Lockdown Diary - Friday 5th March 2021

Another day of work awaits me after a lousy night's sleep owing to the boys shenanigans between midnight and 1 a.m., or thereabouts (cue lines from 'Carry on Screaming') [That would be an interesting challenge: spend a whole day only quoting lines from the film in answer to every question, or at least trying to squeeze a line from the film into each work Zoom call of the day. Hmmm. I like that idea]

Back to reality, aah yes, work all day, apart from my visit to a private hospital (in the guise of an NHS patient) to see the consultant and hopefully book the operation, soon, ideally.

My wife is much better this morning: it's amazing how effective a single dose of a strong antibiotic is. I suspect there are downsides and a big hit on her body and immune system, but on the other hand it's staggering how quickly a lung infection can take hold.  I've seen her poised at the gates of death too many times to underestimate how serious things can get. My brain all too easily calls to mind a night in the summer of 2016, when her O2 got so low that the doctor took me to a private room in the hospital and said I should phone her parents and tell them to be prepared for the worst. The longest day/night/day in the history of nights and days. It is only a matter of time, sadly, every infection weakens her. Stop the train, I want to get off.

Work, that's the thing, work...

Early afternoon it's time to head off to the hospital to see the consultant about my hernia. The big question is, how soon can they operate? I will know within the hour...

Just back from my appointment with the consultant.  Good news! I have a date for the operation booked: April 9th! I could have gone for next Friday - in fact, I did - but when the consultant consulted with the sister, she said we couldn't get everything necessary done at such short notice.  Still, it's about a month away, which counts as a result in my book!  It turns out I have two hernias (one's in my belly button) and he said he'll fix both of them. Plan is to have keyhole surgery to block the dam. It all sounds quite reasonable, time-wise: two weeks off after the operation to recover; should be able to drive after 7 to 10 days; and get back to normal exercising around 3 to 4 weeks, all being well.

Right, back to work.  Need to start telling the relevant people about the operation and get a bit more work done.

Son #2 and I start making dinner: turkey meatballs traybake, with spaghetti.

Really good recipe: we all eat it while watching 'Mr. Robot' and then I go wild in the country...

Released at the start of 2020, Alexandra Savior's album, 'The Archer', almost got lost in the post-Christmas euphoria (soon to be obliterated), but it was a slow-burning gem of an album.  From it I've chosen the sweetly seductive 'Can't Help Myself'...

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