May-2024 Garry McGivern’s regular monthly update. It’s not been the best of months for cycling, what with having several hospital appointments and then for the past two weeks, I’ve been catsitting my daughter’s cat while they’ve been away on holiday. I did have my trip to the New Forest and the Isle of Wight at the beginning of the month. And I had intended to go to France for a week between hospital appointments before I had to catsit. But the ferries were all fully booked.
One of my hospital appointments was to have an endoscopy, which thankfully was only down my throat. It was to check on my Barrett’s Oesophagus, which I’d forgotten all about until I received a phone call from the hospital. Apparently, I’m supposed to have a check-up every two to three years to make sure that it’s not become cancerous, which I’m pleased to say it hadn’t. Although surprise, surprise, the endoscopist found something else wrong with me! And I’ve now got a Hiatus Hernia, which most people over fifty have and doesn’t cause any problems. For most people, anyway.
More Problems
I’ve also been experiencing some chest pains, which, of course, as soon as you mention chest pains, they think you’re having a heart attack. Personally, I never thought it was, but they still sent me for an ECG and blood tests, which all came back okay. However, my blood test showed that I had some raised levels in my liver function, which they suspected might be gallstones. So they sent me for a scan.
While at the scan, along with my gallbladder, they checked my liver, kidneys and everything else from what I could tell, and all came back as okay, which was a big surprise to me. I had wondered if I’d pickled my liver over the years with all the beer. They did, however, find some debris in my gallbladder, which the radiologist wasn’t concerned about. But my doctor was, and he’s now referring me to a surgeon for further investigations! Great, more hospital appointments.
Looking Forward
You may have noticed that I’ve been posting one or two cooking videos on my YouTube channel, which I filmed while spending all that time in the New Forest. Well, bad luck; there’s still more to come. Hollands Wood is an ideal place to film my cooking videos, with Brockenhurst and its wonderful array of shops just down the road. There are a couple of small supermarkets, a greengrocer, a butcher and a bakery where I can buy all the necessary ingredients.
I’ve now got a few weeks spare between hospital appointments and have been wracking my brain where I could cycle to. And at the time of posting this, I’m still unsure, but hopefully, I’m on my way somewhere. If you want to see where I end up today, look at the Where’s Garry page.
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