Peter's Hospital Diary

And to repeat the last blog greeting – Happy Easter everyone! The sun is shining brightly down here – it is a lovely day – almost BBQ weather!

However the real reason for this post is to draw your attention to a new comment on The PatientLine Scam post. I have just released this from the moderation queue and is from ‘bleeper’ who is a (disillusioned!) patientLine employee. You can read the full text of his comments at the link above, but basically he is saying that our reading of the announcement was correct – concessions for the over 65 (half price TV) have been abolished, and that in addition to hiking the cost of an outbound call from 10p/min to 26p/min, the connection charge (or minimum amount payable) has doubled from 20p to 40p, and this charge is levied (as before) regardless of whether the call is answered or not. As he says, the press release was very economical with the truth.

John also asked (in his blog) if I had insider information! the answer is no (apart from comments such as Bleepers)! However there are lots of snippets around. This Link (again to the BBC) indicated that the total ban on mobile phones in some hospitals was more the result of pressure from companies providing bedside telephone services rather than for technical considerations. I did make a comment about that in my original post, although that was more speculation from a cynical and suspicious mind (with a bit of technical insght)! However, would you want to be hooked up to potentially life saving monitoring and diagnostic equipment if it was so easily disrupted by a mobile phone signal?

Anyway – enough of PatientLine (you haven’t come back to me with thoughts about a PaytientLine – or other name – blog) and it is time to go and find some food! Food is still tricky, apart from the sore throat and mouth, my mouth is still quite dry, however I am almost getting to enjoy the food supplements! With a bit of careful chemistry, and the right ingredients, half a pint of milk can be persuaded to give over 1000 Calories!

But never mind – Onwards and Upwards!

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It is a glorious sunny day here, the conservatory has all its windows open, there is the gentle hum of lawn-mowers from the neighbours (I ought to test my strength and do ours) and the birds are singing!

I get great pleasure watching the variety of birds in the garden, particularly on ‘weak’ days when I can sit and watch the bird feeders for an hour or so. Apart from the sparrowhawk that I mentioned last week, we get blue and great tits, nutches, goldfinches and yesterday we had a bullfinch at the feeder.

Which brings me on to the main point of this post… feeding the birds is all very well, but you need a good source of high quality (and relatively inexpensive!) bird food. I can thoroughly recommend The Really Wild Bird Seed Co as an excellent source of bird food in quantity. Apart from the bird seed (much of which is grown on the farm) they also sell a wide variety of feeders – and to cap it all, they are really nice people! The only catch (you might think) is that the post and packing would be expensive. Not so – it is all included – what you see is what you pay! So have a look at their site and see what you think. (I have also included a link in the sidebar under ‘other web sites’).

While on the subject of food, I have been living with this impaired sense of taste and smell for a while, but last night it really got to me! I was watching (unusually) the hairy Bikers programme, where the two intrepid motor cyclists were in Argentina, cooking really thick steaks and the most wonderful looking salads. I have never been to Argentina, but I did spend a few days in Chile some years ago, where I sampled some of the delicious South American beef. Looking at last night’s program reminded me how good it was – but also brought home the fact that if I was presented with it now, I couldn’t eat it (sore mouth) and with my sense of smell as it is, I wouldn’t enjoy it as much even if I could! It really got to me! However today it seems a petty thing to whinge about – I just look forward to the day when I will be able to enjoy such things! Now, where’s the Scandishake…?

So while the birds are munching their way through the feeder mix, I shall look at the not-so-delicious scandishake, and contemplate the lawn mowing!

Onwards and upwards! (Particularly the birds!)

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Whatever it is called (you decide and let me know) it has certainly provoked some interest from you all! I like the idea of registering one of the above names (which one?) and perhaps set up a blog using it. Comments please.

In fact the more I look at the patientline web site, the more annoying I find it. The constant reference to ‘Loved ones’ seems (to me) to be applying psychological pressure with the sub text being on the lines of “show you love them by keeping in touch” with the corollary being “if you don’t keep in touch, you obviously don’t love them”, ie emotional blackmail invoking guilt feelings.

The idea of setting up the recipe blog (given that the last few weeks have been food dominated!) seemed to fall on deaf ears, so I shall abandon that plan!

By the way, there are definite signs of itchiness on my face, and hints of a rash – so maybe next Thursday I will get some confirmation that GvHd is returning!

O&U!

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A week or so ago I received a comment on my post “The Patientline Scam” and I remarked on it here in the main blog. It in turn prompted a ‘robust’ reply from fellow blogger John! Patientline’s charges have been under investigation by OfCom for a while now, and this morning there was a report on both the BBC’s Breakfast programme and Radio 4′s Today programme about a change in prices – a reduction in televion charges from £3.50/day to £2.90, accompanied by a 160% rise in outgoing call charges from 10p/min to 26p/min! The BBC text can be found here.

Not much else to report on my health – I am still cautiously optimistic about the GvHd – my skin seems to be getting itchier, especially my scalp and palms, although no obvious rashes or skin thickening, so it remains a case of wait and see! My mouth is still sore, and I have been relying more on the scandishake supplements to maintain my calorie intake, although I am using them as a supplement rather than a replacement!

That said – I can hear the call of a bacon and mushroom sandwich – so I had better go and answer it!

Onwards and upwards!

PS – early afternnon – The Paytientline (a not inappropriate typo!) site has been updated to reflect the fact that outgoing calls cost “just” 26p per minute (my quote) and the drop in TV prices, which now include internet access. However it looks as if they may have dropped the half price concession for those over 65 (at least there is no mention of it). If that is the case – nice one PatientLine – rip off those least able to afford it! While I was looking for the info, it appears that around mid-March, Patientline shares were being ‘pumped and dumped’ as there were a number of those spam emails urging investors to buy shares! As I am not regulated by the FSA, I can’t give investment advice, but with the shares at an all time low, and given the adverse publicity PL have been getting, you can draw your own conclusions!

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