To the hospital again today, not cancer related so that was nice. Just a follow up on my ENT appointment, because I had a feeling of a 'lump in the throat', back in May. I had the Barium meal and Endoscopy and all looked clear, so I was just back for the follow up appointment. I told the consultant that since I last saw him, I had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. That must have rung a little alarm bell in his head, because he then started asking lots more questions. Finally, just to be sure, he asked if I minded having another Endoscopy. He had a good look and confirmed that it was nothing sinister and stood by his initial diagnosis of, 'Globus'. It's boring but you can look it up if you want. My mucus is too thick because I hardly ever drink water. Coffee, Tea, Beer or Wine do not count, because even though they contain water, they are a diuretic, which means if you drink a litre of tea, your body will pass more than a litre of water. (I think!) He said that if I start drinking a litre of water a day, I will notice a vast improvement in my general health. So I've just been out and bought 6 litres to start with; and a bottle of wine :-)
As I was in ENT, the first part of the those initials, 'E' sparked an idea. I asked the consultant how I could go about getting a hearing test, explaining that either everyone had started to talk quieter as I had got older, or I was struggling with my hearing. To my surprise he said, "I can fit you in now"! I went into a sound proof cubicle and was asked to put on some headphones. They then gave me a button to press, every time I could hear anything in either ear. They played a strange mixture of sounds which I did my best to press for at the right time. They then tested my 'ear pressure' by blowing shots of air into my ear with an instrument that looked like a ray gun, then measuring it's reflected force. The result was back with the consultant before I could sit down. He told me that both of my ears had suffered bad 'noise damage' in the past, clearly shown on the small graph. He asked me if I knew how this could have happened. I said it was either the car petrol tank that had exploded when I was 12, after I dropped a lighted match into it, the accumulative affect of all the speakers that I had stood in front of at discos, or the artillery shells and small arms fire from serving in the Army. He said that they probably all played a part! He went on to say that I would struggle with the 'hissing' letters, like 'S' 'T' & 'V', also background noise would make it difficult for me in conversations. He thought that eventually a hearing aid would help, but I was border line to needing one now. He made me an appointment to go back in 9 months. So if you do meet up with me, please try and avoid using words with 'S' 'T' or 'V' in them please.
Not a bad day then! I now have Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Globus, Cancer and I'm nearly deaf. That's funny because I feel great! Had lunch with my good friend Nikki after that, before heading back to Penrith.
If you want to laugh until you cry, check out this video clip taken from the CCTV on a cruise ship that ran into a storm off New Zealand. Copy and paste if the link doesn't work, I tried to make a link but not sure if it will work.
On returning home, I got my appointment to see the Surgeon at Newcastle, it's this Monday, so not sure what to do about that. Guess I will contact my doctor tomorrow.
My daughter Sasha, who has just passed her driving test, is taking my other daughter Chantal on a trial run up to Cambridge this weekend. Sort of a reconnaissance mission for my impending visit, whilst practising their own ability to drive there safely and find the hospital. Dedication hey? xxxx
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