Human Lifestyle

Up reasonably early in order to get to Leeds for the hospital appointment to remove my dressing and the stitches.  So I left home at about 9.15 and popped into Cycle Heaven as both disc brakes need tightening and the rear brake's plastic wheel with which it can be hand-tightened has disintegrated, and the socket to use to tighten it has become stripped, so I'm unable to tighten the rear one.  The front one is movable, but difficult.  I am not happy with these brakes.  I had a chat with Ash who said he'd do something about them.  I left my bike with him, and took a Cycle Heaven replacement. 

I took this on the train to Leeds, as I missed the fast 9.58 which would have got me into Leeds with time to walk to the hospital, so I got the 10.11 stop-everywhere, which takes over 30 minutes to get there.  So I put the bike on the train, and then cycled up to the LGI, and arrived at the Plastic Surgery dressing removal place at one minute past 11. 

I didn't have to wait long, and the nice nurse took just 5 minutes to deal with me.  I was really pleased to see that the scar is very well healed, is small and tidy, and already looks fairly invisible.  Amazing!

I cycled back through Leeds and got on a train before midday.  Cycle Heaven had sorted my brakes; Ash had dismantled and rebuilt the front one and removed the plastic disc from the rear, so that it can now be tightened with a spanner.  He said that next time I brought my bike in for servicing he'd consider putting brakes on which had bigger pads, which he hoped would last longer.

I got home via Country Fresh, and 3 sacks and two boxes, about 60kg, and had lunch at 1.30pm.

So, the afternoon went quickly as my next appointment was at 3pm, with Owen about 10 minutes cycle away, who had asked me to install two compost bins at his block of flats.  He'd had a neighbours meeting which I'd provided information for, and they'd then decided to get communal compost bins.  One week later, Owen was lucky enough to win a compost bin!  So he'd only needed to purchase one, and today I took a spade, a roll of chicken wire to make them rat-resistant, and pliers to cut the wire to size.  To install a 'dalek' bin, it is best to first find level ground, in a sunny corner if possible, and to place the bin on the ground and mark out where the base of the bin sits with a spade.  The bin is then moved away and a narrow trench made for the foot of the bin to sit in.  Then Owen helped me cut the wire into a square big enough to cover the whole of the base of the bin, and stick out each side.  This is put onto the ground, on top of the trench, and the bin carefully placed onto the wire and pushed into the trench, so the wire completely covers the base of the bin.  Then the soil from the trench is put back onto the foot of the bin, to help hold it down.  This makes it difficult for rats to get in through the base, although if they really want to, they can gnaw a hole in the side of the bin.  However, I've only seen this once.

So I was home soon after 4pm, and I did a bit in the garden, and after tea (the delicious carrot stew/soup, with extra pasta in it), popped over the road to deal with another pile of waste wood... chopped shrubs and bits of trees, which I pruned down to useful sticks.  Later, I went to collect a wheelbarrow full of them, and was accosted by a Woodlands staff member who was surprised to see me working there at that time in the evening.  I guess she didn't know I've been visiting that bit of woodland for about 9 years, and tidying up some of the detritus the gardeners throw in there.  I hope it doesn't put my becoming an official volunteer in jeopardy!

Later in the evening, I couldn't resist opening some of the windfall walnuts, and my fingers ended up black.  I also got a load of very ripe plums from Country Fresh, so I halved them and skinned them and put them on the drying rack....  I had time to do this as facebook was playing up and I couldn't have my usual chats and Scrabble...

I got up reasonably early as today I was booked into the Leeds General Infirmary to surgically remove my forehead lipoma.  I've had this quite a few years; it's a fatty lump, benign, not harmful, but if it's in a visible place, people do notice it and some ask about it.  Mine has looked like I've bumped my head and got a bruise or 'egg' for several years.  When I took it to my GP after it became very obvious, he described it as the size of a squashed pea, and told me not to worry about it.

However, as it got bigger, an average of two people a week would ask me if I'd bumped my head.  I grew tired of having to explain what a lipoma was.  Children especially are really good at just saying what's in their mind, and sometimes have no concept of whether it's appropriate or not to mention strange lumps on people's foreheads.  The worst time was when in a committee meeting quite recently, someone kept on looking at it; it was most off putting and I found it difficult to concentrate on the meeting because of that.

So today I cycled down to the station, hopped on a train which got in to Leeds at about 11.45, and walked up to the Art Gallery where I sat and had my sandwiches for lunch, listening to the aural sculptures. Then I walked up to the LGI and followed the signs to the Clarendon Wing.  I went to the wrong bit at first, the plastic surgery dressings place (I was sent there by Reception) and they phoned through to Ward 63 to find out if I was on their list, which I was.  So once I'd got there I sat and waited, then was called in to have my blood pressure taken and an identification band put on my wrist.  Then I went to wait again, and there was friendly chat in the waiting room.  Then I was called again and the Doctor drew an arrow above my lump and I signed the consent form.  Then more waiting... but not long.  I was called again and told to take off mt tee shirt and put on a gown.  My canvas bag and bum bag were put in a locker and into the theatre I went.

I was asked to lie on a trolley/table and assorted covers were put on me, my head washed with antiseptic and eyes covered up.  I had I think three local anaesthetic injections, which are never nice, but aren't really that awful.  Then there was a fair amount of pushing and pulling and I recognised the crackling sound of cauterisation, where a wire is caused to heat up with an electric current, and this is used to seal blood vessels, as the area is well supplied with blood. I guess the operation took about 20 minutes.  I'd already said I'd be interested to see what they took out, so when they were done and had taken the tape off my eyes, I was shown the little plastic jar with some clear liquid in it, containing my lipoma, a pink blob, like a Smartie or a Minstrel in shape, and size-wise, somewhere between the two I think.  It had been growing between my skull and muscle.  Apparently they can appear anywhere, under the skin, within tissues, even within a nerve.  So mine was easy to remove.  They deal with quite a few.  Mine will be sent for analysis, to check it is in fact a lipoma and nothing more serious.

So I had a coffee and 10 minutes rest, and a talk about coming back in a week to have the dressings removed, and about not getting it wet and not doing vigorous exercise for a couple of days.  I got my tee shirt back on and gathered my stuff and walked back to the station, leaving the hospital at 2.45.  I got back into the house at 4.30.

I was fussed over but didn't want fussing over.  I'd bought paracetamol in Leeds Station and that had kicked in and the soreness and pain was gradually going.  Gill made tea... microwaved sweet potato and mushrooms in white sauce, with goats cheese, and broccoli.

After this I went to do just a bit of gentle wooding; to the place where the shrubs and trees have been dumped, and I sorted through them, secateuring off twigs and thinner stuff, ending up with another trailer load to bring back.  I chopped this up with loppers and put my bike away and came in.

A quiet evening dealing with fruit ensued, with quite a bit of facebook stuff.