EW and I saw a preview of our Pippi Longstocking photos. We are sworn to secrecy for fear Hello magazine gets wind of it. As if.

But we giggled . I think and hope a good distraction as her chemo kicks in once more. Frrrrrigitt.

Just thinking: I am back to a bit of private teaching this week. I feel a bit guilty. But maybe like private healthcare it takes a bit of the load off the NHS. Maybe? Dunno. My school has appealed for maths teachers. I cannot go back to that. I feel guilty not to do much. But I will do a bit. So desperate are they for maths they’ve offered money to teachers of other subjects as an inducement to do some maths. That’s crap for the existing maths teachers. That’s also like saying an Orthopaedic surgeon could do Obstetrics if you gave him more money. Is that what’s happening to schools and hospitals? Zero pay rise. Just reallocate resources. Bollocks system. No wonder they are leaving the profession. One friend is counting the days til Christmas. He’s leaving teaching . He’s setting up a carpet cleaning franchise!! If you wonder why, watch: Educating Manchester on tv. It’s pretty real. There’s better bits there’s worse bits. But it is really like that. Our school refused the cameras. We thought it might give a bad impression!

In answer to some emails about Urodynamics . Just to explain that it’s a test to check out pressures( or lack of) in Bladder.

Jerome is the only one who ever explained it well. He explained the maths so I understood.

It’s a wire up the bum. A wire and catheter in the bladder.

X ray imaging. Bladder filled with saline.

As it fills patient asked to say when there is any sensation to pee.

Gets to a point where they  tip the X-ray table upright ( with you on it, clinging for dear life) and patient then asked to pee. Yes they do pretend to leave you some privacy. but only from behind a stupid screen. FFS .

So it’s kind of intimate personal stuff. It’s a bit pointless for someone like me as the pee won’t pee!

One reason I don’t like it is the last time I had a male nurse and a male consultant doing the test.

Now , I have no objection to male doctors or nurses at all. It’s just that as I rarely feel any sensation of ‘ fullness ‘ , rarely able to pee with much success let alone when being tipped  up …..let alone when being stared at … kind of Fifty Shades of Grey … the only small talk the surgeon could muster was a suggestion of gin and tonic when I got home. Poor him he was trying. But it’s not great. and no it isn’t a nice test.

Not really sure why the patient reported symptoms are not believed. What does the test really change in terms of treatment? But helll what does the patient know? She’s only the patient.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gyny has apparently only ever had two female presidents in its long history. A tweet I read this week suggests that if the was a Royal College of Testicles men would prefer that to be led by men. Just saying…