The Big Adventure

Goldiegirl

I went to my consultant appointment today about my ear.


He asked me some questions about what I've been experiencing and my general health, and did a quick test of my hearing with a tuning fork.


He thinks it's POSSIBLE that I have an acoustic neuroma, which is a benign growth on the acoustic nerve.


I'm going to have an MRI scan on 2nd June, and I have another appointment to see the consultant on 7th June, which is two weeks today.


An acoustic neuroma is quite rare, and he puts the chances of me having it as about 1 in 10. If I do have it, if it's small then it's monitored every year or so, and if it's big, or gets bigger, it can be removed, but there are certain risks involved, as with all surgery.


If it's not an acoustic neuroma, then what's happened could be just one of those things, and we might never know why it happened.


So I feel a bit shocked that it could be something significant.... but I just need to wait and find out for sure. I'm staying private rather than NHS at present, as I want to find out asap.


The appointment this morning cost £160, which I will claim back on my health cost policy. The MRI will cost £470, but I think it'll be money well spent, just so I can get a quicker result.


As this is an inner ear thing, not middle ear, it means I can fly .... so 5 weeks today I should be on a plane to Germany! So at least I can start to look forward to my holiday, so that's something.

Goldiegirl

Forgot to mention earlier, that the doctor also prescribed a course of steroids for a week.


I've collected the tablets and reading through the notes, one of the things it says you should seek the doctors advice before taking them if there is a family history of glaucoma. My mum did have glaucoma, so I've got to hold fire on the tablets until probably Monday.


No free listing weekend on eBay this weekend. So I'm just going list the remainder of my free 20 for May. Previously, if I had something nice to list, which I thought would sell, I wouldn't mind paying a small listing fee. But I'm not paying 35p. I know I'm just a tiny cog in the eBay machine, but it's my small protest.


In small pleasure news, we saw a squirrel in the back garden this morning, for the first time ever. We have a small wooded area nearby where squirrels live, but they hadn't previously made it as far as the back garden, so it was nice to see him.

Alchemilla

Wishing you a quick return to full health. Xxx

edinburgher

I'm glad to hear (no pun intended) that there is some possible news about your ear

Yay to the squirrel - I used to find it endlessly amusing that the tame squirrels in St James park would literally run up your leg when you were having your lunch if they thought something was coming their way!

Goldiegirl

Thank you Alchemilla and Ed - I'm just pleased that I will have news soon, although slightly scared about what it could be. I've never had much wrong with me before in my life, so I find it alarming to be thinking about possible causes for what's happened.


But whatever happens, I will probably be a bit deaf from now on. In a few months the consultant says he'd like to do a hearing test, so I could even be thinking about hearing aids.


Anyway, day to day life must go on, so today I've got washing out on the line. It's nice and sunny at present, so I thought I'd make the most of it.


I've done my weekly Virtual Sealed Pot transfer, a sort of Tilly Tidy for savings.


Also did my supermarket order. I seem to be managing to last three weeks between main shops. This order totals £123, so I didn't think it was too bad after three weeks


This afternoon I'll do the ironing. But not much else planned really, just going to relax a bit

greent

Fingers crossed about your ear x

ljaneyr

I'm glad you're getting somewhere with the Drs Goldie, and I definitely agree that its worth going private to speed things up a bit. Whatever the outcome it will be good for you to have a diagnosis, or at least know that everything has been checked out.

Just focus on the holiday for now

Janey x

Goldiegirl

Thank you Janey:)

I must admit, I haven't thought much about my holiday at all. So I've started to think about things that we'll need to take with us - I feel a list coming on soon

We've been putting food out for the birds, and it has proved very popular, almost too popular.

We were hoping to attract smaller birds, but we have a pair of collared doves and several wood pigeons who are eating us out of house and home. Every day I pile up the table with nuts and suet etc, and it's all gone by the evening. There's a turf war going on between two of the wood pigeons as they are now fighting in the garden. Not to mention one of the wood pigeons is trying to get in the patio door - fortunately the door wasn't open. It's all very interesting to watch, but at this rate it's getting expensive.

eBay has been quite good. Eight out of nine items listed have sold. I'm being much more selective about what I list.

Have listed the remainder of my 20 for May this weekend. I'll probably prep a few listings a day over the next week, so I can easily list them when June starts.

Goldiegirl

Another Monday has dawned, although a bank holiday Monday, so I'm not going to go overboard on housework.

The weather isn't brilliant so I'm not convinced it's good garden work weather either.

But what I intend to do

Some housework - but not all of it

Go for a walk - my current issue has made me feel I need to be fighting fit, to help me cope with whatever is thrown at me. I'm going to try for daily walk as often as I can

Annual bill review. We've done this every year, since we got married. Add up all the utility / regular bills, divide by 12 to confirm what we paid. Then work out what we project the bills to be for the coming year. It's not very scientific, we usually add on 10%. Then we change the standing order to the bill account, for a twelfth of the annual amount. As we normally overestimate, I don't think we'll need to change the standing order this year. We do it in May, as it's the anniversary of moving to this house. Next year it will be done far more carefully, as we won't have as much money coming in.

Put in claim for refund on consultant's fee. I've downloaded the form from the web site.

Dinner will be easy, just chicken leftovers from yesterday, will heat in the oven in a gravy.

Apart from that, a bit of reading, eBaying and jigsaw doing.

Alchemilla

Hope you enjoy a lovely day pottering.