towards my daily intake of fluids.

Last Monday I was visited by a speech therapist who announced that she wanted to observe me eating a sandwich. This is not as daft as it sounds. She noted that towrds the end I was struggling to swallow at one go. She is sending me a list of exercises to do and I am due to see her at a Hospital Clinic on 8 June.

Both practioners emphasised that they didn't want me to give up the Radio work. I would add that I found both people were very good at speaking politely in plain language.

One of the things I have tried to avoid this past two years plus is to feel sorry for myself. Let's face it there are loads of people who have problems who can't do anything about them and I have not been in that category.

I mention this because last week I found myself in danger of a bout of self pity. This would be silly as I have to take responsibility for some of what has happened.

Since getting the stronger drug prescriptions the number of acid attacks has fallen but still I could not guarantee trouble free nights. A week ago the alarm bells rang. I woke up in the early hours with a mouthful of bile, heartburn and a throat that felt it had been given a going over with sandpaper. Normally when I have had such attacks I sorted them out by sitting up for an hour and sipping water. This time it didn't work. I found myself coughing violently(again) and feeling cold shivering uncontrollably. Eventually feeling very wobbly and also short of breath I did get some sleep and thankfully we were able to get an appointment with the GP.

The Doctor checked my chest for infections and found none. He reckoned all that had happened was down to the acid, which he explained had gone down the windpipe causing discomfort and coughing. He checked my notes and put antibiotics on my repeat prescription. The idea is that I should keep a supply in the house so that if and when coughing started I wouldn't have to waste time making a Doctor's appointment. He then tackled the question of Gavescon. I had to confess that I tended to take it intermittently depending on if I had indigestion. He echoed others(including Ev) in saying I needed to take it last thing every night. Thus Gavescon was also put on the repeat list.

Since then I have been taking anti biotics and the cough has improved though it has not yet gone. One of the side effects of those pills is diarrhoea as I found to my cost in a public space. All sorts of thoughts go through your mind at this stage. I am 70 this year, is this the start of incontinence etc. I needed to calm down.

Just to add to the jolly state of things I have had a grumbling tooth for a while and in the course of a routine check up the Dentist told me it has to come out and that will happen on 1 June.

Like I said at the top of this entry, it's very easy to get things out of perspective. As for the runs I am reminded of the old saying "it's often difficult to appreciate when the bottom is dropping out of your world when the world is dropping out of your bottom."

Though I was not able for reasons that I hope are clear to take part in the Island walking festival Ev was. She raised some much needed cash for the Island Hospice. Altogether some 11,000 people took part. Despite a lot of negative publicity the Island has a lot going for it.

I end with I hope a nice image. Last Tuesday whilst taking Ev and a friend to catch the ferry it was a beautiful cloudless sky, the Solent looked a lovely shade of blue and there sailing less than a mile off the Pier was the Queen Mary 2 on her way to New York. It was a great sight.

Here we are back from two weeks at the always excellent Berkshire on the Ocean in Delray Beach, Florida. The time share units are kept immaculately clean. The weather was glorious.

On the health front, I can report only one acid attack and we put that down to a rather greasy pizza from you guessed it Pizza Hut. Apart from that, I ate well and I reckon healthily. We both probably needed the break and it was nice to spend some time with my Cousin David and his wife MaryAnne.

Mind you on our way I did wonder briefly if we would ever get there. As we had booked quite late, we were shocked at the price of tickets to fly direct to Miami. By travelling out to Fort Lauderdale by Air Canada via Montreal on the way out and by United/Continental via Chicago on the way back we saved about £1,000.

I should say the Air Canada flight to Montreal on the way out was great. The check in was smooth, the loading up process hassle free, the food okay and the cabin crew excellent. It was when we were due out of Montreal that the fun started.

We were settled into our seats when we became aware of the noise of someone trying and failing to close a door. The cockpit door was open and we could see a maintenance man talking to the Pilot. We were in a row of three and the bloke sat next to us in the aisle seat started taking pictures. The Captain then came on the intercom to tell us that not only were they having problems with the catch of the cargo hold door but a woman passenger had indicated that she now didn't want to travel so her case would have to be retrieved.

We waited with bated breath for the next announcement. The Pilot told us some minutes later that though they had managed to remove her case the catch still wouldn't work and that we would have to de plane. He said they did have a spare aircraft over in the domestic part of the terminal. At this point I groaned because as we were going straight through to the USA we hadn't gone through Canadian immigration and Customs. However he received a phone call and said he would get back to us. The bloke next to us was still taking pictures.

A number of events followed and I'm not sure if I have them in the correct order. The chief steward became aware of the pictures being taken and told the Guy he was not happy with this. The steward took the bloke's boarding pass off of him together with his three travelling companions. The passes were taken to the Captain. Looking back I could see the crew's point. With security a big issue pictures of the cockpit and crew could be useful to those who wish ill on the human race. Eventually the passes were returned and all the bloke got was a warning.

Hooray for maintenance followed. They had removed the catch from the other plane and glory be it fitted the door on our flight. The Chief Steward then told us over the tannoy that the woman who had got off the plane was a very nervous passenger who after she had got on the plane had changed her mind about travelling. This, we were assured had nothing to do with the carry on over the errant door catch.

Whilst this little drama was being played out we had become aware of one or two passengers going in and out of the plane. The cabin door had been of course open. At this point panic followed well for the cabin crew anyway. They thought we had lost a passenger and a number of head counts followed. Honestly it was like a Shearings Coach Tour as in is everybody back on the bus. It turned out that a woman had moved seats.

As a result we left nearly an hour late but made up quite a bit of time flying South. I am delighted to report that we both laughed at the silliness of it all.

I end this entry on a health note. When I got back there was a letter telling me I have an appointment with the ENT people on 19 May. My voice by the way though still not back to normal is better for my two weeks away.