New priest for St John's City Parish

Yesterday afternoon, Clare drove me to UHW Heath for a session with the colorectal consultant. I took the time to write down all that had occurred over the two and a half months since my last visit for a colonoscopy examination. This I feel is better than trying to tell it all in a connected way for another to need to write down. My little contribution goes into their record files. The man I saw wasn't the one I expected to see who did the colonoscopy, but that didn't matter. He said my brief account was useful. 

I now make a habit of writing to my GP and reporting anything that happens in between visits, as this saves time when I do have an appointment. These days the digital paper trail in the GP surgery is pretty comprehensive and up to date, although this doesn't seem to be replicated in specialist hospital department information systems. So much information, so fragmented, no real overview anywhere. As a patient I hope I have a fairly integrated view of my own circumstances even if my own interpretation is limited and lacking. The essential thing is to participate and not just be passive in getting fit and well again.

Anyway, an MRI scan appointment has now been ordered for me. There's a long queue and I may need to chase after this by ringing Appointments admin. Ashley gave me a useful hint for curtailing the potentially month long wait. Tell them that you're willing to show up whenever and wherever there is a free space or a cancellation, given the urgency expressed by the consultant to proceed with this. The MRI scan will map the course taken by the perianal fistula, which is apparently what is now giving me trouble, and enable the surgeons to plan a precise intervention to deal with it. This can then be dealt with, hopefully, in a day surgery session in a way that promotes efficient healing of the necessary incision(s). Well, we'll see how it turn out. More waiting to come, however, and more time on low level of activity, not making things worse. 

This morning I attended the Eucharist for St Luke's Day at St John's Canton. When I got home, the appointment letter for yesterday, postmarked the day before, had just arrived. I had agreed to take a cancelled appointment on the phone last Friday, the administrator said the letter wouldn't come before Monday. On the day of the appointment I rang up to check and found that all was in order, as promised. It's the mail department which didn't do its job. Ashley told me that he had had similar experiences on a number of occasions, arranging appointments by phone for his daughter. Complaining yields nothing it seems. And this is the age of computer automated mailing. Still over-promising and under-delivering after thirty years. At least, I'm in the treatment queue I need to be in now.

This afternoon I drove to the School of Optometry in Cathays for my annual eye test, and ordered some prescription reading glasses and a change lenses for my pair of distance glasses I can wear with detachable sunshades. The newer pair I obtained last year have a frame shape for which no detachable shades are available, so they weren't the best purchase I've made. I don't want custom tinted specs, nor photoreactive ones which to my mind work too slowly. Lighting conditions in which I do and don't need shades can change quicker than any lens, and I prefer to keep them handy so I can take them off or put them on whenever necessary.

In the evening I went to town on the bus to St John's City Parish Church to attend the licensing of its third priest in charge since I left. The new priest, also called Sarah Jones like the last has been Rector of Ross on Wye team ministry for eleven years and curate there before that for three. She had a prior history working in retail and training retailers, so this secular experience will stand her in good stead as she seeks to engage in ministry to the business sector in the city centre. It was great to see the Mayor there in full regalia, making a formal greeting to her on behalf of the City. Apparently the leader of the CIty Council took part in the interview process at the Bishop's invitation. It's a far cry from what happened when I was appointed and I am very very pleased about it. Seventeen years ago things were very different, and the detente between church and city was much cooler and remoter, with the exception of rather lame initiatives being made on the inter-religious front. This, to my mind is what a fresh mind from outside the situation can bring to episcopal leadership. We're very fortunate, I believe.