I suppose this should be posted in this thread and I know I should have posted this before now. About 5 weeks ago, K*** got me an appointment with the GP. I’ve had a cough since about November, but it has always been a cough that seems to change. One week it’s in my chest, next week it’s a tickly throat cough. I was convinced that it was because I was working in an open office etc etc. the GP suggested, that as my chest was clear, that I was having a ‘silent reflux’. I already suffer from ‘Barrett’s Oesophagus‘ and am being treated for this. He explained that sometimes the treatment is not quite as efficient as it should be, resulting in this so called silent reflux. A course of Gaviscon was prescribed, with a promise of a phone call to see how I got on. Well after two weeks of taking this thick disgusting gloop, I was feeling no better, so an appointment was made with the Asthma nurse practitioner. This resulted in me being given (sold) an inhaler, as it appears that I may now be asthmatic. I’m not sure if it is the answer to my problem. I now feel like I have phlegm stuck at the back of my throat. Not a nice feeling to have all day. I have come to the conclusion that coming apart at the seams. As a friend said, “….you’re held together with spit and gaffa tape….” And it does feel like it most of the time. K*** thinks I need to go back to the doctors as I don’t seem to be getting any better.

My pre-op assessment date has been moved forward by a day, but it still looks like I’ll be going into hospital on the 11^th June, with the op taking place the next day. People keep asking my ‘how do you feel about it’ and I have to say that I’ve not really thought about it that much. My main worry is the recovery period and how R*** is going to take it. His community nurse has come up with all sorts of ideas, none of which I think will work. Things like having a bandage on my leg, to divert his attention away from my chest. Won’t work. He’s not stupid. The other thing is his carers at his day service are supposed to be creating a ‘social story’ to explain what is happening. It may work, I don’t know. What is worrying his nurse is that K*** will not cope when I’m not there and that we both will not cope when I am discharged. What worries me most is what they will do if there is the slightest issue at all. They have already talked previously about him being sectioned if a serious problem arose and I think it could be part of the plan his nurse and her team have in mind!! However, I have already made it quite plain that him being sectioned would not happen then and I say that it will not happen now. As long as I draw breath, it will not happen.