Valentine’s Day on the Farm

My hands feel a lot better. However, they still aren’t great and I am having to be careful not to knock the right hand or try to do too much with it.

I went for a blood test this morning, which went well. I then picked up something for Julia, which also went well. It’s nice to feel useful, and it’s not a feeling I often have any  more.

Back home, I rand Urology, using the number that came with one of the recent letters. I got through quite quickly. They don’t seem to have had the letter I sent (though I’m suspicious of this) and they tel;l me they only have a record of one letter being sent. As I was told yesterday, I have an appointment at the end of April. They acknowledge there were two letter and I was given the wrong information, but this doesn’t mean they will bring the date forward. I will just have to stay lucky and/or hope for a cancellation.

I am now going to make notes and send letters off again. One will be to the Urology address given on the letter (which is very like the one I used before) and the second will be via email to the people who deal with complaints. I don’t like making official complaints but they messed up and as a result my consultation is put off for three months. I don’t think it’s a fair way to treat patients. I also think their contact procedures need altering to make it easier to make contact.

Bread

To be fair, they picked up the phone quite quickly at the Urology Department and did seem to listen, even if they couldn’t do anything.

However, when you look up the consultant in charge of the team, their online presence is almost entirely about their private practice. I have a feeling the NHS, and patients who hve to be seen for free, don’t form a large part of his professional life.  That has always been one of the problems with the NHS.

Then I went back to the surgery to see a doctor. This appointment was to discuss blood test results. It was, as usual, inconclusive, and they will test again in three months.

Soup maker with rammed earth wall in the background – oh happy days!

We have a thing at the shop where customers, and my workmate, query why seemingly identical items are priced differently. My reply – pricing is an art and not a science and there is no reason for prices to be identical. We aren’t buying stuff from wholesalers and we aren’t selling items with a recommended retail price or closely competing rival (like supermarkets). Our price  will vary according to what we paid, what we think the market price is, and even what the weather is like.

I imagine that diagnosis is very much like that, and sometimes only a second test will show the pattern which unlocks the answer. Patience, weight loss and leafy green vegetables should do the trick. Of course, lots of leafy green vegetables will also play havoc with my Warfarin – nothing is ever simple.

Sheepdog in training

The pictures are from February 2016 and have nothing to do with Urology or the NHS.