Thursday

After a lot of  overnight rain we woke to a very grey day this morning with more rain forecast.

We had a call from Jane which was nice to catch up. I can guarantee that if I don't dry my hair as soon as I get out of the shower one of the girls will ring and it dries on its own and I have to wet it again! But it was nice to speak to Jane.

I then had to quickly get ready to get to the hospital to meet Jon for 10.20 and you can never find a parking space at that time but I was lucky and found one.

We were taken in pretty much straight away and the nurse said that Helen, stoma nurse, wanted to see us so she would call her down.

Mark examined Jon and agreed that he has a swelling which should not be there. The trouble is he is not sure if it is another hernia or a collection of fluid as the district nurse thought. He didn't want to put a needle in to drain it as it is too near the stoma and could leak and cause an infection.

He decided to send Jon for an ultrasound and it if is a collection they will put a drain in. If it is another hernia it creates more problems as another operation could not be performed until he has recovered from this one and it would probably mean moving the stoma to the other side which is major surgery again. So all in all not a good meeting.

An ultrasound could take a few weeks to come through so we decided to try for a private appointment and we said we would let Mark know how we got on so fingers crossed it is a collection. We will see Mark again in two weeks.

We saw Helen and she gave us some information on irrigation. I have watched a video on this and I really don't think Jon is ready for that yet.

We left the clinic and went for a coffee and Jon was really down at the thought of having another drain put in. He also is worried about this work he is doing as he needs to get out and visit some people which he won't be able to do with a bottle dragging behind him but if that is what he needs we will just have to overcome it one way or another.

I told him to follow me and we would go to the private radiology place as I knew where it was.

We asked if they could do the scan and when and after a chat with the manager she said yes and they just happened to have a cancellation for tomorrow. They say they won't put a drain in but they will aspirate it which will be better. At least this way we will know one way or the other if it is a hernia or not.

So a very eventful morning. If it is not one thing it is another!!

Jon went back to the office and I went into Tauranga as I needed to get some birthday cards and a few bits.

I got back home and had a quick lunch before going out for my doctor's appointment.

I saw a doctor who specialises in removing moles and things. He agreed with my doctor that it was not sinister and said they best thing would be to scrape it off and then cauterise it and I agreed. He said he had time to do it then if I wanted or I would have to come back and pay for another visit which would be silly so I said OK and at least I didn't have time to think about it.

He called in a nurse and they set everything up which took longer than the procedure! He froze the area first but I have to say the sound of scrapping skin is not nice and then when he cauterised it, it smelt like burnt hair but it didn't hurt. They put a dressing on which I can take off tomorrow and it feels fine and no pain at all. The 'scrapings' have been sent away for testing so hopefully all finished.

I left the surgery and went to buy a bulb for my brake light which Jon noticed this morning, while driving behind me, was not working.

I then bought a few things in the supermarket before going home.

I took Totty out as it looked like rain and we managed to do out walk and got back just as it started to pour.

I rang Helen to tell her we had an appointment and she will tell Mark. She told me if they put a drain in it will only be a small one and not the big long tube and bottle he had. Fingers crossed they can aspirate it all out without the need for a drain.

I found a recipe on the Waitrose site for pork hock cooked with soy sauce, ginger and star anise which takes three hours so I had to quickly get that in the oven.

I then did some housework and put some washing on which I will have to hang in the garage as the forecast is for a wet Friday.

Jon came home and we had a cup of tea and he didn't seem as down as he was when we left the hospital. I have everything crossed that it isn't a hernia when he has his scan tomorrow.

Dinner was good, well, Jon enjoyed it more than I did and I probably would make it again.

We watched some TV and that is another day over.

WEATHER
Overcast, some rain and wind 15 degrees