In the picture is my kitchen / gym. And my weight bar, of course, for the time being most of the weights are lockers, but I will gradually get to them as well. There are also dumbbells, a step bench and rubbers that mostly collect dust, because not all torture tools I like equally well. Some don’t like a jump rope at all.
Last year, before the operations, I read horror stories on the Internet and wondered – what will life be like after that? Will I immediately get old, fat, my bones will start to break, and eventually I will turn into a man because of surgical menopause? I comforted myself with the idea that a man is also a man, as it will be, it will be. Then came chemotherapy and the feeling that the effects could be even worse. Hair may not grow back, chronic heart, liver, kidney problems may occur, new cancers may develop. I searched the internet feverishly, trying to find a photo of the women after an equally traumatic treatment. Will I barely move and look like a freak?
But here I am in the kitchen with a weight bar, without make-up and photoshop, a year and eight months have passed since the cancer operation, and two months less since the chemotherapy. Still myself.
Video consultation that everyone has forgotten about
Letter-by-letter typing in an Internet search engine of an unusually long address from a printed letter, after 10 minutes, an oncologist’s video consultation should begin. Tests, which take the form of a few minutes of chatter during a pandemic, take place every three months, but a referral for blood tests, not to mention other tests, can only be obtained by thorough downtime. In England, you can’t pay a dozen euros in such a Swan laboratory and do everything your heart desires. It can be private, but it means a thorough bribe and billing in the hundreds or even thousands.
“The page you are looking for does not exist.” Once again, I diligently type at least 40 incoherent combinations of characters, dragging my finger along with the printed text. Again than that, there is very little time left. When calling the hospital, the tired woman connects with the oncology secretary, where the answering machine states that there is no secretary on site, and the message is not worth talking about, because no one will listen to it anyway. The British have a bad fashion for concealing telephone numbers and making it as difficult as possible to contact all kinds of authorities, and the hospital is unfortunately no exception. However, I am not open-minded, I know that the main thing is not to rest in peace and call everyone in a row, making it clear that they will not get rid of me. Either get tired or have a compassionate soul.
The call again, answered by another operator, manages to persuade to connect with the oncology department. Telling her crook, the nurse promises to write an e-mail to the oncologist. Email!
After an hour, call the oncology department. Sorry and sorry, another department is to blame for booking and copying the wrong video link. And doctors are not at work today (what ?!). Will I bet next Friday? Of course, as long as you give a working link. You will receive everything, Mrs. Kāv (that is, I), we will send a new letter.
I do not understand, I am now glad that I managed to remind myself, do I have to go to complain that the hospital does not follow that the cancer patients are checked in accordance with the law?
Had he not been expelled, he would not have known.
It is common in Great Britain for communication to take place by sending old, good letters, the so-called snail mail, literally translating, snail. Fortunately, in the south of England, letters are rarely lost, especially letters from the hospital, there is no point in sniffing them. I can’t imagine a garnadze who would like to be consulted by an oncologist.
The following Friday, I logged into the video consultation waiting room, where the bird’s tweet record goes on and on and the announcement sounds from time to time that the employees know that I am waiting. After a good half hour, the doctor shows up, the internet slows down, freezing the image in rather amusing poses, but you probably can’t laugh because you see and hear me. When the doctor restarted the computer and asked for my permission to participate, which is always sitting next to out of sight all the time, we can finally start. I’m wondering, can it be from chemotherapy that my left thumb is almost numb? The doctor has no idea, but if everything is fine, then we will meet in three months.
What? Will there be no tests, not even a marker of cancer in the blood? The doctor justifies that there is no reason, but if you really want, then send. After a few days comes a paper for blood tests, where at the top the doctor handwritten – handed over before the next consultation. That is, after three months.
Cancer ‘can wait’ during pandemic
Sad stories of untimely diagnosis or delayed treatment of cancer during the Covid-19 pandemic are published in the British media. However, cancer treatment cannot be postponed due to a pandemic! Even it is almost impossible to get a family doctor for a face-to-face consultation, it only happens after the caller, who, by the way, does not have medical education, has concluded that the situation is really serious.
I’m lucky for now, and the only problem is being in a high-risk Covid-19 group, apparently an oncologist put me there. A warning letter has been issued recommending that you sit at home, if necessary, you can apply for the help of volunteers and get priority for the supply of food to supermarkets at home, where the queues last for several weeks. I can even ask for transportation to a medical institution.
My doctor doesn’t know how I can get out of that high-risk group, the hospital has to ask for it, but I forgot to ask during the oncologist’s consultation, and no one else has any idea.
Several funerals again in the cancer support group. During virtual meetings, we mention those that are no longer between us, but it is only a short moment. Don’t these poor women really deserve more? But perhaps this is done so as not to deprive the living of hope?
For a citizen without presentation of documents
The process of acquiring British citizenship is complex, lengthy and expensive, and you become a UK citizen not when you receive a decision to grant citizenship, but after taking an oath of allegiance and obtaining a certificate of citizenship in person.
I arrive on time in the morning, I walked around the neighborhood, looking for the right place. The park is full of dog stunners, aisle to ask, it turns out the real building is on the other side of the huge park. As long as I went to the right one, meanwhile started without me, the insider found out that I had time in the tens, and let in without checking the documents. I get into the room, congratulations, the future citizens learn how to pronounce my name correctly, because the head of the ceremony has to clarify what has come there now. The door is open, as cold in the room as it is outside, everyone is sitting in masks and coats 2 meters apart and looking around anxiously, waiting to read the oath.
Due to the pandemic, there is no photographer, we can photograph ourselves. I already have a camera in my bag, but the second part of the plan fails – talking to another recipient of citizenship.
I put the camera on the chair and turned on the video – so my solemn moment of receiving citizenship, when I collected my certificate from the table, is a big coat from behind.
When she comes out, her husband Chris greets me, announcing that I have won “licence to complainThat is, permission to complain. The British themselves are ironic that the main feature of a nation is constant grievance, and it must be admitted that they are not far from the truth, because one can insult each other, even by politely asking where a person comes from.
Of course, we must celebrate. Public catering establishments are still open at that time, but access is allowed only by scanning the location code on your phone, where the Covid-19 app is installed. Some time ago, Chris joke had installed and recorded that the temperature is 37.2, and received an indelible warning to squat at home for five days, so voluntarily do not touch their app. The British GovernmentTrack and Trace” praised as the best in the world, but the media call it a failure, because the program does not understand the distance or distinguish the floors of the building. The project is also linked to possible corruption, with the British government admitting that sharing contracts with its own is a coincidence.
But you need to scan the code in the cafe, it is in a visible place together with the warning at the counter. Chris scans, but the phone doesn’t recognize it. Scan again. Again, nothing. Well, if nothing, then nothing, we collect our coffee and take the best places at the table. Meanwhile, a queue has formed, everyone passing by the phone along the code. Looks like it doesn’t work for anyone, and most don’t even try to unlock the phone before scanning. It is said that in many restaurants, these codes are only visible, visitors do not even pretend to register.
The virtual assistant does not know Latvian radio stations
“Alex, how cold is it outside?” All summer we have been giggling about the neighbor’s disintegration with the artificial intelligence in the house, without the neighbor knowing that the shouting is well heard in the immediate area. Chris has found several repairable “Alexes” on the Internet for cheap, and his calculation turns out to be correct – all the devices are brand new, apparently the previous owners have not learned or wanted to configure.
I still feel “chemo brain”-“ chemotherapy brain ”effect, which refers to memory problems after chemotherapy.
I can safely leave the iron on or the clothes not removed from the washing machine, and then setting a reminder in the virtual assistant with the help of a voice command is very useful.
Although it also has its dark sides, it is no longer possible to turn on the light without arguing with a piece of plastic. “Alex, turn on light number 1!” Alex: “Hmmm I don’t know what it is.” If you are asked to play the radio in one room, then Aleksa thinks that he will do it in another room, and it is impossible to turn it off. Every now and then Alex suddenly joins the conversation, then it tends to be quite fun.
Alex also has a deep sense of humor. We once had abdominal cramps while discussing the meaning of life, sexual orientation and gender with a Nokia phone, and it turned out that Nokia was pregnant. Alex doesn’t have such jokes, Alex doesn’t know what to ask for and quickly insults.
Our own “European hit radio” is useful for training in the kitchen, which is the most suitable place for fitness at home, because there is little that can be overturned there, but Aleksa also does not know how to play Latvian radio stations. However, you can set a timer, which Alex sometimes mixes with the morning alarm clock and cancels Chris going to work.
Either way, Aleksa is the perfect addition if you are tired of order at home.
Allow the hair curls to fall. On the floor.
No, no, the hair doesn’t fall out, but I’m divorced from the curls at the ends of the hair, which gradually began to resemble old perms. Well, from what grew back in the beginning after chemotherapy. Now growing my normal, straight and thick. Maybe cut off short again?
Before going to the hairdresser, I collected my photos with different hair lengths and hairstyles on an A4 sheet, the daughter and her friends vote for longer ones. For a man no matter, the main thing is that hair, but if there isn’t, then nothing, it’s not the first time.
I am an ideal client for a hairdresser, because I don’t care.
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