Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 20: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is the link to the prior thread:

Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 19: Calmly through the day

Silkie I hope everything went well today.

Miss Maggie was great - por old Lance. I've met people like her. Must confess I can't remember Toni very well, now I need to rewatch series 3

I was off work today and did nothing much, a bit of Duo, some reading, and backed up files and photos.
I refuse to do any chores on my day off if I can possibly avoid it.

Iwandered, I watched series three first as it was free on Amazon Prime. Toni was the redhead who worked with Lance at the vegetable distribution place. She lived on a boat. She has sort of a cute tomboy look. The most memorable scene was her throwing potatoes at Lance when she thought he had gotten back together with Maggie. I am now watching series one, with adverts, unfortunately. It's still worth it.

It's so cold here the lock on our mailbox has frozen up and when I went to put petrol in my car the little door that covers the filling pipe was frozen closed. A nice young bloke saw my difficulty and helped me get it open. I had to hold the release lever up in the car while he flipped it open. It's a good thing he did, as we're taking my car tomorrow to drive DD back to uni. I hope she's packed.

It’s dull and grey here. Have already dropped DH off, taken DC3 to maths tutoring and collected them and dropped DC2 at dance classes. Off for a run before taking DC4 to play in a football match. Not feeling it today…

Busy with Saturday's household chores - yesterday's snow is gone again, it's raining.

It's -15C here. I'm hoping we can leave in about an hour to take DD back to uni. If the traffic isn't too bad, it's about 3 hours each way.

I think she's still packing.

We are already there MissC, and it’s freezing! Hope you have a good drive. DD is so excited to finally move in properly to campus.

Hope your DB gets another all clear Lemons, some hospitals here can be small MissC especially if rural and there are larger hospitals which cover more things.

I am just back from the private hospital after my operation with an amount of drugs that would make a French pharmacist proud.

They kept me overnight which was nice as you get own room and bathroom and nice food.

Silkie Good to see you back - I hope you are as well as possible.
And how did your Dd do?

What is so special about French pharmacies? I never needed medication when in France, so I do not know.

You always get a lot more medicines in France than you do here, MIL has cupboards full of excess ones whereas have opposite issue here. I had very similar operations on nhs in Dec and private but nhs paid in Jan on nhs one got general anaestic then ibruprofen and paracetomol there and no meds to take home. This one got general anaestic, antibiotics, 3 types of painkiller there, some blood clot injections and some other drug to stop excess bleeding including a week or so supply of all to take home, not the general of course and a spreadsheet of what to take when. Though the nhs has a better choice of biscuit and free trampolining socks but the private food was much better, infact I just got 2 biscuits from nhs, there I got 2 meals and a breakfast. Had a banana, yoghurt and mango smoothie with porridge with fresh forest fruit for my breakfast today. Glad for the meds this time as a lot more pain than last time though hate injections and not sure I need all those meds, will have to open an excess meds cupboard like MIL has.

I see. I was sent home from my foot op with a prescription for 6 injections of blood thinners and 10 strong painkillers - which I was lectured into taking. They sent somebody up to my room for that purpose.
Glad you enjoyed the food, that is good as my DGM used to say (Du brauchst was zum zusetzen, Kind! )
"trampolining socks" - Stoppersocken. I knew there's a word.

I asked in December how much a single mastectomy no reconstruction would cost there and was 10k, I do not know how much this cost but was very lucky nhs paid, never heard of that happening before other than at peak of pandemic but maybe they are starting again. DD was very jealous and said she will deliberately get ill. I was lucky as well nhs had paid for day case but my surgeon who works for both said stay overnight, its fine.

Re mastectomies: The lady from the "Sanitätshaus" phoned on Friday. Apparently I am entitled to a set of new prostheses and I should make an appointment, which I will do next week.

I want something nice to eat right now but: no cake, chocolate, crisps.
I could have red peppers or a carrot and some water. Depressing but healthy.

Sending you love and cat cuddle, Silkie. Xxx

Glad things went smoothly and you were well looked after, Silkies.

We had bhel for dinner and I am quite full but, and not to rub it in, Prok, DH has made a Victoria sponge cake that is calling out to me.

We are back. ZZ, you got there early. We had an easy drive, just long.

Silkie, I'm glad they took such good care of you.

Nydj Bhel looks great! I will ignore your Victoria sponge cake (which is calling to me, too), though, and stick to my red peppers. Well, I have no choice at th emoment.
It is Saturday evening and all shops are closed until Monday morning.

Silkie, the NHS will have negotiated much lower rates with the private hospital than the hospital would charge you. I'd guess at least 50% lower. Hospitals are like hotels. They only make money if they are fairly full. They want repeat business from the NHS, whereas individual patients are unlikely to come back.

I am not sure what has happened exactly MissC, the NHS hospital is full, and they were planning to do my operation at a smaller hospital which is nhs but then was told that also was not viable due to covid and whole day being cancelled and mine was being shifted to private. The private hospital also appeared full, no seats in waiting area at least and staff were saying they were short staffed though was very different to when nhs is short staffed, everyone has own room but at one point they said they only had one nurse covering a ward. It seemed fine to me and think it was just the one period. I do not know what is happening but the staff at the Nuffield thought I was a private patient so dont think the NHS has taken over the whole hospital but I think they can do when the nhs hospitals are full in agreements they signed in pandemic and quite a few trusts have declared emergencies. I am just glad someone is doing something to help cancer patients though not sure if this time everyone was moved or just me.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/10/nhs-can-take-private-hospitals-new-deal/

It sounds like the pandemic level of demand is distorting the normal relationship between the NHS and the private hospitals. The NHS is effectively taking control of them when things get too badly out of balance.

Glad you got through it Silkies. Rest and take those meds.

DD3 and I went out today to pick up her boots which we had dropped off at the cobbler's earlier in the week. He did a great job on her destroyed heels and polished the boots beautifully. They look like new. It felt like spring after the cold earlier in the week even though it was about 0-1C.

Glad all went well silkie and that you were so well looked after.

I need to leave to walk to Mass (car saga still on going) in 10 minutes at the most - preferably sooner. I’m still in pyjamas so this is feeling unlikely.

Helena, if you missed Mass, God understands necessity.

I did make it to 8:30 services. I needed to do a quick trip to the grocery store, which is quite near my church, so that worked out well.

I've started putting our figures into the tax software for 2021, but need some paperwork I won't have for a week or two. So far it looks like we'll get a nice refund.

It felt really odd to wake up this morning with just me, DH, and the cats in the house. We'll see DS on Zoom tonight, DD has a calculus review. DS left some things with a local relative of ours over the break and now can't pick them up because two people in the house have covid, both mild cases. Perhaps they can put his things outside for him to collect.

DD is in her room practicing to draw knees on her tablet. DS is engaged in some kind of sea battle in a game and DH is in a zoom collating letters .
There is still not one piece of chocolate available (I lost 2kg and am on track), the owl is happy and my laundry is done. I have to practice eating with sticks as I have to eat sushi with my brother on Friday.