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Thursday 29 July 2010

A quiet week

It's all been boringly stable this week.
There was a bit of work stuff at the end of last week - but that's all gone quiet. Only another month of pay left then I will be a jobseeker, which will be dull.
The weekend was good - went sailing - had formal dinner party on an exposed sandbank, arousing much amusement from passing boats as we raised glasses of champagne and caroused mightily. It has to be said that even in July the south coast of England can be a cold place, and while the chaps were all cosy in their dinner suits (and thermals!) us girls were a bit parky in the evening dresses... Apart from one smarty pants who wore her fur coat!

I got a bit disorganised with the drugs and stuff over the weekend. I survive by having a rigid timetable and a chart to check things off - when the timetable is managed by the tides then things can easily get out of sync. Getting back on track now though.

One of the real pains is paperwork. I love the NHS, but it's a big organisation and things can be really slow to happen sometimes. I have an insurance policy which includes critical illness cover. If this will pay out then it will make a big difference next month when I am out of work - the difference between paying the bills and not. I sent in the claim in May when I was first diagnosed - and seven weeks later the specialist's report still hasn't arrived at the insurance company. Every time I go near the hospital my notes are booked out, and the request for the report and the associated paperwork (which are in the file) leave the medical secretary who has been trying to get this done, and go off on a magical mystery tour of the hospital. If the notes aren't there, then the specialist can't produce the report, or sign it when it's been typed up. I have been promised that it was all posted first class on Monday, but it hasn't appeared at the insurance company yet. There has to be a better way for things like this to be dealt with... a paper file in a trolley somewhere is the key to everything, and whatever they are entering into the computer every time I go there seems to be incidental.
This is adding somewhat to my stress levels, as I can't make any real plans until I know what is going on... and if the policy doesn't pay out, I won't be able to keep up the premiums when I am on Jobseeker's allowance! It's hard, though, to rant and rave about this when the people who seem to be taking all the time are a) just doing the best that they can within the existing system and b) likely to be cutting me up quite soon.

Starting to feel tired all the time - can't sleep at night, can't stay awake during the day. Boring....