The Computer Says No

Thursday 26^th May – A Brief Update

I said I’d update the blog when I had a health update.

Today I had my monthly meeting with the ENT Team.

If I’m honest it all seemed a bit “Sausage Factory”. My appointment was as 3.45, I eventually got seen as 4.30 by a Dr who’s name I didn’t catch & I hadn’t seen before. He didn’t seem overly interested in the answers I gave to the questions he asked & gave no real comfort to a couple of concerns I’d got. My taste buds had improved dramatically, but they seem to be heading south again & my throat is feeling pretty darn sore for the past 10 days or so, no answers or comfort came my way from the unknown Dr. Unfortunately there was no CNS Nurse in the meeting today, I guess they were tied up with new patients which is entirely understandable. So it was really a case of camera up the nose, down the throat, say cheese & we’ll see you next month. I doubt I was in the consulting room more than 5 minutes. I suppose I should really be grateful as I’m sure if they had any concerns I’d be told.

Earlier in the week we’d travelled up to deepest darkest Wales for my mother’s funeral. 440 miles, 8 hours driving, two cappuccinos, one bacon roll, three cheese & pickle sandwiches, a pint of bitter shandy. A long, long day. 5.30am start for the drive to Aberystwyth & the crematorium. As far as Crems go, this one got a 10 out of 10 Trip Advisor review. What a view from the room, right across the valley with just sheep, green fields & red kites in your vision. Apparently there’s an old people home just below the Crem, so at least they don’t have far to travel. It was then back to my folks house before an afternoon service of thanksgiving in the Methodist Church in Lampeter. It was an “interesting” service. I’m not religious at all I’m afraid & the minister seemed to be staring directly at me whilst the prayers were being read & the hymns sung, oh well that’s me going down below I guess. There was one fellow at the back of the congregation who’s singing voice was probably slightly worse than mine, & I’m tone deaf, hence miming. Anna & I both had to control a potential fit of giggles whilst he was attempting to hit the high notes. A quick dig in the ribs from Carol kept us on the straight & narrow. My young nephew Owen made a pretty darn good speech about his Nan, funny & accurate (mostly). It was then off to the Black Lion for the wake. The octogenarian Lampeter locals who were at the service suddenly came to life, elbowing all and sundry to one side, throwing women & children behind them to be first in the queue to for the cakes & sandwiches. My father uses this pub on a fairly regular basis, they obviously hold him in high esteem as whilst the rest of us devoured the cold platters he was treated to a dirty great big steak with all the trimmings! It was good to catch up with some reli’s we don’t see very often & I was quite surprised to find out that my blog had made it as far as Peterborough J By the end of the day my throat was bloody painful. This was the first time I’d worn a collar & tie since December, not counting the black tie night at OBR. I’m pretty sure my neck size has increased, as embarrassingly I was unable to do up my top button!

Now, a quick word about profiteering. Carol & I are off to Corfu in 2 weeks time. Our travel insurance has always been covered within our bank account. I thought perhaps it would be prudent to let them know I’d had a quick battle with cancer in case it made any difference. After giving AXA my details & explaining I was now in remission they promised to call me back the next day with a quote! And they did, £400 to cover a single 12 day journey. I went ballistic at the poor old rep on the phone. How the heck could they justify that sort of premium? A question she wasn’t able to answer, other than saying it was down to the underwriters. So after insisting on being transferred to the Underwriters I asked the same question. Justify that premium. Again, they weren’t able, or more likely weren’t allowed to tell me how that figure had been arrived at. Needless to say I didn’t take them up on their kind offer, but I’m sure there will be people who agree to that sort of ransom fee. After getting some advice from someone who’s been through the same type of treatment as me I managed to obtain a quote at £70 from “Insurance With”. Their Underwriter called me back, went through my treatment in detail, listened to my answers & made a commercial decision, rather than saying “The Computer says no!” which to be quite honest I wish AXA had said, rather than insulting me. I’m still debating whether to take the insurance out or not as I’m covered for anything not related to cancer & we’ve both got EHIC cards.

The next update, all being well, will be after my next Consultants meetings at the end of June. In the mean time Carol & I are off to do our best for the Greek cash crisis by injecting as many Euro’s as possible into their economy via local tavernas. It’s a tough job but I reckon we’ll be up for it!

Thanks for reading.

To be continued……………………..

#Shouldertoshoulder