Flowers from my elder son this morning - a lovely surprise in the middle of many surprises, not all so lovely.
I have never received so much attention within a relatively short space of time. I feel surrounded by well-wishers and supported by offers of help. I fear that it could become addictive, 'Look at me, I'm poorly.'
No, probably not.
I concentrate on getting all the paperwork in place, cutting the hedges and the lawn, tidying the shed (again), taking all that old roofing felt to the tip, not being the least bit poorly.
But I will be taking a bit of time off as I have to go into hospital at the end of this week to have my spleen removed.
Spleens are valuable and interesting things.
I know that now.
I didn't know before, but now I feel very attached to mine and don't really want to lose it. It has served me well and invisibly for 74 years, sorting out my blood balance and protecting me from infections.
Dear old spleen. I am sad to be parting from it.
The circumstances of our parting are to be as civilised as possible because I'm booked in to a nearby private hospital as a National Health patient.
Thank you, National Health Service.
This happened because the shortest waiting list was here, and the NHS needs to reduce its waiting lists and times.
I am grateful for the care and courtesy that has been shown to me through several potentially undignified pre-surgical assessments. There is not a hint of age discrimination (which I think could even justifiably happen when one has used up the three score years and ten).
So for a while I will be away from blogging. The private rooms have wifi, and I have a Tablet for e-mails, but not for writing anything more on a tiny keyboard and a morphine drip.
Bad idea.
I must not bid on eBay, either.
Anything could happen on the morphine drip, never mind the tiny keyboard.
Do hope all will go well for you and that you will be fully recovered and raring to go very soon.
ReplyDeleteMarigold: thank you for the kind wishes. I hope you're fully recovered now?
ReplyDeletejust think of others who have no spleen..for example, Geraint Thomas, professional cyclist from Wales at present riding for the Sky team....
ReplyDeleteyou'll be fine xx
I hope all goes well and that you enjoy the morphine drip for the shortest possible time. (I am a bit ashamed to say that when I was introduced to morphine in the hospital I fell in love with it.)
ReplyDeleteLove your flowers too.
Morphine is a fickle mistress, I hope she is kind to you.
ReplyDeleteSpleens are nice, but not essential. A good nurse will keep it all pretty dignified, despite loss of privacy and comfort. I wish you all good nurses. The good ones really are most of us.
I'll be thinking of you RR and I wish you a speedy recovery. x
ReplyDeleteI wish you good luck and good healing.
ReplyDeleteI'm here because of a comment you made on Elephant Child's blog. I am so sorry to learn of your upcoming surgery. It's good that such things can be done, but it's so sad to need them done.
ReplyDeleteWishing You well. I hope it all goes according to plan.
ReplyDeleteI wish you well during the operation. I have realised that I don't really know what a spleen does - though I know it is possible to live without one. It's probably just as well not to bid on ebay until you are home to receive the parcels - if your local postal service is as "creative" (to put it politely) as mine as to where it leaves mail that cannot be delivered.
ReplyDeleteYou know I'll be thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteI think you should write as much as possible while still under the influence of the morphine and whatever else — just keep it locked down until you can assess it when you're fully recovered. ;^)
Thank you all for your kind comments. I am packed and ready to go, and my recycling bin is stuffed with shredded paper (for the second time). The attic is many pounds lighter, and it will be lovely to come back to a de-cluttered home.
ReplyDeleteP.Pete: I take special note of your point, especially realising that some of the most famous Romantic Poetry was created under the influence of laudanum. I too will be wandering lonely as a cloud, bearing in mind Zhoen's caution and EC's happy experience.
my good wishes go with you - hope all is gentle
ReplyDeleteFirebird: thank you, and I send the same wishes to you.
ReplyDeleteI'll be thinking of you, R.R. I'm glad you'll have some luxuries not provided by the NHS, even though your operation is provided by the NHS. I wish you a speedy recovery.
ReplyDeletePS. You realise that you'll no longer be in a position to vent your spleen, should you wish to, don't you?
I hope it's now all over and that it went well. Looking forward to reading good news in due course.
ReplyDeleteI do hope all went really well, as one who can't take the big painkillers, I can quite see your view on morphine and blog posts, lol! Hope you were able to enjoy, if that is not too silly a word to use, the nice private hospital.....
ReplyDeleteOh, goodness, I've been busy and haven't had time to keep up. I hope by now you're feeling much better (or at least enjoying your morphine).
ReplyDeleteHearing about your spleen reminds me of a fun video done by Harvard Medical School students last year spoofing a weird but catchy dance video ("What does the fox say?") with their own "What does the spleen do?" Anyway, I'm sure you'll be fine without it (both your spleen and the video).
Hope you are healing well. Sending you all good wishes for a good recovery.
ReplyDeleteSusan Herhimnbryn
Hope you wake up every morning feeling better than you did the day before.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear of the sad parting of you and your spleen, but so happy you were well cared for and loved through it all.
ReplyDeleteI was delighted to find a ladybird on some tomato leaves in the garden yesterday. My instinct was to run and get my camera, but she would have been gone when I got back....She was very cute but nowhere near as cute as that specimen in your garden!