a view through my own eyes

Well this posting is a bit belated, mainly due to idleness anyway who really cares?

The Norfolk Royale Hotel in Bournemouth is indeed well worth a visit, apart from one gripe its about the nicest hotel I have used. Though can’t honestly say that I have stayed in too many hotels – but then I can settle for a Travel Lodge with a Little Chef next door.

First the gripe: the wardrobe ponged, we did complain, the duty manager investigated and gave a good squirt of air freshener and a wipe out but it didn’t really help – so we abandoned using the wardrobe which was not a major issue as the room was huge and had six chairs in it.

The restaurant was superb, the food excellent and in generous portions and wonderfully prepared, also the a la carte menu changed every day (presumably it depended on what the chef could get from the reduced counter from ASDA, sorry – the local market) which meant that we were not confined to the same choice every night. Yes we had to eat in as the deal that we got was pay for dinner and breakfast the room is free.

The two waitresses in the restaurant were fantastic (not bad looking either) not in an uber efficient waitress way (though they were good), but were clearly of east european extraction and their english was interesting. We ended up referring to them as “vhats your pleasure” and “youvre velcome” as that seemed to be all they could say. Any top marks to them as it turned out that they worked breakfast and dinner six days a week and went to the language school during the day. Poor girls must have been knackered at the end of the evening.

The pool, sauna, jacuzzi and steamroom were also quite agreeable.

As for Bournemouth itself, well lets be honest during a wet half term, there is not a tremendous amount to do. Still Borders and the Weatherspoons provided books and reasonable beer. Three days were quite enough for lounging around and doing tremendous quantities of not alot.

Would I go there again? Yes I probably would.

at the moment!

Seriously though the day has been dry, although looking round you
would not believe it to be honest. Its dark and dank with an
overcast sky.

Still Sam and I wandered round the town perusing the fine wares of
the locality, only to find that most places are clones of those back
home which is hardly a surprise to be honest. Bizarrely we managed
to do some Christmas shopping, which was not planned but needs doing
at some point.

Anyhow the food is grand, very nice and large portions, the wine
and beer are excellent! Couldn’t ask for much more.

Oh and the swimming pool and the jacuzzi work just fine and dandy as
well.

Damn this blog is dull, oh well.

[edit: fixed date and time as the post was stored in an email buffer]

… in Bournemouth!

Its raining, absolutely pissing down all the way from Canters. Took five
hours to get here but that includes 2 hours sat on the M25 due to an
accident.

Still after a refreshing beer in the nearby Weatherspoons I feel fortified
and ready for dinner.

Finding a Reddifusion point in th bathroom is a tad odd. Wifi access is a
tenner a day, so at the moment my PDA and free GPRS via bluetooth and the
phone will have to do!

Oh did I mention that its raining?

A friend bought me a DVD for my birthday and seemed really rather pleased that he had “got it right” – except he didn’t.

Here are three reasons why:

1. he claimed he saw it on my Amazon Wish List – its never been on my wish list
2. I already have a copy of the DVD and have had for a couple of years
3. he watched the same DVD round at my house with me around six months ago

Still I thought it was amusing, don’t think I will tell him though as that would be mean and instead will just go and quietly swap it for something else.

Oh yeah 35 today.

Well yesterday I went to see the consultant about my left eye.

After a few general health questions, we played read-the-letters-off-the-board. Or rather what-letters-on-the-board.

Next came out the pin hole glasses, which are like looking through a pepper pot, which made next to no difference.

Then out came the slit scan lamp whilst he investigated both eyes, followed by the orange dye which made the world a Tango looking place and stung like buggery. Followed by another slit scan inspection.

Finally I was advised that a cornea transplant was really the only way forward and that the healing process would take in order of two years. During which time I would be likely to be susceptible to eye infections and so would have to drop everything and head off to the nearest eye casualty unit in the event of any problems.

As for the operation itself, he announced that he does it under a general anaesthetic (which is just as well imho) and SWMBO says that the relief was palpable.
Basically he knocks me out, cuts out the cornea, sticks a new one in and applies around thirty stitches.

As part of the post op care I can expect to see him fairly frequently it seems.

The only concern however is due to the left eye being lazy and the squint operations I had as a child on both eyes, its possible that I may need to have them revisited at a later date, depending on how well I cope with my left eye working in time as my right eye slowly deteriorates. The right eye will be checked thoroughly when I have post op work done on the left eye, as the consultant wants to do a cornea map (like a contour map) of the left eye to see how well the new one has fitted and so will do the same on the right to fully see the extent of KC that I have in that eye.

As for the wait, he said he would expect to be able to do the op within the the “next few months” and will be contacting the national eye bank straight away. Since eyes can only be kept for thirty days maximum that is the maximum period of notice that I will get. At least the days of get down here real quick are over.

So how do I feel?

Relieved beyond belief that its under a general anaesthetic.
Scared anyway cos its my eyes.
Pleased that I definitively know whats wrong.
Loved by SWMBO who is supporting me through this.

Oh and I vaguely remember the squint ops I had done as a kid, the strongest memory is of my Dad buying me a green Matchbox lorry on the way home. I loved that lorry.

One large shot of insulin, the new diet and the antibiotics seem to have done wonders.

Lucy is much happier (and boy is she telling us) and is looking much better.

Phew.

Well Lucy is not at all well.

We took her to the vets yesterday as she has been pretty much lifeless for a couple of days. The vet asked to keep her overnight so he could do some blood tests and take an X-ray.

So today we went to collect Lucy.

The blood tests have been done and the results show that she has diabetes and chronic renal (kidneys to me) failure. So at the moment she is on special food to help the diabetes and tablets to help the kidneys. The problem being that the tablets need to be quite strong and whilst be good for the kidney won’t be good for the diabetes. She looks really rough now and has lost so much weight in the last week to so its frightening.

So next week we take her back to the vet to see how things have progressed.

She is thirteen and so is getting on a bit. Will see what happens.

… for me to turn down cake from my Nan (yesterday).

Though I have an excuse – I have a rotten cold.

Bleugh

[oops had to edit the title - my ability to perform basic mental arithmetic failed completely]