A glimmer of hope?

I finished off editing and uploading the concert videos yesterday, despite experiencing more pain and discomfort than usual. I contacted the surgery late afternoon, and spoke to a GP, who said that if this persisted overnight, I should come and pick up a referral letter and take myself back to UHW's surgical assessment unit. There was no improvement overnight so I went to the surgery at eight and obtained the first 'book on the day' appointment available with the GP I'd spoken to, two hours later. Then, Clare drove me to the hospital, where I spent the next four hours. It was even more crowded than on Friday, and it was fortunate that the Nurse in charge and the triage nurse remembered me and were able to access my notes and re-examine me.

The upshot of this was a blood test which showed I'm still infection free, and a meeting with the colorectal surgeon I was examined by before being sent for the MRI. He told me that Friday's visit report had already been seen by the surgical team leader, and would be the subject of this Friday's operation planning meeting. He said that the condition was complex enough not to warrant making an emergency surgical intervention, as there was a risk that such a measure would not be thorough enough to prevent further recurrence of the condition. I suspected this might be the case, and it was good to hear this from a team member who had previously examined me and was familiar with all the issues. The team is making to clear their operation backlog before Christmas, so there's a modest hope of being treated before then. I may be walking wounded through this festive season, but really I can't envisage a better present than seeing an end to this nightmare.

I walked back to Tesco's, where I stopped to buy two new SD cards and some more Nero d'Avola. Clare came to meet me there, and hunt for chocolate decorations to hang on the Christmas tree. This year she's been unable to find them in other stores. It was good to get back home, have a shower, a change of clothes and eat a late lunch at teatime, before relaxing for the evening with a couple of old episodes of NCIS, running while I took phone calls from people asking how I got on.