MANTINADES

We were glad to get to the end of a very stressful week with two trips to the Hospital in Heraklion to catch up with the Professor who had not been able to keep our appointment due to a family bereavement the week before.

Tuesday's day at the hospital was hard going because K was walking around with crutches which work for most day to day movement, but we had underestimated the distances and wrong directions we were sent on whilst looking for the Radiotherapy Doctor's hidden lair. Having been sent downstairs, then upstairs, then downstairs again along miles of corridors, we eventually found him amongst a long queue of patients and he discussed the start of radio

therapy treatment – seven weeks from 8 July every week day with a light course of chemotherapy as well. All this was completely at odds with what the Professor had told us earlier.

He gave us a piece of paper to fix up an appointment with Cardiology for an ECG to make sure K's heart was up to it. So we stumped off in search of Cardiology. The short answer is that we think that Cardiology were on strike, but we only found that out after queuing with a numbered ticket for ages and then reaching the lady at the window and being told that we could not make an appointment today. K was exhausted, so we decamped to the car and came home in a bit of a temper. The next day we were back again for a CT scan, but I was prepared for the long corridors and mileage to be covered by taking the wheelchair. This was fine and dandy until the Doctor led all his patients from the hidden lair to the CT Scanner – setting off at a gallop with a string of patients behind him for all the world like a family of ducks. We rushed to keep up and all was well until he disappeared around a corner and leapt up a flight of stairs with a line of people behind him leaving us and the wheelchair staring in dismay.  Not even the hospital is "disabled friendly" in Greece.  Two kind souls, who knew the ropes showed us how to get to the CT place by finding the lifts to the right floor and accompanying us. I need to remember that the comfort and strength of being in hospital is from the patients and their families rather than the paid staff! Anyway we got there and sat in another queue until the Secretary came back from her lunch and could deal with the form filling in duplicate.

On Thursday, we went to a Cardiologist in Rethymnon to get the ECG done and the good news is that K has the heart of an ox! He seemed quite boosted by the news! By Friday, we were pooped and needed to have a quiet day, but somehow we seemed to have one visitor after another and I set off on my own trying to get a peaceful hair cut, without success, but noticed that a new Spa had opened in Panormo. I booked for a back and shoulder massage, to see if it would help with relaxation and a good sleep. The masseur spoke fantastic English, and on greeting me and shaking hands said that he could see that I had problems with my wrist joints (wow … true, I thought it was arthritis) so he spent an extra while paying attention to my arms and hands and it really helped. I wonder if he would be able to help with K's leg at all?  He has started to get pins and needles and a few shooting pains which may or may not be a good sign.

We spent a lot of Saturday at our friends house in Exantas (on the side of a mountain with marvellous views but a heart-in-the-mouth drive up the track to reach it). England were playing New Zealand in the Rugby Test and the Kiwis won! Our friends were disappointed, but we were philosophical about it. Later in the day, they had a barbecue for loads of people on a staggeringly beautiful mid summer evening, a table laid for 30-40 people, live music with lyra, guitar, wonderful singing and a bit of rock and roll from the Brit contingent who emerged from practising their greek conversation with the local villagers and let their hair down at the end. It was the first time my guitar had emerged from its case for a year or so and it was terribly out of tune, but nice to sing a few songs with other folk. The final task was to get down the mountain again in the dark and along all the back tracks at 1.00 am. This had been our latest night for at least a year and we had really enjoyed it.

LIVING ON A KNIFE EDGE

When we talk to our friends here, one of the things that many ex pat families share is the almost constant sense of anxiety about other family members far away, especially elderly parents. Most of our friends have had to organise flights home for emergencies and in all the contingency plans we made when leaving for foreign climes, it never occurred to us that we would have to deal with emergencies at home and here in Crete at the same time.

Many of our friends here share problems with any property they may still have in the UK; worry if a letting agency is charging a lot for doing very little, damage to their home, a caretaker or tenant who is not covering their expenses, not co-operating or, in our case, refusing to accept the four months notice we gave to terminate the rental agreement in September last year so that we could move home and seek treatment for cancer in the UK.

As we started out, people had told us that the treatment in Crete was very good indeed … and this is true. Certainly the speed and efficiency of the diagnostics were amazingly efficient. All we had to do was to make our way to the correct clinic or laboratory in various parts of Rethymnon and Heraklion, pay our fee and gather the results in one folder to take to a Specialist for further consultation and treatment. All achieved in 20 days.

The hospital situation was a bit different, but we have covered all that ground before and, in spite of my desire to get back to the UK after our many gruelling weeks at the hospital, and seek some English speaking medical and nursing advice, we were stopped in our tracks by not having a home to return to and needing specialist disabled friendly arrangements in place before we threw in the towel and retired “injured” to the UK.

So it was a cause for rejoicing a week or two back, our son got back from Crete to find the key to the UK house in a brown envelope at his home address in England. It had taken eight months without income and bearing the costs of two houses, court proceedings and a lot of work done by kindly young people on our behalf in the UK and other family members (who had all sorts of more important things to worry about). We realise that we had travelled too far down the treatment path to stop now, because we hear that UK doctors are reluctant to receive back patients to the UK and often ask them to wait six months before they will consider treating them. It has been a walk along a knife edge for months now dividing pockets of stress into separate compartments and trying to deal with one thing at a time. Since we are nearly at the point of getting radiotherapy for K, we decided to wait until after the next hospital visit here in Crete to see how the land lies. We hope and pray that things go much better for us this time around. Another cause for celebration is that the owners of the Zimmer frame phoned to ask if K still used it. He had actually progressed to crutches a few days before so it was with a certain amount of thanksgiving that we could return it and know that another person would feel as supported as we had.

Meanwhile, Crete is still having odd weather. Rain and cloud in late May and early June is almost unheard of and grey, cloudy skies – full of desert sand to coat every surface of the house and garden – all make for lots of hard work and cleaning. Our terrace is like a sandy beach after the last lot of winds and rain. The car looks as if it has been on African car rally even after a dousing with the pressure hose. I am glad that nobody can see me watching TV in a warm woolly, socks and gloves this evening. We have been so cheered up by seeing videos and photos of the grandchildren far away “down under” and wondering when we will get the chance to catch up with them again.

As K's birthday approached after such a dodgy year, we wanted to celebrate in a way that marked the occasion (SURVIVAL) without wearing the pair of us out completely. Almost by accident, we fell in with the idea of a pancake brunch on Saturday morning to which five of us tucked into freshly made pancakes from friend Ian's first class frying pan, just squeezed orange juice, fresh fruit salad, delectable maple syrup, bacon, sausages, birthday cakes and, having enjoyed all the food and opened goodies, drove down to Panormo to have frappé coffees and milk shakes at our favourite Vinzi's Cafe up on the ramparts. Two more friends turned up after their lunch – so by a chapter of good effort, lots of humour and pure accident, it made a very nice day.

Archive photo of Panormo last year!

We are now resting a bit and girding our loins for the next stage which will mean driving to and from Heraklion each day for radiotherapy treatment for four weeks, if they give the go ahead. This is a round trip of about 40-50 miles around the mountains. We may have ex pat folk around to help us, so we are trying to keep upbeat and hopeful.

We have been so busy, we cannot believe that it is June already (definitely not flaming and somewhat miserable by Cretan standards) but anyway KALOMINA!