I had high hopes for my hospital visit yesterday. Perhaps, somewhat naïvely, I thought that my treatment process might be over.
Those hopes were dashed. As it turned out, I could not have any treatment at all because, although it seems clear that I still have a kidney stone, around 15 X-rays could not locate it. As a result, I now have a CT scan arranged so that the next stage can be decided upon, but that is not for a fortnight.
The reality, as the team I met with willingly explained, is that this might be both good and bad news. If I allow myself time to recover from the initial shock and pain of this stone, it may turn out that no further treatment is required, as it may have now reached a point where my body can naturally handle it, and is even doing so. Alternatively, I might need surgical intervention.
Either way, I am, for once, taking the advice to slow down for a few days. There will definitely be content over the weekend, much of it related to videos, but otherwise I might be quieter than usual and will not be spending time on new ideas. Instead, I will try that thing I am very poor at, which I understand is called relaxation.
In the meantime, thank you for all your messages of goodwill and support. I do appreciate them.
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Sounds like a case of Schrödinger’s kidney stone. To be resolved with a CAT scan. You couldn’t make it up. Good luck figuring it out.
🙂
Fingers crossed for you Richard. Hoping that no surgical intervention is required.
Your health is more important than short-term content creation. Please take the time you need and recuperate well.
Thanks
Richard, hopefully you do not experience any increase your discomfort and the scan produces a positive ” yes or no”.
Sounds as if it could be good news – lets hope your body has got to grips with the stone. I hope you can ‘take it easy’ for awhile.<p>
We need you to keep going – BBC R4 Today programme talking about Burnham’s ‘blank cheque’. They so love saying that.
Bizarrely I was invited to talk wealth taxation on Radio 5 this morning – bit did not feel up to it
We all wish you well and hope you make a good recovery.
Thanks
Well, the birds are not going to watch themselves anyway.
They surely appreciate a good audience. 🙂
Wishing you a good recovery. 🙂
🙂
Sitting out having coffe, with a computer, right now
Let’s hope it’s the good news then. Enjoy your bird watching and taking it easy.
Thanks
Here’s hoping it’s good news. Your experience is similar to mine for internal bleeding resulting from collateral damage caused by radiography treatment. I had endless internal probes and cauterisations over a 6 month period, but it was only when another specialist became involved that a CT scan was made. This showed an ulcer was the main source of the bleeding and its removal has put me back on track to recovery. I hope your scan will kick-start a similar recovery without any invasive surgery.
Best advice: do what you’re told and no sex for a fortnight!
Thanks Ken.
My sincere hope is I avoid surgery. It is option 4. I pushed until we agreed that. Doctors do not lilke being pushed. They seem to think it very rude.
I will report your advice to Jacqueline.
I hope the brighter future turns out to be the actual one.
A couple of years ago I had a melanoma surgically removed from my face. Of course I thought that was the end of it, until the hospital called and said they needed to cut away the skin next to the removal site to test it. So back under the knife I went. Fortunately they found nothing concerning.
Best wishes!
Thanks. I hope you are well now.
The real Humpback in everyone’s swimming pool right now is how to get from here to where we want to be. So here’s the scenario for a new work of fiction your secret alter-ego might consider while the real Richard Murphy is snoozing in the sunshine.
You wake up on Monday to find it is you, not Andy Burnham who is the new PM. Running away is not an option so you now have the opportunity to implement all the changes you want. But how does the story pan out? Who opposes you and what action do they take? What heated debates occur behind the closed doors of Downing St and what secret conspiracies are hatched in the darker corners of the Palace of Westminster and the City of London? How will you take control of the treasury and the Bank of England without serious bloodshed? What happens to interest rates, exchange rates and other financial whatnots in the short term as your enemies try to rock the boat enough to cast you into the wilderness alongside Jeremy Corbyn?
I’m being facetious of course, but it is a serious question in need of serious discussion at some point.
Above all rest and recover. Going quiet for a day or two will give the rest of us time to explore the archive which can only be a good thing.
Thank you, and don’t worry, I am taking the advice to rest (well, sort of).
As for your thought experiment, I agree it raises a serious issue. It is one thing to describe the policies we need. It is another to explain how we get from here to there.
The greatest obstacles are not financial. They are political and institutional. The Treasury, the Bank of England, the media, financial markets and vested interests would all have views, and some would undoubtedly resist change. But that is precisely why preparation matters. Reform cannot begin on Monday morning after an election. It has to be planned in advance, with legislation ready, institutions redesigned and the public understanding why change is necessary.
I have written about many of the individual reforms over the years. Perhaps I do now need to pull them together into a coherent programme for government. That is, after all, the question people increasingly ask: not just what should change, but how.
And no, there would be no bloodshed. The point of democracy is that ideas, not force, should prevail. If change cannot be secured by persuasion and legislation, it will not endure.
I’ll add my best wishes for a speedy recovery, Richard.
Having had two episodes of kidney stones, I know how that pain feels; like being kicked by a clydesdale horse in the ging gang goolies! Not nice at all.
I passed both of mine and the second time-in 2018, I was in Peru. My wife was panicking (having no idea why her hubby was sweating and in the feotal-position), and she ran to a pharmacy, to beg for strong painkillers, cue tears and much wailing)! The pharmacist, who knew her, gave her eight different pills; including (as I later found out), Codeine, Ketamine, Tamazepam, various opioids and a muscle relaxant, which broke even Peru’s lax drug-control rules. Half an hour later, I was as high as a kite! No pain though, and shortly after that, passed the stone with no pain and a feeling that I can only describe as euphoria! Just a tiny, crystalised grain, of roughly one millimetre in size was responsible!
To date, drinking at least 3 litres of fluid per day and reducing my coffee-input (sorry-its the fine coffee-powder we drink, which can cause them to grow!), has so far, worked for me to prevent recurrence.
Of course, that’s not to say that the same would work for anyone but me!
I sympathise entirely and my best for getting it/them dealt with!
Thanks.
Mine was 6mm.
We know it is smaller now – and last night I slept through for the first time in a month. I have not had more than 2 hours sleep at a stretch otherwise.
Maybe it is moving on…
At least you’re free from sporting distractions…
here’s hoping for a full recovery and back to the birds!
I was out bird watching this morning. Glossy ibis and spoonbill were amongst the rewards.