NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DIS – CON – STENT

 This week has been overwhelmingly silly, but we are relieved to be near the end of it. The weather closed in on Thursday and we have days and nights of heavy rain and flooding in the area. A trip to Panormo to visit the Pharmacy was a bit like white water rafting and I am still trying to dry my trainers out after trying to wade across the road (temporarily a fast flowing river). In five seconds, the downpours were so heavy that my raincoat and all my other clothes were completely soaked.  There have been lots of torrents, landslips, rocks in the road and waterfalls but the forecast for Monday is much better.

Ma Crozier is feeling a little more comfortable every day but, due to the torrential downpours, we are having problems getting out and about and the washing dry. Yianni did a sterling job on the exterior painting of the house – so now the roof is complete and the walls are an interesting creamy yellow shade. We look much smarter. Lena the Cleaner is wonderful and we were surprised to miss our bedside rugs after her visit last weekend. They had all been shampooed and were out on the terrace to dry! Such energy. Rik fitted the new window a couple of weeks back, and we now have a modern one with built in fly screen, roller blind and a ventilation pane which tilts nicely. We opted for the traditional local windows a few years back but the new ones are much better than the old wooden shutters which crashed about in the wind unless wired together or locked shut, darkening the room completely.

On Monday, I visited the gastroenterologist to ask about management of the stent which I had been told had been inserted back in August and what needed to be done next. She looked at my hospital notes, all in medical Greek, and said that no stent had been used and not to worry about it. I was too dumbfounded to be joyful about this because I was sure that the Specialist HAD told me about it as I came round from the anaesthesia along with other pertinent instructions.

The next day I visited a GP type doctor and said that it was a bit crazy but could I just double check that there was or was not a stent? He understood my empuzzlement, shrugged his shoulders a bit and said "Well this is Greece and anything can happen" whilst handing me a note to take for a belt-and-braces Xray.

On Thursday, we set off early in very strong winds to Rethymnon for the Xray and after the photographic session, I was carrying a huge film envelope which kept being swept round like a sail as I carried it back from the Diagnostics Clinic to the car. K and I couldn't resist taking a peep. I thought I could see a rectangular blob in the right sort of place, so assumed that this was the pesky thing. The GP doctor put the film up on his lamp screen and said “No you DON'T have a stent. There are metal clips here (oh?) and what is this dark blob over here, I ventured? Oh that. He looked at me and grinned. That's just wind!

Embarrassing or what? Something lost in translation? Wrong information to the patient on the wrong trolley? Does anaesthetic make you imagine things you had never heard of before? Whatever the cause, it is all good news. Miraculously, I am stent free (and trying to ignore the reference to metal clips) !!!

My mood was euphoric on the drive back home, because at last K and I can plan for a few days away. What with one hospital and another, we haven't been free to do so for three years!  The weather looks dodgy, but never mind, it will be wonderful to escape for a day or two. It has been over thirty years since we visited Evia where K's parents had a villa in the 60s-70s and we wanted to take the opportunity to make one trip back there to see how much it has all changed. There is plenty of interesting archaeology on the island, especially at Eretria,  and I hope to take lots of photos.  Wish us luck! x

'ERE THE WINTER STORMS BEGIN ...

Greetings from your foreign correspondent. Back from the confines of hospital and creeping round the house a little gingerly since the wearing of loose pyjamas seems the best choice right now. All went well. My pesky gall bladder is on its way to Athens for Histology and whomsoever the recipient is can be confident that they are very welcome to it. I have three minor incisions, some prickly stitches and an allergy to the wound dressings used by the hospital, but we smartly changed these and I am trying various combinations of alcohol (topical!) and anaesthetic creams to cool down the itch until I can consult Niko at the Pharmacy on Monday.

I had an interesting time in hospital, sharing a room with another lady who had had her spleen removed (horrid op) but was making a good recovery. As she had a constant stream of visitors – young and old – bringing flowers, cakes, home made goodies and so on all day long, it was lovely to see how the extended family worked, Cretan style. She was looked after fabulously by her sister (I recognised her complete exhaustion) during the night and a changing pattern of friends by day. The two sisters both had a trio of gorgeous looking young sons with curly black hair, bushy beards and flashing eyes. (Coor!) When one of them explained in perfect English that my giddiness was due to low blood pressure, I asked him where he had acquired perfect English. He said that he had been at University in Birmingham for four years.

They were a wonderful family but the best thing to observe was hair wash day. If anyone remembers the dressing of the bride scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, this evening had all the lovely moments of communal fiesta! First of all, sister arrived with two large bin bags and a washing up bowl with another four people. I watched intrigued to see what would happen, since my night carer had used large bin bags to wrap round my middle and got me to lean forward over the shower, but this variation was much more fun. One bin bag was placed inside another and their bases rested in a bowl on the floor. The patient was helped to lie down on her bed top to toe with her head hanging from underneath the bed rail and her hair into the open bag. A young lady (think she was a proper hairdresser) armed herself with shampoo and the room began to smell of nice perfume as they worked. About three older ladies trouped backwards and forwards from the bathroom with large water bottles of hot water from the bathroom while they washed, massaged and rinsed while the water gathered into the ballooning bin bags. It worked well. After the shampoo, the hairdresser got out her hairdryer and brushes to start styling for the lady now seated. The older ladies in the group dug about in shopping bags and produced freshly washed and ironed sheets and set about stripping and remaking the bed. I can't think of anything nicer or more healing than all these acts of kindness and teamwork. The whole experience certainly beat day-time telly into a cocked hat as they danced and joked around each other. It was clear that this lady was a very special person with a benign army of friends and family - she had visitors young and old who all greeted me and wished me perastika too.  I hope she gets well very soon.

My plan for finding someone to help clean the house fell flat a bit because we were given the details of a nice young lady called Lena, but sadly her mother-in-law died the Saturday morning we were supposed to meet and greet her, so it all had to wait another week and I was limping about the kitchen looking for mops, sponges and bottles of bleach with much less energy than the week before. Anyway, Lena seems lovely and has agreed to come twice per week and we will see whether she likes us and we get on with her to make things permanent.  We are hopeful.

Then Rik the Builder, who had been consulted about replacing one of the upstairs windows way back in the summer managed to get the manufacturers to put it together, also to arrive at the weekend and I could see that my recovery period was going to be anything but peaceful. As luck would have it, one of the sheets of glass got dropped and a corner broke, so it has delayed the installation another few days, for which we are rather grateful. We had also discussed finishing the painting the roof and outside of the house – since I was out of action – with a friend in the village and after three reminders, he eventually turned up to start this morning! This will be good and we can be reassured that we are ship-shape for winter without me having to shimmy up the ladder and skate about on the roof with rollers on poles this time around!

The skies are very grey this morning with a hot wind from the south. Most of our chums are away in Matala at an archaeological weekend to explore new sites down south. I am sorry to miss so many treats but seem to be living under a long period of force majeur these days! Then other friends from England phoned to say they were on holiday near Rethymnon this week and I am turning over in my mind whether I feel strong enough to drive all the way there only a few days after surgery. The wound site is OK, but my eye-sight is still whirring a bit after the anaesthetic and the strength of the winds is increasing all the time.  Not a good time to be out and about, sadly.

I still have one procedure to go as they remove the stent from the common bile duct (hopefully) by gastroendoscopy and after this I hope that things will be back to normal, whatever that means! In the meantime, the winds are beginning to howl and I think the roof paint has gone on, just in the nick of time.

Adieu x

WINTER IS HERE!

We have all been taken by surprise that the weather has taken a change for the Autumn - wet, cloudy, windy and difficult to gauge each morning whether it is a full wash day or whether not to risk it!  The upstairs windows which stay open with net coverings all the summer were closed up during the night this week when the winds started to blow the windows back and forth, so we are gearing ourselves up for the winter without really feeling that we got to grips with summer.  There are definitely some summer clothes that did not see the light of day this year!

The kitchen has been dominated by an unexpected windfall of beautiful ripe peaches, two crates of which, were distributed to every house in the village.  Apostoli, the mayor was summoned to the Dimos (local town hall) with a truck to pick up crates and crates of them to be distributed!  We have guessed at why they are going for nothing, but not really sure.  Peaches do not keep, so we were busy thinking how we could use them or preserve them.  This tested the grey matter and I distributed a few further to friends before they were passed their best.  With the rest,  I managed to bottle some, make lots of jellies, do a batch of peach and red pepper chutney, and stew some for breakfasts.  There was no room in the freezer to freeze any, but despite the ripeness on the outside, the peaches were quite hard on the inside, so stewing them was by far the best option.  I rounded off this mammoth session by looking up Christmas pudding and mincemeat recipes to make with other ingredients, so that I won't have to worry about it when I get home from hospital. Our fridge and freezer are HEAVING!

Kimon has been having a few difficulties with the quad bike which seems to have been supplied with a dodgy battery, so we have spent quite a few mornings jump starting it from the car battery.  Today he has taken it back to the shop and we hope that they will replace the battery under the warranty. Shops these days do not necessarily carry much stock, so we hope it will be easy to do.  The bike shop is right next door to a busy new cafe, so he will have a comfortable wait.

Boy Racers!

While K was there, I had been invited to a Saints day festival at the village church in Exantas, which is a village fairly close to us and where have a number of good friends.  Stalwart parishioners get there at 7.00 a.m. and stay until 10.00 a.m. while lots of 'Papas' and higher orders of clerics gather to chant the liturgy and celebrate St Cyprian's day.  We all arrived (later than 7) and lit candles, then discovered that it was virtually standing room only but squeezed into a corner at the back.  The faithful went on from lighting candles to kissing icons and moving through the church.  Some men lit candles, kissed the icon and gravitated from the front door and out of the side door in about 45 seconds.  I guess you could call it a nodding acquaintance with God, but in fact, the church was so full and the candles giving off such a heat, that it was a relief to get that movement of people and after 45 minutes or so of concentrating hard on the liturgy and the sermon, standing up and sitting down in time with others, we did the same.  Out of the corner of my eye, I was amused to see that the candles procured for a few euros and lit on the ornate trays of sand were swiftly grabbed out of the sand, extinguished and put in an ornate used candle bin so that there was room for plenty more!  I felt a bit cheated that my prayer candle had only had a minute or so to send its signal heavenwards!  However, the numbers of people involved were beginning to cause a fire hazard, so by the end of the service I could see why this was a sensible precaution.  It was a relief to escape the claustrophobia inside and exit to the churchyard, thoughtfully provided with a perimeter wall built with seats in it all round.  A trestle table had been laid with a snowy white cloth, and here loaves and loaves of Holy Bread were cut and distributed to all who gathered outside with water and soft drinks.  A book of raffle tickets circulated - and as the prize was a poor unfortunate sheep tethered in the corner of the churchyard - we were all mightily relieved not to win this.  We had a hilarious 5 minutes imagining what Aegean Airlines or Easyjet would say to an attempt to get a sheep into an overhead locker and made a mental note that the best outcome for the winner was to offer it to the local village priest (and hope that he invited you to the barbecue!)

The week has been dominated by packing bags for the hospital and trying to think of phrases which I might need whilst there which, after consulting Google Translate, have been put in a small notebook. On Saturday, we are being introduced to a young lady who may be helping with housework for a few weeks while I am in hospital and afterwards, if it all works well.  Let's hope so.

The weather is a bit miserable here, so by the law of opposites, we are hoping that the skies are clear and dry for the replacement of roof and new loft which is starting next week at our new home in the UK.  Leo has been hard at work project managing!

The blog may be quiet for a spell, unless I have lots to write after next week and I am well enough to get stuck in.

Kalomina (Have a good month) of October!