Grecian

Stuff the chuffing rugby, I want Mot de Passe back on TF2 at 19:00H[:@]

Hello nomoss, I started a thread with the same title back on 17th November, we received two different telephone calls, one was incomprehensible, both were pre-recorded messages. We did not answer either call, but both left a message on our answer machine. The call we could understand was advising me that I needed to telephone a number to receive an appointment, as the message did not contain my name we ignored the call. I then searched on the internet and discovered a website that had both numbers listed saying they were both fraudulent, and the website was advising not to telephone either number. I have since had the same the appointment scam call once more, again we ignored it. Not sure if either could be linked to the call you received.

Blimey Bertiebe 150 kms each way, I thought I was being hard done by with a mere 90kms each way, 150 kms that really is a hard slog. What a sensible idea you proposed with the hotel stay, each party would be a winner, except for the taxi firm of course, but there you go a far too sensible suggestion I guess. Not really related to the title of the thread, and I certainly do not consider it a waste, but my wife looked at our CPAM account today and the cost of each radiotherpy treatment I received cost 913 euros, so my 28 treatments have cost the state 25,564 euros, a scary amount of money just on one person, on this occasion I am not complaining.

Just popping in with an update. I completed my 28 sessions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy last Wednesday, must say I found it harder than I thought it would be, I guess the 3000 odd miles I clocked up never helped the situation, on top of that the weather was pretty awful most days for travelling. Unfortunately I am still experiencing the side-effects, bum pains, hurting when I pee and far to much use of the toilet on a daily basis, must say that element of the side-effects is the one dragging me down the most. Add to that the kind taxi driver I had on the last Monday gave me a stinking cold, which I am still suffering badly from. I was really angry when I sussed he had a cold about half way up on the outward journey, pairing a driver who is infected with somebody whose immune system had been compromised due to the chemotherapy was totally irresponsible. As I posted in my last update the consultant at Poitiers told me I had to telephone the surgeon's secretary to inform her my treatment had been completed. Thinking it would be easier I e-mailed her last week, and in true French tradition the e-mail was totally ignored, so I thought here we go again. Yesterday I went to see my own doctor and brought him up-to-date, he telephoned Bressuire hospital immediately asking why I had not received a reply, not too sure as to how the conversation went in French, but bottom line I have an appointment with the surgeon 17th February. Not sure as to why I will be seeing him as there will have been no new scans to show him, also I have been given an appointment to see the consultant at Poitiers 5th March, so I guess between them they will sort out a plan of attack for me. I now have to hope that after all this treatment the tumour has been shrunk sufficiently for the operation to take place sometime presumably in the next 2 months. I have never been told that it is inoperable, it is just the fact of trying to shrink the tumour sufficiently so that I do not have to have a permanent stoma. Just taking things as they come, as I have done throughout the whole nightmare, I am hoping that the operation will be keyhole surgery, otherwise it will be a lot longer stay in hospital if it is open surgery. After the operation is completed and any biopsies carried out on any lymph nodes they removed will determine if it is another 6 months of chemo, I really hope not, but I guess if that is what is required then I will just have to go along with it. So I have got this far, I hope that the hardest part of the whole treatment is now out of the way. I would like to thank you all once again for helping me to reach this stage, very much appreciated.

gardengirl and mint many thanks for your kind wishes. Norman many thanks for your link, thankfully up  to now they have not been necessary, I did look into them when I was first told that my treatment would be at Poitiers and thought how on earth am I going to get there and back. With only six treatments left now, hopefully I will manage to make it up and back without any mishaps. I continue to have the need for the toilet six or more times a day, but nearly there so must just grin and bear it. Very sorry to hear that you white blood count dropped so low, something you would not need on top of everything else that needed facing at the time. Had what you could call a small setback today when I saw the consultant, who is off skiing next week so I will not see him again as my treatment will end next Wednesday. I assumed that I would have either or both a CT and MRI scan at Poitiers, but he informed me today that I must telephone the surgeon at Bressuire and inform him that my treatment will end next Wednesday, it will then be up to him to decide what is required. I guess that this makes sense but I felt like saying why can't you write to my surgeon and inform him of my progress, so it looks like it is back into the screwball French system again fending for myself. I guess I will have to contact his secretary and tell her, and then I assume I will be placed into the system at Bressuire. The consultant told me that it will be at least six weeks before my operation, will certainly be glad of the rest.

As some of you will be aware I am currently working my way through a 28 treatment course of radiotherapy, alongside the radiotherapy I must take six Capecitabine chemotherapy tablets a day. So six tablets a day multiplied by 28 days equals 168 tablets in total, I have been dispensed two boxes of 120 tablets so 240 in total, this will leave 72 tablets over. My wife today viewed our online CPAM account and  saw that the 2 boxes of tablets cost €645. This makes each table €2.68, multiply this by the 72 tablets that will be unused and it comes to a total of €192.96, money just thrown down the drain. If this is happening all over France then goodness knows how many millions of euros are being wasted each year. I can only assume that there is no smaller sized boxes to dispense, or maybe our local pharmacy just calculated the total amount of tablets that I needed incorrectly, I must say two of the dispensers were pondering a long time over a calculator trying to work out how many tablets I needed, so maybe it was down to human error on their part. If this is not the case then surely the government should insist that the drug companies should supply such expensive drugs in different sized boxes, enabling the waste to be kept to a minimum. I will take back the 72 tablets to the pharmacy, although I doubt they will be able to reissue them, in case they have been tampered with, something I have not done.

By special request of the 'tooth lady' here is my latest update. I am now into week 5 of my treatment which consists of 28 radiotherapy treatments not the 27 I first thought I was to have. Unfortunately with Christmas Day and New Year's Day falling into the period and Poitiers hospital's obsession in servicing the zapping machine during the week, and not at the week-end, my treatment will stretch into the Wednesday of the seventh week, it is due to finish on 28th January. I have been experiencing some side-effects unfortunately (stop reading now if you are eating), whilst not having full blown diarrhoea I am having to go the toilet 6 times or more during the day. I am a little tired although not so much as to knock me out, some nauseous feelings, but luckily not the main event. A very sore bum, and the need to pee on a regular basis, apart from that things are fine! To date I have seen two interns and the consultant twice. Both the interns were very nice and are still human, not sure when that part is surgically removed, and they have given me pain killers, anti sickness pills and anti diarrhoea tablets. On the other hand the consultant has shown little interest when I have met him. I have to have a blood test weekly to check that my immune system is holding up, after the first time of seeing the consultant I have learnt to take a copy of my blood test results, as nobody has put a copy of them in my folder, which I find a little scary because if the white cell count falls too low, my treatment should be reassessed, fortunately my white blood cell count has held up, so no problems there. The radiotherapy nurses on the whole are reasonably friendly, some more than others, although there are a couple of grumpy ones, I guess you would find that anywhere. Rather annoyingly my appointments are changed on a regular basis, unfortunately for them they telephoned last night just after I had arrived home and I was in the shower, trying to change todays appointment to 18.40 an hour later than it is scheduled, Mrs Grecian told them in no uncertain terms that I was not prepared to change my time, so I guess I may receive a frosty welcome this afternoon. As regards to Christmas mint, it didn't exist, we had fish and chips for are main meal, I did the hoovering, and for the first time in about 25 years did not drink a single drop of alcohol[:(], I only have a glass of wine on Friday and Saturday nights, as there is no treatment the next day. I have read it is OK to consume some alcohol but just playing safe at the moment. The taxi journeys have been enlightening, it ranges from one driver who does not stop talking all the way up and all the way back, all in French and I have managed to reply to him reasonably well, to another driver who just seems to have a total look of fear on his face when I try talking to him in French. I mustn't forget the singing taxi driver who on the return journey of one trip sang along to all the songs on the radio, a little embarrassing as he did not have a particularly good voice. Some days I just can't be bothered to try and say very much, especially as the same one show up on a regular basis, so most topics have been exhausted. All in all I am somewhat fed up at the moment, as my life only consists of pooping, taxi rides and the zapping machine, I will really appreciate life again when the initial treatment stops, I know there will still be a long way to go, but there will be a lull between treatment end and my operation, so if I feel up to it, we will try and maybe do some normal things we used to take for granted before all this started. Best wishes to you all. Richard

Well mint I am glad to hear that you are finally taking the plunge and pursuing the possibility of having implants fitted, after all is has only been just over two years[:D]. I really need to get something sorted out in my mouth, but for obvious reasons at the moment I have more pressing matters to attend to. I know that if I were to lose any more of my top teeth then it would definitely be an implant, I just would not wear a  plate. I have lost one of my top teeth but had a bridge fitted which has worked really well. Not sure my dentist has a clean room, although his surgery is very clean and modern, I have found out that he is one of the most expensive dentist in Bressuire, so not sure whether to shop around a bit when I finally pluck up courage to have the holes blasted into my gums[:-))]. So come on mint no 'bottling it' now the whole world has read of your intentions to have implants fitted, so I feel you must do the honourable thing and see it through.

'Eee by gum duck you are right Norman, I won't use all the phrases I learnt when I used to live in Yorkshire.[:D] I think the taxi driver today was trying to assist me with context as he asked me three times if I had any children, so perhaps he was struggling with things to say as well.

I agree with you idun, you should be able to speak French if you live in France, I did extensive research on all other matters before we made the decision to move to France, and started lessons in the UK before we left. We continued to have French lessons for the first 4 years of living here, so I really have given it my best shot. I am not totally useless, I just find it very difficult to understand what somebody is saying to me, which is not ideal whilst trying to have a conversation. I think I was slightly ahead of my wife for the first year, then I suppose about 2 years ago it was as though somebody flicked a switch in her head and she was picking up what people were saying to her. I think the problem comes down to the fact we are very insular people and do not really mix with any French people socially, so the only use we have of the language is when we go shopping. Hopefully the taxi journeys will improve my French a little as it is forcing me to think and speak in French.

Sorry to hear of your own problems gardengirl, I hope that your own situation has improved, you never know when something will strike and for you to end up in an emergency department for 12 hours is something I guess you never thought would happen to you, but we all know that anything can strike at anytime. I know personally now that although life on the whole in France is superb, when illness strikes, especially a serious one the rosy version of  French life can soon disappear, as you found out last Monday. Once again I hope you are now on the mend. I will try and plan a few little treats, but at the moment we have totally given up on 'normal' living, and just take on each day what I have to go through, I guess some people would act differently, I suppose it is down to the individual. Norman, many thanks for your offer of your translation via your mobile phone, I will bear the offer in mind. Yesterday and today I went for my treatment on my own and coped OK, basically it is now just take your place on the conveyor belt, go in one end and come out the other end until the next day. I was given my appointments for next week and I am due to see the consultant again on Tuesday, so my wife will come with me for that appointment but not the rest of the week. I have somewhat accepted the level of response from the staff now, as you said they are technicians doing a job, and I guess they do no want to get involved in any conversations with their patients that would slow the process down. mint, I have been brave on the taxi front, and engaged with the driver yesterday and today, mainly in French, although both could speak fairly good English, especially today we spoke entirely in French. Must say I could understand what the driver today was saying to me more than yesterdays driver, although he would say something and usually laugh afterwards, so I just laughed along with him.[Www] It takes a lot of conversation to fill a two and a half hour total journey, so there were some long silences. I guess in the last two days I have spoken more French since I gave up my French lessons two years ago, than ever before. Only another 24 journeys to go, I am sure I will be fluent by then.[:)]

Just an update and to thank you all for your kind words yet again. My treatment plan started on Monday with my first radiotherapy session at Poitiers, it was pretty scary Monday morning looking down at the chemotherapy tablets and thinking I must put that poison into my body, but as it is the only option on offer I duly swallowed the tablets. I must say that the support I have received from the staff at Poitiers has been non-existent, totally appalling, nobody has explained anything to me regarding the treatment. I have not been given any prescriptions to alleviate any potential side-effects. As it was my first treatment on Monday I would have thought that the two nurses who carried out the radiotherapy would have taken some trouble to explain how the process will work. I could imagine some people totally freaking out when left in the room on their own, once the machine starts whizzing around you, red lights coming on, and a loud noise when blasting is in operation. All they said to me is 'do not move' and left the room. I saw my own doctor this morning and told him of my experience and he seemed really shocked, he asked me if I had been given a booklet explaining the whole procedure, which I had not, and looked very surprised that I had not been given a prescription for potential side effects. On the first consultation at the hospital a particularly nasty nurse reduced my wife to tears, when my wife remarked that the appointment was rather early in the morning for somebody who lives 50 miles away, the nurse snapped at her basically saying tough luck. I will be really glad when I am finished with Poitiers hospital, and can only hope when I have my operation that the staff will be nicer at Bressuire. To date my wife has come with me to all my appointment, but unfortunately it has taken a toll on her physically, without elaborating as my wife is a private lady when it comes to her ailments, I have taken the decision to attend all further treatments at Poitiers on my own, it will be a little scary as my French isn't brilliant, but if it is now just a routine for the radiotherapy then hopefully I will be able to cope. It could be a strain in the taxi trying to speak to the driver for two and a half hours, but I guess it will improve my French. I have taken onboard what you have said gardengirl looking forward to spring and leaving the dark days of December in more ways than one behind me. I am finding the thought of another five weeks of radiotherapy/chemotherapy a little daunting at the moment, but if I can get this behind me for the time being it will be the hardest part out of the way. I will worry about any further chemo if it is required after my operation. I guess it will be no more red wine for the foreseeable future[:(] maybe that is the hardest part of the treatment afterall. Must stay positive, at least now things are happening. Thanks again for all your support.

Well after nearly 7 weeks of many ups and downs, not to mention a very stressful journey of trying to ascertain how the whole scenario plays out in France as regards to treatment, I finally have a start date for my treatment, 15th December. After two journeys to Poitiers this week, and after being marked up today, the long journey to recovery is upon me. Unfortunately I will not be getting off as lightly as I first thought, going by what the specialist said to me back in November, he said no chemo and 6 weeks radio, 3 times a week. Well as it pans out I am to have 27 sessions of radio, combined with 1500 mg Capecitbine tablets twice a day, I have been told that the dose of the tablets are a lower dose to enhance the affects of the radiotherapy, the doctor told me today very few people suffer any side effects with these tablets (I wish!), not convinced about that, but will just take it as it comes, no point worrying about what may not happen. Then a 6 to 8 week gap, supposedly the radiotherapy carries on working after the course is finished before an operation to remove the problem. The doctor today said they will try to get a result regarding reversing the stoma, nobody will know until all the treatment is completed. Whilst I am a little apprehensive, I am relieved that finally something is happening, so just have to grit my teeth and get through the next 6 or 7 weeks, and take matters from there. To date the fastest a taxi driver has completed the journey is an hour flat, today we only managed about 1 hour 5 minutes going up, and a rather poor hour and 15 minutes coming back. Once again thank you all very much for your support and kind words, still a long way to go but feeling a little more positive at the moment.

Glad to hear you are back home Norman, and that Europe has a potential champion in the making in the wind department. [+o(] Totally agree about the surgeons being notoriously cold, I was not expecting any different, very similar to the surgeon who operated on my wife's back, many years ago back in the UK. I think I understood most of what he was saying, or my wife was able to translate, it would have been handy to have had someone from CSF with us. The person who has been assisting me at CSF was going to come along with me when I had my CT scan, but at the last minute pulled out, saying she did not think it would be worth her coming, so I did not bother to ask her to attend when I met the surgeon. I will ask for somebody when the decision has to be made regarding my operation, but that is quite a while away for the moment. Will find out Tuesday I guess, all about my radiotherapy treatment, not sure if the doctor I am seeing will overrule the specialist and change the number and frequency of what he proposed, or stick with the original plan. Certainly will be glad to finally start my treatment.

Have been taking a bit of a breather from this thread for a while, basically it has just been a case of waiting. Finally saw the surgeon on 18th November, not a particularly nice man, although I guess you have to be a little strange to do the job that he does. Came across lacking much compassion, most of the appointment was conducted in French, with the odd sentence in English. I think basically he was saying we will have to wait and see by how much the tumour shrinks before any decision is made on a temporary or permanent stoma, which to be fair is all he could have said I think. Received a telephone call this lunchtime for an appointment at Poitiers hospital for what I guess will be the 'marking-up' of the site to be radiated and I assume discuss all the implications of the treatment. Whilst I have wanted the radiotherapy to start as soon as possible, I am a little daunted at the prospect of somebody zapping me with radiation and what the possible side-effects will be, but this is the situation I find myself in, so I guess I should just say 'bring it on'. Many thanks for the above post regarding how the radiotherapy treatment works in this day and age Norman, much appreciated. Hope you are off your gruel diet and back on solids, if not I am sure that you will have told them what you think, including all expletives!

Ah I just got it, didn't realize that the R de bit had to be closed up, have been trying to work out what the sea has to do with it.[I] Tut, tut Norman and I thought that you were a nice polite young man.

So sorry to hear you are in hospital Norman, as you have been so strong and helpful to so many people on this forum I am sure everybody will wish you a speedy recovery. Many sympathies on the 'gruel' diet I can only sympathize knowing as to what you are going through, I guess it is slightly better than nil by mouth.[:D] All the best Norman, and hope you are home soon. Richard

In the last 3 days we have received two telephone calls, one from a 0486 region and one from 0975 region, we did not answer either call, as we only answer numbers we know, and certainly do not answer withheld numbers. Both left a message on our answer machine, the first one asked me to phone back about my appointment, quite ironic that I am actually waiting for an appointment from the hospital, but as the message did not say my name, or any reference to the appointment mentioned we chose not to ring the number left on the message. The second call left a garbled message that we could not understand, but could hear a number being quoted. I Googled the two numbers and found a website referring to the two numbers, with people who had in fact telephoned the numbers and they turned out to be fraudulent, trapping you into telephoning a premium rate number. I assume this scam is only operated with messages left on an answer machine, because I do not know what the person would say if you answered the call. So beware if any unusual numbers flag up on your telephone number pad, as I say this has only happened in the last 3 days.

I can only echo all the other comments Benjamin, have a good holiday. When we lived in Exeter we went on the ferry from Plymouth to Santander for a couple of weekends, we both really like Northern Spain, we thought about maybe moving there, but the house prices were too expensive at the time, I guess they are a lot cheaper now! Speak fluent Spanish; dos cervezas por favor, that's about the whole language cracked isn't it? After Norman stated he had 40 radiotherapy sessions, and you are to have 30 sessions, I feel quite ashamed at whinging about my 18 sessions to come, good luck with yours when the time comes. You seem pretty relaxed about the situation yourself, I guess we all deal with the situation in different ways, and hopefully end up as relaxed as we can be, until the next phase of treatment. Mint I think you need to move house, you will soon clear any items 'languishing somewhere around the house', having moved 3 times in 7 years you become quite ruthless in throwing things away, and that is hard for a male! Agree Topsham is a nice place, but damn expensive, we certainly could not have afforded to live there, even with the thought of seeing Norman staggering from pub to pub. [:)]

gardengirl/Norman thanks for your replies. I know it can be pot luck if the side-effects will affect me or not, so no point in worrying until/unless they happen, as I have no real choice but to have the radiotherapy I must just get on with it. I am telling myself now that if all goes to plan sometime around my birthday in May things may start to be on the mend, so I am just focusing on that at the moment. I am guessing your advice to drink lots of fluids does not stretch to include alcohol gardengirl, tant pis. Gosh Norman you really have been through it haven't you, I would have thought facing 40 doses over 10 weeks must have seemed very daunting at the time, but you come across as a guy who just gets on with the case in hand, must say I admire you attitude, Going back to the Bridge Inn in Topsham I really do not think people on this board appreciate Norman that in reality you are just short of being royalty, having been invited into the inner sanctum by Phyllis/Norman, well it just humbles me. Bow, bow.

I guess you would say good news to a degree, and not so good news as to how the good news will be achieved, hope you are following. After seeing the specialist today he said the tumour is in an early stage, although did not give me a specific stage level, and is treatable. Unfortunately as I already knew it is very low in the rectum, and the tumour will need to be shrunk back, to enable an operation. He is proposing a 6-week course of radiotherapy, 3 times a week. Something I must say I am not looking forward to, after reading up of all the possible side-effects, but I guess I would have taken the scenario I have been given today, some 4 weeks ago when first informed of the cancer. So I must just grit my teeth and take it as it comes. He said the proposed radiotherapy will be at Poitiers, which is about 50 miles away, so a 100 mile round trip for each session, not sure how I will cope with that if I have a lot of the possible side-effects. I have an appointment to see the surgeon in Bressuire on Tuesday, with the proposed operation to be carried out there, although the specialist said it is my choice, and also said the surgeon is very good. I guess I can take some comfort from the fact the operation need not necessarily be carried out at the specialized unit at Angers, it would certainly be easier for my wife. The specialist also thought it possible for a the operation to be successful without the need for a permanent stoma, only one for 3 months and then have it reversed. So overall after the initial shock of being told 4 weeks ago of the situation, then having no idea as to how the whole system works in France, to having all the scans, and now the diagnosis I guess things could have been a whole lot worse. First stage of the experience  completed, next stage coping with the radiotherapy, I was a little low yesterday when I read of all the possible side-effects it can cause, but after today's news I have a good chance, it is something I will have to endure. I would like to thank all you good people for getting me this far, I really appreciate all the support you have given me. Being in a foreign country and to be given the news I was, I found really, really scary but with all the advice given on this thread you have got me to where I am at the moment, a lot, lot better place than I was 4 weeks ago, thank you all very much indeed. The experience continues but at least at the moment I am past the initial shock, have a reasonable diagnosis and a treatment plan, so I can now concentrate on the next phase.

Thanks for all that info Norman, although after today's visit for my echo endoscopy I think an operation is on hold for the time being. The doctor who carried out the procedure spoke French for the procedure itself, but told me his findings in English, which was very nice of him. He said the tumour is not very 'sick', I assume he meant not too advanced, but there is a 1 cm lesion either side. He proposed a course of radiotherapy to try and shrink the lesions and the tumour before an operation. He said there would be a better chance of saving the sphinter is the tumour was shrunk beforehand, which to my mind makes sense. Not quite as good as I was told by the doctor who viewed my MRI last week, but the doctor who viewed my CT scan did flag this extra problem up. The doctor today said that it is normal to find the lesions, not sure that it makes it any better, but we have to wait and see. I have still not been officially diagnosed as yet, but I have an appointment with the specialist who has been treating me on Friday, hope he doesn't tell me it is too bad a stage. On top of all the stress of the endoscopy the taxi booked for this morning did not show up, we had to make a frantic call to their office, and  they said they had no record of us booking one, my wife somewhat flipped, and a taxi eventually showed 30 minutes late. We phoned the hospital to advise them of the problem and they told us not to worry. Luckily the procedure still took place, but they were running an hour late, my fault I guess although really it was the fault of the taxi company.

Thanks for your list Norman, I have printed it off and will study it in depth, definitely remember hearing je pique on Tuesday and Wednesday. Ah The Bridge Inn what a strange little place that is, never did manage to get into the 'inner sanctum', always had to drink in the room with the rest of the peasants. So that is you and Rose I obviously know personally now, it feels like one big happy family.[:D]

Lots more bits to answer. Norman thank you for your update, I remember you mentioning aide sociale, and will bear them in mind when the time comes. Not looking too far into the future at the moment, now just trying to do my 'one step at a time' bit. I guess things will be a lot clearer after having seen the specialist next Friday, so for the moment just running along in neutral. I like your photo of Topsham, had many pub crawls around Topsham, I was more a real ale man than a scrumpy man, and back in the late seventies and early eighties Topsham had more pubs than Exeter that served real ale. Rose sorry to hear of your own situation, but very glad to hear things are clear at the moment, it has shocked me as to how many people have posted on this thread that have been through the experience. I am slightly apprehensive about any treatment that I will need, being in a French hospital, although reassured by what you have said about the treatment you received, my French is not brilliant although I have really tried to learn the language, so will have to try and do my best. The experience will help with my French language if nothing else. Sunday school, I think it would have been around 1966 I first attended, although to be honest I really cannot remember, so who know we may well of met back then. Gardian told you we were going to be humiliated it came as no surprise to me, the current manager we have, Tisdale has never got the club into the 3rd round of the FA cup in the nine years he has been manager. In fact we usually go out in the first round of every cup competition, I did watch it but to be honest was bored stiff, too much tippy-tappy stuff with no end result. The whole set-up of the club to my mind stinks at the moment, the club is Trust owned which you would think a good thing, but all the directors take a wage out of the club, rather than put money in like a normal club. The manager is on a two year rolling contract, so basically unsackable, the only way things will change is when the club enters administration again, as they surely will, not too far into the distant future. Nice to hear of the family links with Exmouth.

Feel free to be off topic Rose, I have done enough of the serious stuff for the time being. Whilst not singing in the choir I went to Sunday school at St Matthews Church, didn't manage to get into Bishop Blackall, would have been nice though an all girl's school, hmm....[:P]