COUNTING STITCHES

 The countdown to the end of K's hospital treatment is continuing and we are half-way through the daily radiotherapy now. We are in a weekly groove - driving to Heraklion every Monday and returning on Friday to have a quick laundry turnaround, cook a few casseroles and dishes which can be easily digested and microwaved and back on the road come Monday morning with a Check List which has to be gone through each time. So far we have not forgotten the kettle, the power leads, or clean clothes and bedding, but I have a complete muddle head over what we have in the fridge at either end and whether my walking shoes are at home or away. Kimon stumps off to the department on his crutches each day and queues for ages until it is his turn.  He seems to enjoy listening to the conversation in the queue with other patients.  The swimming bag is kept in the boot of the car – just in case we get the opportunity to go and he is feeling well enough to go out. The end is beginning to be in sight.

Last week was a short week. The radiotherapy machine needed to be serviced, so we had a four day break from hospital routine and the bung-you-up diet, which I have now completely rejected and which, unfortunately means that I have to cope with two lots of cooking rather than one. White bread, white pasta, no veg and lots of meat and fish is not any sort of diet that I can live with. K only can for the duration and then we will be back to our sought-after Cretan diet with lots of salads and olive oil and as much wholemeal bread as he wants and much less red meat than we have been recommended by the doctors for the duration.

All our items arrived via Nomad on Tuesday.  Great, we now have TV and it works!

There is a kitchen at the hostel, but the practicalities of cooking nourishing meals on one stove with the six or so other ladies who are taking care of their important others is a bit of a challenge. It is interesting to see what the ladies make of the dietary restrictions and I peek under saucepan lids to see liver cooking in some sort of gravy; masses of potatoes bubbling away, fish soup, and stew. From the oven emerge trays of home made bread, big pork chops and Greek sausages (which are a bit too spicy for me). All in all, it is a bit easier to make some enriched stocks at home and reassemble them later a bit of a distance from the jostling in the kitchen. Greek wives always look disapproving of anything I make, but Kimon seems OK so far and his weight is remaining steady. His blood tests are holding out OK, although we have to look out for white blood cells and platelets to see that they are not getting too low.

On Wednesday evening, a nice Greek lady (with very good English) turned up with a box of art materials and taught people staying in the hostel various handicrafts which included tissue paper flowers, painted stones, and we all had fun daubing and borrowing each others brushes and paints. Another wife of a patient was really taken with the bolero I was knitting for my little grand-daughter, so the next day I went in search of a photocopier to let her have the pattern. Kimon tried to follow me in the hospital admin building lift and it got stuck between floors. In a small enclosed area, he got hotter and hotter. Fortunately his mobile phone worked, so having alerted me, I was able to summon help and he was only incarcerated for half an hour or so until they got the winch working on the first floor. Fortunately he didn't miss his treatment!

The hostel receptionist has asked me to knit a jumper for her newborn grandson. A first size jumper in the time of 15 more treatments … should be possible!

In Skepasti, it is full-on beef tomato and melon season, and next to the French people's house is a field simply full of wonderful ripe tomatoes, most of which have been picked and crated. They brought me two bags of the discarded tomatoes which I am struggling with. I am still deliberating about acquiring a freezer. Fortunately, I had instructions from Valerie in England on how to bottle tomatoes and in the middle of a very hot day and all the laundry turnaround, I was processing large piles of lovely fruit and simmering bottled tomatoes on the stove, muttering ungratefully and somewhat reluctantly because passata, tinned tomatoes and puree are so very inexpensive to buy in the shops. Anyway, we have five jars of pasta sauce which I hope will last for a few weeks yet. I thought that the oversize Ali Baba terracotta pots used for storage in the kitchen would be the best place to put the jars, being reasonably cool and dark inside. We will see whether this works. I will also plead with the French not to bring me any more at the moment. When we are through with all this, it will be easier.

Time to catch up ... at Geronimos in Panormo

The CIC are organising a meal out in Panormo tonight (Sunday) which is nice for us because we cannot get to see our friends easily until radiotherapy is over. So I am casting off for now and will catch up again soon. As news goes, things are a bit uneventful, but so far, so good.

EAR PLUGS TIL DAWN

The new Archeological Museum has opened and the displays are stunning

We were thankful to get home to our house, which was cool downstairs at least and reflect on the week in Heraklion while K had his radiotherapy each day. Monday had been nice, though. We drove back to the hospital in time for his treatment at about 3.00 p.m. and were told that there would be a little party with music that evening. We assembled in the large downstairs lounge area where trays of lovely fruit and little pies had been arranged and chairs set out. A talented lady singer/guitar player came and made music which all the people joined in and clapped along with. Most of the songs were well known Greek folk favourites but the singer even played “Let it be” so that I was included. We had an unexpectedly enjoyable time and it did help break the ice amongst all the separate people who are there for one reason or another.

We spent another day last week looking for an alternative beach … or a small village with a friendly cafeneon/taverna to have a coffee or a meal out for a change. Our little spot at Paleocastro seems the best, though for parking and convenience.

K and I were tickled by the top sign which says Idiotiko Parking.  It couldn't be a better description of the mayhem outside the hospital.  People will park ANYWHERE rather than walk for 2 minutes from the Car Park

While K was queueing up for bar codes in the Outpatients in order to get his blood tested, I took the bus into Heraklion to check out the new Archaelogical Museum which opened recently.  The displays are amazing ... Phaestos Disk, King Minos ring in bright shining gold, statuary from the Roman and Hellenic period, stunning ceramics which were beautifully set out.  

We heave a sigh of relief to get home on Fridays and forget each time that July and August constitutes peak summer wedding season and on Saturday nights the village is heaving with strange cars all lost and asking for directions to the Kentron (big event venue) which is built in stone high up on the hills at the edge of the village. As soon as we see all the lights on up there, I look for my earplugs because it is the sign that Greek music will tune and start up at midnight and continue all night until 6.00 a.m. If you were in the mood, the traditional lyra and guitar music are occasionally quite good, but all night and amplified for all the local villages in the area, it is too much to bear. By early morning, it sounds like all the drunken Uncles of the bride have got hold of the microphone and are giving it some welly. On a hot sleepless night, it is just what you don't really appreciate and neither did next door's dog, especially after some happy partygoer decided to do a five gun salute at 3.30 a.m. On nights like these, you just have to give up the idea of sleeping and get up for a cup of tea and prowl around the house, adjusting and readjusting your earplugs and wishing they worked better! The truth is that it is difficult to sleep well wherever you are on hot summer nights and the moon was bright and clear outside for the happy-go-lucky wedding guests – all who seemed in fulsome voice at 5 o’clock and unwilling to give up and go home. Sunday mornings are always very quiet in the village as most people need to catch up on their sleep.

I promised a photo of the “disabled friendly” facilities at the hospital and we thought that this one deserved a prize!  Nobody can deny that a wheelchair ramp has been provided....so that box can be ticked!

The ramp that goes nowhere ...

... here is the door!  

TWO LEFT FEET

Sunday lunchtime at Bali - High Season!

4/36 Treatments and Counting. Friday Night. Back from the hospital after the last radiotherapy session this week. Kimon opted for a late afternoon slot, which works out well for us as we have the whole morning to travel out and about while the hospital car parks are at their most ludicrous and return home after lunch - for a queue in the waiting room, treatment and then a nice afternoon nap. If we feel energetic enough, we can go for a slow walk with crutches in the hospital grounds to our friends at Gregorys Coffee Bar or collapse for the evening.

A heaps better experience than last time around.

This may be important!

First of all, we were amused that patients could only find out what they needed to know from other patients. The two doctors on duty were working completely flat out and did not seem to have people on hand to carry out the admin. After retrieving Kimon's very large hospital file from last summer (which was the biggest and fattest the Doctor had ever seen since K had been in four different departments last year) the Doctor left it on his desk on Tuesday and K reported that it was still on the desk where he left it today. The chances of retrieving it a second time seem a bit slim to me. We were told about a special diet sheet which we asked about several times and ended up looking up things on line. It seems counter-intuitive requiring K to eat white bread, white rice, no vegetables and lots of MEAT and Fish. We heard from another patient that avocado, bananas and peaches are also OK. If Blog-followers have any friends in the know, perhaps they can double check this for us. We think it is to stave off Montezuma's revenge, which for K would be a bit of a disaster.

It might say, please close the fridge door and return the teaspoons, we are not sure

K was mightily amused by the banter which was going on in the waiting room while all the blokes in the queue were arguing politics vehemently. Meanwhile patients in beds are being wheeled in and out, wheelchairs dance round one another in the narrow corridor and people rush in and out of offices at great speed. In the middle of all this frenetic activity, the argument in the waiting room carried on at full force and one chap was called for his treatment and turned as he went through the door, pointing his finger and saying “Don't go away, I'm coming back to finish my point!”.

We were given prescriptions to take down the road to the Pharmacy and chatted in the busy shop while quite a number of customers came and went. We took out the instructions written in Greek to ask her and I translated the instruction and put it by the side of the Doctors scrawl. All these matters are greatly confused by the fact that Greeks shorthand-write “pm” for morning which to us means “am” - so my annotations confused her completely! It must have caused masses of missed appointments between Greeks and English speakers over the years. The Chemist assuming that we were complete idiots took out a large black marker and wrote a number against each pill and instruction with the matching big black number on each box. Brilliant, but almost as a whisp of an afterthought she added that, of course, number 2 was a suppository. K and I fell about laughing and thanked her for telling us; it was good to know. K joked that it would have been so hard to take with a cup of coffee. I can only conclude that a good number of prescriptions must be dealt with this way in Greece because she could not understand our hilarity. Not a glimmer of amusement did she share while we were clutching each other and falling about after a week of deciphering where we were supposed to be and what we were supposed to be doing without any clear directions at all. Huh, mad English – how childish about dealing with medicines! Anyway, now we know … if the capsule looks extra large, stop and double check the Greek instructions.

Our lovely little beach - space for cars - then ...

Yesterday, we found a brilliant little beach about 12-15 mins drive from the hospital. Not 5 star by tourist standards, but wonderful for us. Accessible by car and easy to park; a nice shady coffee bar; straight out on to a small beach for a decent swim with a shower and changing cabin and then easy to get back to the hospital again. Most beaches leave K standing at the top of hideously uneven steps or track, leaning on his crutches looking down wistfully and thinking, “maybe not” – so this was a God-send. Few places are disabled friendly in Crete from any point of view. We found one ramp at the hospital which leads to a glass wall and the entrance door well

away to one side of it! It went nowhere … we had a giggle but next week I will take a photo.

... right near a shady place to have morning coffee

Sadly, we stopped at Katerina's Ouzerie today for a quick lunch and had been told that Katerina's mother was in the hospital in a coma. We sent our love and best wishes to them. We had just ordered lunch when the phone rang with the message that her mother had just died and we realised that we would have to leave everything we had ordered behind and make a fast exit so that they could make arrangements. We know that the funeral service takes place within 48 hours so poor bereaved families need a standing start, I would think. Katerina had been such a kind friend to us last September, so we wanted to find a way to show our sympathy. We will have to ask the right thing to do as customs vary so radically from the UK to Crete and we would hate to get that wrong too.