… and then the fridge door fell off!

Having written that I would only blog when I had something to write about, I have had a day of travails that I needed to share with my regular blog readers!

My day started well. I had an appointment with the consultant oncologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, at 10.15am, and the news was encouraging. The treatment I am undergoing seems to be working, and they may be able into reduce the dosage level of Erleada/apalutamide after Christmas. In addition, I am going to be referred to the consultant radiographer to see if the cancer in my lymph glands can be treated.

It was once my appointment was over that things began to go downhill.

I had to collect my next batch of Erleada/apalutamide from the oncology treatment area, but when I presented myself, it wasn’t there. It had been ordered last Friday, but the pharmacy had not yet delivered it. The receptionist telephoned them to ask where it was and was told that it was on its way. It finally arrived nearly forty-five minutes later, during which time I was able to go the the phlebotomy department to have a blood test that the consultant oncologist had asked me to have before I left the hospital. It is worth noting that I had to walk past the pharmacy to get to the phlebotomist but was not allowed to collect my medication as I did!

After I had finally managed to collect my medication, I walked to the nearby bus stop to catch the 244 bus to go home … and waited … and waited … and waited! The 244 bus is supposed to come along every fifteen minutes, but today it was nearly forty-five minutes before one arrived. Apparently, one bus had broken down and then the next one had to be taken out of service after the driver became ill. As a result, I did not get home until just before 1.00pm.

Sue had waited until I got back before she made lunch, and whilst I sat having a drink in our living room, she went to the kitchen to start preparing our meal. All of a sudden, she cried out for help and when I got to the kitchen, she was holding the fridge door ... which had fallen off! The bottom pivot had sheared off without warning and the door had nothing to hold it in place.

We hurriedly emptied the contents of the fridge into cool bags or the freezer so that I could move the fridge in order to see if I could repair the pivot, but it was soon apparent that it was well beyond my capabilities to fix it.

Once the food was safely stored in cool bags or the freezer, Sue and I trawled the Internet to see if we could find a replacement fridge. This proved to be a harder task than we imagined it would be as most retailers who had suitable fridges in stock were unable to deliver them before next week. One website in particular was extremely useless (I won't name it, but its name rhymes with Ruby Murray) as it promised next day delivery on almost every model of fridge listed, but when you got to the checkout page, it informed you that the fridge you had selected was no longer available for delivery. Needless to say, we bought our new fridge from another online retailer, and they should be delivering it on Wednesday morning. In the meantime, over the next couple of days Sue and I are going go have to eat the food that we could not get into a cool bag or freezer!