Trent-Mersey Canal – Stoke on Trent

The last week seems to have flown by. It was so swift and seamless that I only know it has gone because of the date of my last post.

Much of the time has been spent trying to sort out the delivery of my arthritis medication. The system for years has been that the companies involved give me a choice of dates, I pick one and the drugs turn up. Sometimes they take away a sharps bin, sometimes, I don’t. Ditto for arriving late. Basically it is a system that runs without drama – it is regular and reliable and I have been happy with it.

Then I moved house. I was able to change the address for my deliveries and all went well. I changed specialists, the new one sent me for a lot of tests, which seemed to go well, and they assured me that they would take charge of my prescriptions. However, all was not well.

As above

As I carried on, oblivious to changes beneath the surface, a worm of inefficiency was chewing away on my happy life. It was, if only I had known, like one of those small towns in the USA where something slimy with big teeth is gnawing at the foundations. You can interpret that as a comment on the horror genre, or modern politics. The choice is yours.

I am, at the moment, two companies are trying to deliver one drug. This is a nuisance as I don’t have unlimited fridge space and, if you end up too much, some medical authority institutes an incident investigation. It has happened before and I don’t take well to some officious teenager lecturing me on drug safety on the telephone as I try to explain it has nothing to do with me if the system decides to deliver too much.

The other drug, the one that I have been relying on for years,, the one that I need if I am to continue typing and doing up my own buttons – that has been withdrawn. It took two days to have the supply reinstated, but it won’t, it seems, be delivered. I have moved 65 miles and it’s a different world. On Friday I have to go to the hospital pharmacy to pick up a supply and they will then decide how I get further supplies.

I await further developments . . .

Middleport Pottery – Stoke on Trent. The canal is at the back. A proper integrated transport policy from over 100 years ago.