When the heating people phoned last Thursday and said they had a cancellation, I could have cried with joy. The engineer replaced a whole section of something, that housed the valve, as he couldn't remove the stuff my neighbour had put on, and I now have fully functioning radiators.
Having spoken of my plight to various people, I've decided that just before this contract expires, I will take one out with a local heating company, that many other people use, as obviously they have a far smaller area to cover.
Also, all the ladies I told, who have husbands, have now had tutorials in radiator bleeding, and pressure checking! The widows commiserated, and said that they too have experienced something going wrong, and those of us who had expert DIY-ers for spouses, made me feel a lot less stupid than I was.
Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing, but during the decades before AD, if John said "I'm going to bleed the radiators", my reply was usually "OK, I'll put the kettle on and make a drink". I never lived on my own, and my parents didn't have the luxury of central heating, but when I got married, I knew how to lay a fire!
I was poised to leave for the hospital this morning, when I had a call that my appointment was cancelled, due to the doctor being away, and they would reschedule "in due course". Goodness knows when that will be.
I seem to have developed a lump at each end of the scar, which is now tightening. It's not painful, just uncomfortable, so I'm continuing to rub petroleum jelly on it, in a attempt to keep the skin supple.
Gloria is still in hospital, continues to lose weight, and they still don't know what is wrong, other than to say that the "mass" is bigger than before, and a cause for (even more) concern.
