Because this Blog is getting thousands of hits and I am getting       e-mails, phone calls and texts faster than I can cope with them, I thought it would be worth saying this.....

If I haven't replied or acknowledged you in some way, it's not because I am not grateful or I don't care. I do. I am grateful and thankful to every person out there who has flooded me with a wave of support that I am still sitting on wondering where it will break!!! Thank you.

Some of you are new to the Blog and have not been with the story from day one. Many of you have comented on the nurses and medical staff at the hospital in a way that you probably think supports my feelings. So I would like to make the following points that have been mentioned in the earlier days of the Blog, but worth saying again. 

• Mr Eronini is head of Urology and was the person who spoke to the press on Monday evening. Last summer, when he returned from holiday, the very first thing he did that day was to refer me to Addenbrookes in Cambridge at my doctor's request. I remain very grateful for his prompt actions that day. He was not the Consultant responsible for my care, and my care was only transferred to him on the day he referred me. 

• I do not blame the Urology Nurses at this hospital for anything. They are under resourced and did there best at all times to keep up with a sometimes impossible workload. At Addenbrookes there are receptionists, secretaries, councillors, urology nurses, tea makers and cleaners. At Carlisle, the Urology nurse does all of this!

• I have also been a patient at the hospital in the past, not related to Cancer, and found everyone that I have come into contact with, very helpful and professional. I do believe that we have the core staff to make a really good hospital.

I have forgiven my original consultant who left me drifting in the system for about 4 months, not even replying to my polite letter of concern. Maybe he had problems of his own, maybe he was overworked, I don't know, it's in the past now.

PALS is the unit at the hospital, the safety net for when things go wrong. I forgive them for not answering my letters, e mails and phone calls. A person who works for the PALS office in another hospital, told me that some days, it gets so bad that we put the voice mail on, because we can't stand being shouted at anymore. What a terrible job!

BUT, we have a body of people, I don't even know how many there are, called the 'NHS Trust'. Is their job to manage the hospital? Do they get paid very well? Do they decide how money is spent at the hospital? I guess the answer is, yes, yes and yes! These are the people who I have the problem with. When they decided to send me a letter from their solicitors, threatening me with legal action, when all I wanted to do was talk about ways of improving OUR local hospital, they crossed the line. They decided that day how to spend the hospital's money!