Psssssshhhhhhhheeeeewwwwwwwsssshhh. That’s my exhalation of breath after talking to my doctor yesterday.

A few weeks ago I started to notice a pain in my left abdomen, just below the rib cage. It didn’t get very bad, but it didn’t go away. It’s still there and it’s bad enough to need Prodeine Forte (paracetemol + codeine) twice a day. Of course, I diagnosed myself, and to me, it had to be stomach cancer.

It took a week to get an appointment and by the time the appointment came yesterday, I was pretty damned nervous.

Anyway, we talked about it for a few minutes, then he got me on the examination table and started poking and prodding. There’s no lump, I could tell that. But what I didn’t know is that the pain is located right under a small scar where one of the laparascopic probes would have gone in when I had surgery five years ago, first to remove the gastric band, and later to remove my gall bladder. The GP put his finger on it and said he could feel the scar tissue internally. He says the pain is coming from an adhesion or rupture of the scar tissue. Not cancer. Phew!!

I forgot to tell him that I’ve also noticed that this pain started at the same time as I noticed an increase in my weight some weeks ago. It’s only 1Kg, but it’s noticeable. So that’s what I have to do – lose the weight and I think the pain will go away. Easy, right? Yeeeaaah.

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It’s arrived – my new multimeter combined with a digital oscilloscope. Brilliant! It’s hand held and I’m still “getting to grips with it”. That’s a joke, Joyce.

One of its functions is temperature and it came with a temperature probe.

It has instructions on the back of the packet:

Translated – “Suitabla for quickly Measuring air aud gas And not liquid”

If I were a manufacturer making things for foreign markets, I would have a native English speaker writing my instructions. Or a native Chinese speaker if I were selling to China.

Still, it’s good for a laugh, eh?

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Brrrrr, my finggies are stiff with the cold. This house is brilliant with insulation. I really don’t feel very cold. I haven’t added any extra blanket yet on top of my sheet and lightweight fibre doona. Nice.

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The Peugeot is still with the RAC workshop. Did I mention? They’ve found another coolant leak, and this time it looks as if it’s the thermostat housing. Again, it has to be ordered “from the east” and takes a week to get here. That was Friday, and it’s now Tuesday and there’s no news.

I’m pretty sure the cost will be $260 plus one hour labour, $145. The cost of this job is rising alarmingly – it looks as if it will be around $1600. Ouch. But it has to be done. I can’t abandon the car, it’s in almost perfect condition otherwise. I’m looking forward to getting it back.

1600: they phoned me again just now. They’re still working on it and they’re taking fright at the amount of disassembly needed to get at the thermostat housing. The housing fits on the end of the engine block, in the V between the banks, but that means half the damn engine has to be dismantled It’s going to take longer than an hour, so they’ll have to charge for another hour of labour, another $145. Kerrumbs! This will take the bill to well over $1600. I had to say “Go ahead”. What choice do I have? I can’t say stop and put it back together with the leak not fixed. They think it might be finished tomorrow. To be honest, I don’t mind how long it takes as it delays having to pay the bill.

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