So there I am in the kitchen. My famous bolognese sauce that has simmered since two thirty in the afternoon is ready as are the roasted mushrooms, the courgette slices and the garlic bread. The parmesan cheese has been grated. I am draining off the wholewheat spaghetti. Frances has just got here from work but Phoebe has been with us all day. Stewart arrived with Margot half an hour ago.
The telephone rings and Shirley brings me the handset, telling me that it is a call from the health centre. I am speaking to a receptionist.
ME Yes I am.
RECEPTIONIST Can you be available to take a phone call from a doctor tomorrow?
ME Yes I can.
RECEPTIONIST Would you prefer morning or afternoon?
ME Afternoon please. I have got something on in the morning.
RECEPTIONIST Okay. I have put you down for an afternoon call.
ME Do you know what this is all about?
RECEPTIONIST It's about the stool sample you provided.
ME My stool sample? But that was ages ago. This sounds quite ominous.
RECEPTIONIST The doctor will explain everything tomorrow.
I continue to plate up the evening meal but now I am distracted and not a little worried. Have I got bowel cancer? After blood was found in my stool sample, I had a colonoscopy which I blogged about here. Did they find something at the lab? Oh my God! I should have not have ordered those new shoes from the Clarks online store.
Friday April 25th 12.40
After a fitful night's sleep, I travelled into the city centre for an interview I had arranged with my bank. I had a full English breakfast at The Moor Market before catching an 88 bus back home. I am home before 11.00 whereupon Shirley tells me that a doctor has already phoned even though my call was scheduled for the afternoon.
This must be serious! Never mind, I have had a pretty good life - I cannot complain. There were a few places I still wanted to go and maybe I should have written a novel or two but hell, it was basically okay. I hope that Phoebe will remember me. Margot is probably too young. 71 is not a bad age to die.
At 12.15 the phone rings again. It is a locum doctor that I have never met.
As half-expected, it is not long before I realise that the doctor I have never previously met has either failed to track back through my computerised notes or has no record of my colonoscopy on March 31st. There was no need for me to be anxious at all. It's basically a communication issue. I know more than the doctor knows but helpfully she asks me to phone the consultant gastroenterologist's secretary to get follow-up findings.
I tell the doctor that I am very relieved and that I will be able to sleep soundly in my bed tonight.
Much ado about nothing.
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/5yqipH0