To give you all an update - Tuesday this week I paid another visit to the ENT consultant in Worcester following the fitting of a grommet to my right ear and the ensuing infection. I'm pleased to say that the fungal infection has cleared and the ear feels better. My hearing is not that good however and so the consultant is referring me for a hearing test, which I hope I will hear (no pun intended) about soon. It was interesting however that he believes the infection was caused by the unattended to fluid in the ear - it didn't impress him when he found out that it had taken so long for me to convince anyone to refer me to ENT!!
My balance is still not good - although this may not have been helped by the ear problem. Between Christmas and New Year, Jane and I visited Croome Park (NT) to have a bit of a walk on a day when the weather was reasonable. There were quite a number of people there and the grounds were quite slippery in parts following the rain which we'd had. I nearly managed to walk all the way round without incident - but on the last leg it all got too much. Jane kept telling me to stand up straight and walk upright - but I couldn't see that I wasn't and I felt that my coordination had gone. I found it really difficult to get back to the visitor centre and we were both really grateful that the kind volunteers there helped Jane get me to the car. So.....if the rambling group could plan some short-ish walks on solid ground that would be just great!!
As planned and arranged with the staff, I returned to Regent's College at the start of this week to try some voluntary work again. I hadn't volunteered there since 2011! It was good to get out and meet other people again. It was a challenging day - it's only when I'm trying to do things like this do I find out my limitations caused by my poor working memory. I was given the task of numerically sorting different categories of magazines which all went well until I was interrupted - I then couldn't remember where I had got to with what I was sorting. I stopped for a coffee break with the staff and other volunteers, and it was good to have a catch-up with them all. I returned to the room in which I'd been working with the staff member but then I found it really difficult to find the location where I'd been doing my work and where I'd left my notebook, etc. I was at the point of asking the staff member in charge of me when I finally found my bag! So, it's not only my working memory that's impaired, my spatial awareness and memory is also a problem! But...I'm going to return next week and have another go.
Today I've had my blood tests in readiness for my appointment with the consultant Haematologist at Worcester on the 20th January. We then went off to St Richards in Worcester to the Hammer Out Brain Tumours support group meeting. As always, this was very good. The main discussion was around trying to get more awareness of the charity and getting more awareness of brain tumours - particularly in the medical profession! So a date for your diaries - March 7th is Bandanas for Brain Tumours day - so come on, wear your bandana with pride and raise awareness of (and even some cash for) brain tumour charities.
Colin.