Weekend Shopping and Completion Of Third Chemo Cycle

I've been out extra early this morning to do some shopping. I went all the way over to Westcroft to go to Aldi. Last week I went into the main shopping centre to buy Carol a diary as well as a calendar to mark in all her hospital appointments. I then went to Aldi at Bradwell Common and got there too later, so the place was heaving with customers and it was all but impossible to move around the store. Not entirely helped by the fact that there were no end of pallets and boxes being used to stock the place. All this was why I decided to go so early this morning and it worth worth it as I was in and out within about half an hour. We'd made a list which also helped. The one thing we like about Aldi, apart from everything being a good deal cheaper (around a third, I reckon.) their stores are smaller than the average supermarket so you can get around quicker and there's less to choose from. Why have so many versions of the same product, such as tomato ketchup? Just confusing and makes choosing more difficult. Mind you, we don't particularly like their tomato ketchup, so we have to go to Sainsbury's for Heinz ketchup. There are some products which you can't compromise on, such as tea (has to be P.G. Tips every time) as well as toothpaste (Has to be Colgate.) But Aldi's meat fruit and vegetables can't be bettered. They have a faster system at the checkout. You make sure your trolley is in place and they whizz your shopping through the scanner and then you have to pack it on the shelf which saves time.  They've managed to place the bar codes on the packaging in such a way that  the operator doesn't have to search for them and they're large enough, unlike on most products where you spend time looking for the bar code so it can be scanned, so wasting time and energy. It was relatively easy to park as well and it's not far to push the trolley when the shopping is done.

Carol had to go into the hospital to have the pump disconnected. We had to go to ward 22, which is over the Endoscopy department, and not the Oncology Suite. Fortunately I knew where it was as I noticed the signage for it when I walked through the hospital the other day. The chemotherapy makes Carol feel really awful, mostly dizzy. It was quite difficult for her to walk from the car into the hospital.

We didn't have to wait long when we eventually reached Ward 22. Carol was taken into a side-room and a nurse removed the pump. Unfortunately Carol was even more dizzy when she came out and sat on a chair in the corridor. We began to walk out, but the dizziness got worse, so she had to sit down again. A nurse rang for a porter to come with a wheelchair. I couldn't push a wheelchair because of my heart condition. After about 20 minutes or so the porter arrived with the wheelchair and we began the journey back to the entrance at Cardiology, where we had come into the hospital. The porter couldn't wheel Carol outside, so I was left with Carol to slowly return to the car. Fortunately, when we drove out of the carpark, the barrier was raised, so we didn't have to pay. At the weekend you have to pay and can't get your ticket stamped at Macmillan's unit as it's closed, so it was a relief to find we didn't have to pay.