Cotton Candy Contrails

Thank you for your good wishes yesterday. We leave home at 6.00 am.  It’s a beautiful morning, the sun gradually rising to dissipate the mist that has gathered overnight. I so wish this wasn’t a trip to hospital; apart from the obvious reasons, I just want to stop to photograph the beauty of the morning.  As it is, I’m limited to photographing through the windscreen, relatively easy to catch views of the road in front, but nigh on impossible to the side where mist lies heavy across the Dee estuary, the sun rising above, the view interrupted by trees flashing by. 


The technicolour sky is relatively free from cloud, but contrails are lit up in almost unreal pink against a graduated background going from a narrow band of gold through to deep blue. 

Arrival at the hospital goes smoothly, and I’m soon into the pre-operative procedures of Liverpool Women’s Hospital. I find I’m first on my consultant’s list - always a bonus - but there’s still so many repetitive questions to go through. LWH must win the prize for the least attractive operative fashion; not only the delightful ‘open down the back’ gown, but bottle green socks and a red hairnet! Care once again is wonderful, and soon I’ve gone from the pre-op banter in theatre to the slow, slurry, dry-mouthed return to normality in recovery.  

I will find out the results of the biopsies in five weeks, but my consultant has told me in the pre-op chat that he’s discussed my case with a colorectal colleague and they think my hernia needs repairing with my stoma adjusted and possibly moved from left to right.  It confirms the thoughts I had last night; it will be a major procedure but hopefully will bring about some positive results. 

G comes to pick me up at 1.30 and in the post-op drugged- up high, I feel well enough to take a detour to an ice-cream stop (salted tahini and honey with fresh mint and lime) before meeting up with Lili and parents at Marine Lake. It’s a very brief meet up as by now I’m starting to hurt and just need to get home, so there’s a big Lili-cuddle and we’re off. 

The rest of the day is just a blur as I drift in and out of sleep, glad that yet another hospital visit is behind me.