Have spent the afternoon scanning photos from Venice
http://www.andybarton.com
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Friday, 22 October 2010
About time for an update
Lots has happened since the last post.
The Black Country Museum is an odd place - more so when it is absolutely tipping it down all day. Maybe one for a Spring visit - or maybe not. Picked up a couple of interesting shots though - I quite like this one.
On the Thursday I attended the hospital at the close of business and one of the senior nurses and the consultant stayed behind for a couple of hours to give me the Rituximab. He hasn't quite sorted out the payment situation for this yet, but I am sure that by the time the next round comes along in December, that side of it will be done.
It was actually very pleasant sitting there chatting to these two on a one-to-one basis (if that makes sense!)
The following week, we had off as leave, ready to go to Venice for the Leica "One Challenge". Drove down to my parents' house on the Tuesday and had a very nice lunch in the Flowerpot at Aston, near Henley. First pint of Brakspears for a long time. Then on the Wednesday, we went to an open-air museum near Chichester. More interesting than the Black Country, although the miller could talk for England. Fortunately, we were saved from a gristy end by a party of 9 year olds and were able to make our escape. Lunch in The Lanes in Brighton - I might need to get back to the car park with my car-park consultant some time - followed by a walk along Beachy Head.
What a very unpleasant place that is. I found myself looking at anyone walking along the headland thinking "Are they going to jump? Is he? What about her?" I knew that there is a chaplain who patrols the head, but it's quite sobering when you actually see him in his red car with the yellow flashing lights. The floral tributes, 20 feet away from the car park and 6 inches from the drop are pretty grim too. All in all, not a nice place.
Then, onto Gatwick and a flight out to Venice on Thursday morning.
The weather there was fabulous and we had a very good weekend staying in an apartment owned by a friend of our Norwegian friends. This place was only 5 minutes from San Marco, so very handy. The wellies were handy for the high tide on Sunday morning too :-)
Friday's dinner was in the place where we went on the last night of our previous trip. Very friendly indeed and good value "for Venice".
The Challenge was very well attended and the meal (for 30) that I organised on the Saturday evening was very good.
All in all a very good weekend.
Now, to find two photographs worth entering. The night time one isn't too hard, but the day shots just wouldn't come. Oh well - there's always next year!
The Black Country Museum is an odd place - more so when it is absolutely tipping it down all day. Maybe one for a Spring visit - or maybe not. Picked up a couple of interesting shots though - I quite like this one.
On the Thursday I attended the hospital at the close of business and one of the senior nurses and the consultant stayed behind for a couple of hours to give me the Rituximab. He hasn't quite sorted out the payment situation for this yet, but I am sure that by the time the next round comes along in December, that side of it will be done.
It was actually very pleasant sitting there chatting to these two on a one-to-one basis (if that makes sense!)
The following week, we had off as leave, ready to go to Venice for the Leica "One Challenge". Drove down to my parents' house on the Tuesday and had a very nice lunch in the Flowerpot at Aston, near Henley. First pint of Brakspears for a long time. Then on the Wednesday, we went to an open-air museum near Chichester. More interesting than the Black Country, although the miller could talk for England. Fortunately, we were saved from a gristy end by a party of 9 year olds and were able to make our escape. Lunch in The Lanes in Brighton - I might need to get back to the car park with my car-park consultant some time - followed by a walk along Beachy Head.
What a very unpleasant place that is. I found myself looking at anyone walking along the headland thinking "Are they going to jump? Is he? What about her?" I knew that there is a chaplain who patrols the head, but it's quite sobering when you actually see him in his red car with the yellow flashing lights. The floral tributes, 20 feet away from the car park and 6 inches from the drop are pretty grim too. All in all, not a nice place.
Then, onto Gatwick and a flight out to Venice on Thursday morning.
The weather there was fabulous and we had a very good weekend staying in an apartment owned by a friend of our Norwegian friends. This place was only 5 minutes from San Marco, so very handy. The wellies were handy for the high tide on Sunday morning too :-)
Friday's dinner was in the place where we went on the last night of our previous trip. Very friendly indeed and good value "for Venice".
The Challenge was very well attended and the meal (for 30) that I organised on the Saturday evening was very good.
All in all a very good weekend.
Now, to find two photographs worth entering. The night time one isn't too hard, but the day shots just wouldn't come. Oh well - there's always next year!
Saturday, 2 October 2010
BUPA to the rescue
Well, not exactly the rescue, but BUPA have agreed to pay for the ongoing treatment. Excellent news. I am feeling a little like a guinea-pig, though, as the regime that we are now going to pursue is one of a session every other month for two years. It seems that there are various ways that the Rituximab is given for this purpose (including six doses all at once, once per year, which sounds a bit drastic), so we are going to go down the middle road.
A slight complication is that in an ideal world, the best place to receive it is on the Ward in the NHS hospital where they deal with this all day every day and where I received the treatment early in the year. However... BUPA cannot pay for treatment during a normal NHS clinic. So, my haematologist is currently negotiating with a couple of the specialist nurses with regards to some overtime so that they can slot me in at the end of the session. I haven't heard anything from him yet (what's new), but I anticipate a call on Monday to confirm that it will be after clinic on Wednesday next week. I can see that a couple of bottles of red are going to be required a s a special thank you to these nurses...
While I was with him on Wednesday this week, I saw the CT scan images done on Monday. There certainly seems to be much less disease than even in the mid-treatment scan, so that's good news too.
Off to the Black Country Museum tomorrow for a wander and a look-see, so hopefully the weather will hold.
A slight complication is that in an ideal world, the best place to receive it is on the Ward in the NHS hospital where they deal with this all day every day and where I received the treatment early in the year. However... BUPA cannot pay for treatment during a normal NHS clinic. So, my haematologist is currently negotiating with a couple of the specialist nurses with regards to some overtime so that they can slot me in at the end of the session. I haven't heard anything from him yet (what's new), but I anticipate a call on Monday to confirm that it will be after clinic on Wednesday next week. I can see that a couple of bottles of red are going to be required a s a special thank you to these nurses...
While I was with him on Wednesday this week, I saw the CT scan images done on Monday. There certainly seems to be much less disease than even in the mid-treatment scan, so that's good news too.
Off to the Black Country Museum tomorrow for a wander and a look-see, so hopefully the weather will hold.
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