2nd June: Back from the North

We arrived back this afternoon after a busy few days with Daniel in Dewsbury and Leeds. Daniel drove us to the hotel last Thursday. It is about half an hour's walk (at my pace) from his flat, and a lovely cottage hotel in a pleasant setting. We had to book a Leed's hotel for the last two nights as Heath Cottage were hosting a wedding.
On Friday it was a pleasure to explore the hills above Dewsbury, and despite the drain in my side I managed nearly six miles, with a nice break for food and drink half way through. It is good to feel I am regaining some strength, but in another sense the tedium of knowing I have to go through this whole process again with the next procedure pulls me down. The walk was enhanced by the amazingly loud neighing of a horse in a nearby field which, as Daniel pointed out, sounded very much like a car engine struggling to ignite.

Saturday's plans fell by the wayside slightly. We had wanted to wander around the City Centre, but Chris and I soon realised that despite both of us double checking, we had miscalculated the number of saline flushes we needed for my drain, and we were going to run out well before the trip home. Boots Pharmacy would not dispense any saline without a prescription.

I had to phone the local health centre and answer a myriad of questions. They told me a GP would call me back, which he did around half an hour later. He asked me even more questions (what was wrong with my liver that needed an operation ?etc) after which he told me I was a marvellous person for trying to travel despite all this. He would have a script ready for picking up at the Medical Centre. We walked over a mile to get there and picked up the prescription. The GP told me that the local A & E would supply syringes so that was the second destination.

By now I was feeling somewhat peeved that I had spoilt the day with all these detours across the housing estates of Leeds. Daniel was very upbeat about it all and said it didn't matter a jot; what a star he is! Unfortunately the saline solution was dispensed in small glass vials, which Chris and I had no idea how to access. Another trip to Boots on Sunday morning saw us once again asking for assistance. This time the pharmacist told us how to break of the tips and use a needle to extract the saline and inject it into the syringe. So we spent a long time breaking open and emptying 2ml glass vials to make up 10ml of saline. I can think of better ways to spend a Sunday evening.

All in all it was a fun trip and I am very pleased I made the effort. We managed to meet up with Pippa (Daniel's aunt who lives nearby) in the coffee shop which was an unexpected bonus. I am sure these photos illustrate some of the activities and fun that we had despite adversity.



The horse seemed to be more interested in trying to eat my camera than in being stroked!