Sunnier.

I finally got to see my consultant. We chatted for 5 minutes, he went through the side effects and I'm now on the list for the op. I will have to make another trip down to Exeter for a pre-op visit which I can't skip because they do the MRSA screening then. I might be lucky and have the op before the summer but it could be any time up to the beginning of October.  

I gathered from the consultant that he would be happy for me to make an official complaint about getting lost from all records which I will be doing most vociferously. Apparently the management decided to review the admin services to save money, cut the amount of admin staff hours and then had a second review and made further cut backs. This resulted in chaos, whole patient lists being lost and at one point there was only one secretary for 5 consultants. Complaining won't affect my position but maybe things will improve for future patients. (You could employ 20 secretaries for the same cost as I member of the management.)

My appointment was in the afternoon so I decided to drive myself there rather than go by train especially as there is free parking at the private hospital. I had been driven down a couple of times by Peter but I was concerned about finding my way round the city. For some inexplicable reason I looked up the directions to the main Exeter Hospital, well the private hospital is just down the road from the main entrance and I have been to both. I had not taken into account that the main hospital is vast and spread over several sites so my directions got me to the opposite corner to where I wanted to be. I had recognised most of my route but then I realised I was going away from the hospital so I reversed in a driveway and got myself back to the main hospital. There I stopped a passer by and asked for directions. These were quite complicated but at the first junction I recognised the route the hospital bus takes. All was going well until suddenly I didn't recognise where I was. I was pretty sure where I had gone wrong but for confirmation I checked with another passer by. I got to the private hospital half an hour early but no sooner had I poured myself a cup of good coffee (better service in a private hospital), than my consultant came out to get me. I was back on the road before my official appointment time. Now all I had to do was to retrace my steps to the outskirts of the city before driving 40 miles down the scenic Crediton road. I remembered that Peter turned left from the hospital but my route had me turn right. I thought it would be safer to turn right and all was going well until I came to a major traffic lights where I needed to turn right again. Unfortunately I could only turn left straight into heavy city traffic. Luckily I spotted the magistrates' courts across the road with their own car park. I pulled in, turned the car around and came back out heading the way I needed. There were no other problems though on the Crediton road I was aware that I was driving at a sedate 45 -50 mph along a winding road which for most of the way is marked as no overtaking. The only times I had cars behind me were when there was a lorry and then a tractor in front of me so I didn't inconvenience anybody. Peter used to commute along that road to Exeter and he said it would take 1hr 15 mins but I added on another hour to allow for my slower speed and the inevitable getting lost. I did enjoy most of the drive especially the bits through sections of forest. Unfortunately the few lay-bys do not have any views so I couldn't stop to take photos. 

PS I'm still a National Health (free) patient but my consultant does some operations in the private hospital to alleviate waiting times which are supposed to be 18 weeks from the time you are told you need an op.