Almost a new year then !

Well it's been an interesting week so far after my return to work from the 10 days off that I managed to blag for the Christmas break :-).

Loads of work to do, I am sure that staff in the hospital make a concerted effort to try and break as many medical devices that they can during the ""Christmas rush" that occurs during every December that i can remember over the last 12 or so years !.I would go as far as to say that I am convinced that there must be some sort of prize for the person who manages to break the most !.There is an old saying amongst bio techs that goes something like "Give a nurse 2 ball bearings and she/he will loose one...and break the other !"...seems to be quite true in my experience.

On Monday I found myself on "the other side of the counter" again as I joined the queue for my (slightly overdue!) 6 monthly blood test. Strangely enough my GP also had my slip ticked in the area requesting a Cholesterol check.......Just after Christmas....boy this is going to be an interesting result !.

I now have to wait for around a week and a half to see if my "results" keep the doctor happy.If not, I guess that I will be having more tests, although based on the copious amounts of chocolate,mince pies and turkey that i have stuffed down my throat in the last 2 weeks, it may be the cholesterol that gives more cause for concern than the leukaemia does :-)

Have a happy new year, and keep checking this blog for more news,views and info in 2009.Andy

This weeks ups and downs, and being a reindeer.

Ok, sorry for the large gap between the cars MOT and, well, everything that has happened since !, and some of it very important news.

Actually I have just realised that I have not posted owt on this blog about my little job the weekend before when me, Andy junior and Scarlet towed Santa through Mansfield Woodhouse to his grotto during the annual Christmas parade and fair.Great fun, but sadly blighted by the constant rain that resulted in myself and "mini me" getting drenched to the skin, and Scarlets antlers becoming very soggy ! (you need to see pictures to understand!).Strangely enough when we drove back home at around 7.30PM that evening it started to snow as we drove along the A17, and by 9.30PM, when I went out again to visit the local Tesco for a bottle of milk, there was a good 1" covering on everything, including the roads !.....if only it had fallen a few hours earlier and approx 40 miles North West !.

Anyway, back to this week,lets start with Monday.Erm, ok Monday was pretty normal really apart from the fact it was a half day due to me doing a little chauffeuring when I took a friend up to Birmingham for a hospital appointment.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful, but then we get on to Wednesday, more specifically Wednesday @12pm when I had my (previously cancelled twice!) meeting with a senior manager at the hospital to discuss my idea of hosting (in association with Anthony Nolan) a bone marrow donor recruitment drive as well as discussing the possibilities of setting up a programme for collection of cord blood from the maternity unit if at all feasible.

The meeting went very well, and I left feeling extremely optimistic about the whole thing.Lets just hope that the new year will bring some good news about my enquiry, and that soon a new donor clinic will be available to all those that would like to become involved in the East Midlands.

Thursday was my last day at work before the Crimbo break and to be honest I was feeling absolutely knackered with pains in my neck, a sore throat and felling very tired!, so much so that on the Friday morning I was down at the doctors to have a chat which resulted me being asked to go for a blood test on the 29th.

Not sure if it related, but I had a flu jab last Thursday, so perhaps that is also contributing to my current feeling of having a dose of "man flu" which of course we all know is the worst thing that anyone can feel...unless you are a woman of course !

Apparently I need to fast for 12 hours before the blood is taken as they want to check my cholesterol level at the same time, probably due to me mentioning to the doc about my love of a good Full English fry up :-).Come to think of it I am about due for a blood test now as I am supposed to have one every 6 months anyway.

The pain in the neck could be down to a little accident that I had on the 26th November whilst working in an operating theatre at the hospital.I was talking to a rep from a medical device company on a phone in the recovery area and, whilst moving between the said phone and a piece of equipment that i was getting the serial numbers from, I passed under a ceiling mounted microscope, forgot to duck, and almost knocked my ruddy head off...ouch !. I had tenderness on the side of my head for a week or so, but the pain in my neck remained after that had gone, so perhaps I managed to get some sort of "whiplash" as a result.Funny thing was that as I was leaving I mentioned my little episode to a member of staff and was told that it was not the first time that this had happened that day !.I think they need to put something soft and bright over the thing to prevent another accident like mine.

Today is Sunday.Saturday was pretty boring, I am currently waiting for 3 parcels to be delivered, 2 from Ebay and 1 from Glen.The one from Glen contains the final cut of the DVD that documents our trip in September, and I am really looking forward to seeing that :-).

Post office van just came into the street and then left without stopping.....oh well, just keep waiting i suppose.

Merry Christmas anyway.....nearly !

:-)

MOT Sorted !

Well that's that sorted then !.Took the old girl down to Pitstop in Sleaford on Thursday morning so that the guys could work some magic on her and sort out the main portion of the work that was found to be needed during the MOT at Herons on Tuesday. I had already removed the front headlight assemblies and refitted a donor set which had been given to us for our trip in September.I also fitted a rear number plate bulb which should have been an easy enough job apart from the fact that the screw heads on the lamp cover had almost rotted away to nowt....the joys of running an old car eh !.

On Friday morning I went down to Pitstop to pick the car, and I must say what a pleasant surprise the total for the work was.......although as per usual I would guess that John and Chris have probably given me something of a "preferential rate" which came as a great help...cheers guys...again :-).

I arrived down at Heron Volkswagen at 10.30, and Scarlet went in for her retest almost immediately.About 40 mins later I was given the good news that she had now passed her test, and just as an extra sweetener Heron only charged me £25 for the test and retest fee....top dealership, many thanks again to all involved.

I was supposed to have been making a set of antlers and a flashing red nose this weekend but as per usual i found myself otherwise engaged...oh well, got almost a week before the Santa job so I will have to try and get myself organised over the next week.

Scarlet failed her MOT :-(

Took Scarlet down to Heron Volkswagen in Newark yesterday for her MOT and sadly (although if i am honest,not surprisingly!) she failed on several area's.

Strangely enough, apart from the front suspension bush which was worn, probably due to our little adventure negotiating hundreds of potholes in the Pyrenees mountains,and needed replacing, the other items that caused a fail were a lot less serious than myself and Glen had expected. A rear number plate bulb had blown, a clip had come adrift on the N/S CV boot gaiter, the aim on the headlights were a little high (probably due to the front end rebuild that AW thankfully did after my little..erm....bump :-). The main area of repair needed to be completed for a pass are the 2 rear flexi hoses on the brakes, and these are going to be hopefully sorted within the next couple of days by those fantastic folk at Pitstop in Sleaford.

Hopefully any repairs that are needed won't be too expensive, as I have just recently had to replace a cooker after the last one exploded !(and you ask why my wife tries to avoids letting me cook!).

I fitted anew set (well slightly younger anyway!) to the car this morning, replaced the rear number plate bulb and 2morro it's off to Pitstop for the rest of the repairs before another visit to Heron's for (hopefully!) an MOT Pass :-)