It’s Good News Week. (Not)

(Hedgehoppers Anonymous - Read The Song Lyrics).

February 11^th We had an alarming start to the day, caused by my phone telling me to get out of bed, drink coffee and go to Haikou, not forgetting to take Huan with me of course. By seven o’clock we were in Tunchang services for a brief rest.

By eight fifteen we were on the way to see Dr. Zhang, who sent me to empty my arm.

After checking in to our usual hotel it was time for lunch.

At this time I was still chirpy, no troubles were foreseen, and I was making my ‘Annual PSA Test in China’ video for Youtube. We even spotted a couple of birds, we had no camera mind.

After a short nap for Huan, a longer one for me, and a play on the laptop, it was time to go and collect the results, too late in the day to consider going back home. The results looked different to what I could remember from last year but I didn’t have those with me. No worries, thought I, we can go home tomorrow morning after doing our shopping.

First though, it was time for dinner complete with free drinks.

February 12^th A new day and an old breakfast, soup noodles for both of us.

The plan to go home was still in place so we went off to ‘The Grocery’ for the first shop of the day where I completely forgot to take any photos. Never mind, we then hopped in the car and went to ‘Corners Deli’ where I did remember to take photos.

While we were in the mall we decided to have lunch there. Spot the change in Bob.

What did we eat? Why, donkey burgers of course!

By now, with Huan’s persuasion, we had decided to return to the hospital after lunch to see what Dr. Zhang had to say. We spotted someone else trying to escape too!

Dr. Zhang was not at all pleased with my results and by the time I had understood neither was I. He wanted me to have another CT scan which was fair enough I suppose. It was what he told Huan that I didn’t like. He thinks I may have bone cancer and that the treatment would cost about ¥8,000.00 per month allowing me to live for maybe four years. Needless to say when we got back to the hotel and booked into our same room Huan was in tears.

Having bone cancer could possibly explain my leg problems. The symptoms didn’t seem to fit with deep vein thrombosis, hip needing replacement or varicose veins. We’ll see in the morning. We cheered ourselves up by visiting ‘Eighteen Bowls’ and having a good dinner.

February 13th Arriving nice and early so that I could be injected with radioactive substances we then had to wait a couple of hours.

The wait also gave us time for breakfast, something to go with the three bottles of water I had to drink. Outside was lovely, apart from the weather that is.

Breakfast wasn’t bad, Huan had soup noodles again, and I had a sandwich and a boiled egg!

On our way back in I was amused by this sign. Google doesn’t help much! 患者由此乘梯离开，Huànzhě yóu cǐ chéng tī líkāi - The patient left by elevator.

We were done fairly quickly but needed another night in the hotel to see Dr. Zhang again tomorrow. I wish my leg was better already with all this walking we are doing. Time to go and find some lunch somewhere. First, I had to stop and help a grandfather and grandson make some memories. They were pleased as punch! Well the grandfather was anyway.

From one Grandfather to another two, one has stolen my (Leclerc’s) stuffed bird. Those of you who know will understand.

Lunch was at a place that we also have in Wuzhishan, nice though.

How about a couple of views from the pedestrian crossing as we walked back to the hotel.

Huan had a nap again, I sorted out photographs and then we went to collect the CT Scan results. It seems that I have ‘localised bone expansion’ and may require ‘strontium 89’ treatment. I must say that the scan looks far better than I had thought it would. We wait now and see what good Dr. Zhang has to say in the morning. Whatever he says, we will go home tomorrow and plan to come back when he says we should. First they sent me to the ‘needle’ department, just off the ‘mainline’ room, to have a needle in my bum, no photos of that, obviously!

Dinner tonight was Pizza Hut, not what we wanted to order but I didn’t want to walk any further. Huan wanted a salad and chicken wings; I wanted a burger and chips with some snails. “Sorry Sir, snails are off.” Well, that’s excusable; we are on a small island off Hainan. Then to Huan, “Sorry Ma’am, salad is off too”. It turned out that quite a few other items were also off so we just had pizza. It did the job but it wasn’t a patch on Pizza Huts elsewhere.

Back in the hotel early I decided to bring the Blog up to date, Huan browsed her phone and TV.

February 14^th Happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who worry about these things. Our first job was to have a quick breakfast before going to the ward to find Dr. Zhang. We forgot to take photos of the actual food; it was dumplings in case you can’t guess.

My visit brought back memories; this was where I had my prostatectomy six years ago.

We had a nice chat with the consultant, Dr. Bai and Dr. Zhang, it is bone cancer, and it is the reason for the pains in my left leg too. I will have hormone treatment for a month, a pain relieving drip that should last a month, and an injection in my bum (yesterday) that should also last a month! Here I am downstairs in the ‘mainline’ room for the drip.

Finally we were able to drive home to Wuzhishan, stopping for a lunch break on the way. I messed up those photos I’m afraid. Instead we will show you our actual arrival, where, to our surprise, the sun was shining. The last four days in Haikou have been miserable.

I didn’t forget the dinner photos though.

Or the little boy who was very chatty.

February 15^th Normally it would be market day today, a nice walk in the fresh air. However, I had slept very badly last night; the long term pain reliever does not seem to have much effect. Huan went off by herself to buy the makings for a stew, I got on with editing and compiling videos, editing photos and updating this post. After a nice chat with one of my younger brothers, it was time for an afternoon nap.

Later in the day I caught up with informing everyone else. I did try not to let the tears flow, but I failed with my children. So much for being strong eh! Once I had chatted to everyone I uploaded the video of our time in Haikou, it’s here - https://youtu.be/c7R5YostZrQ

February 16^th For some reason I did not want to go out this morning, perhaps I was mulling things over, perhaps I was trying to ignore the facts, I don’t really know. After lunch Huan napped a bit too long so an afternoon walk was out too. I decided we had to get out after dinner, even if it was just for a short walk. We just went around Xiaodao and then back home. My leg still doesn’t like walking and I don’t know if the pain is less or not. Anyway, we did take a handful of pictures; this first one tells me that I missed the camera while we were in Haikou, and the weather.

As is often the case, music was being played but I couldn’t get them all in one shot.

At the first traffic bridge I decided that I had walked enough for today and we crossed to walk back. Trying to find birds I spotted this one, too far away as usual! Huan also wanted the algae covered water included because it was pretty.

Huan was also happy that we found a ‘green friend’ although I am not sure what type it is. The first photo only got its backside; I had to disturb it to get this one.

How was my walk? Well going up these steps was not so good. If I start off with my right leg the momentum carries me through whereas if I start with my left leg that first step is not easy!

The last photo of the day is just because I was happy to have the camera in hand again.

February 17^th Last day of the week and the usual trip to the supermarket, I didn’t enjoy it very much. For a change it wasn’t crowded and parking was easy too. However, I had slept very badly last night and for some reason walking was not very easy today. Huan didn’t even want me to carry the shopping bags from the store to the car and from the car to the house. I insisted of course, my arms are still working!

After lunch Huan disappeared to the government housing place to try and sort out some minor problem with the land title deeds. It seems there is something we need to pay before the deeds become officially ours and then the government will help with the cost of a new lift. We do have the deeds to the apartment so no worries there.

Once dinner was over Huan suggested a walk but I really didn’t want to go. My leg felt painful and uncomfortable, I felt very tired so staying in was my choice. More New Tricks episodes were watched although there are many missing. Season 1 only had the pilot and five episodes, season 2 only had three so I am now on season 3. That has more, but still not all, only seven.

All that was left for me to do then was to finish this post and then do my Chinese lessons for the day. With a little luck I will manage to walk somewhere this week!