What a Day

To late for me to compose a helpful reply but didn't want to read and run.

Shanma, your anxieties are real, but they're always worse at this time. The last thing you want is a heap if worries before a night when you need to sleep. But it's Sod's law, isn't it; the more anxious, the less likely we are to sleep. Tests of all kinds are always worrying. I take it the mammogram is a routine one? A lot of us on here probably envisage a scenario where we are ill and how will our less able other half cope? But it hasn't happened, it's just a hypothetical question at the moment. From a practical viewpoint maybe you could have some mental plans in place. I had thought of respite, too, but hadn't considered that OH would refuse - though he probably would. In your case is there family who could sort things out for you? And if possible try strategies to cope with what for now are unfounded anxieties. More immediately let's hope your journey works out ok and you get to the meeting on time. If you don't, I'm sure you won't be the only one. For the future could you get a short supply of pills for sleeping that you can hang onto and use sparingly? Have you got a xword or a book you can relax with?
All the best for tomorrow.
And I do hope anyone in these flooded areas, Somerset especially, is not badly affected.

Sending positive vibes and best wishes Shanma. Its always darkest before the dawn , this too shall pass etc etc. I hope you get to your big meeting and maybe could you phone the mammography dept and explain your difficulty with getting there? Worrying about the result is something that I suspect we all do. Sorry, no comfort there other than that you are not alone.

Hope you get to your meeting in time today after having a good night's sleep. Good luck with the journey.

Sending you positive vibes. Hoping today goes smoothly as that's one less worry.

If it is a mammogram appointment you will be able to ring up and make a later time that fits in with your buses. There may also be a mobile unit nearer to home that you could tap into. It is certainly worth a phone call and a chat to the imaging reception team. Good luck with all of this. ?

Oh dear Shanma I do feel for you. To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet,
"When sorrows worries come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.'
And I can understand why these worries are keeping you awake.
I too have had sleepless night worrying about how on earth DH could manage if I were ill or incapacitated (he wouldn't he needs more or less constant care) or who would look after my poor elderly Grace (no-one) and dreaded my last mammogram just a few weeks ago for exactly those reasons.
What can you change about your worries?
Not a lot about the weather conditions, but if you are affected, so will other people be and no one will think the worse of you if that happens.
The mammogram - well, easy to say after the event, but if you have had no symptoms this is a case of being on the safe side. You know that ignoring something does not make it go away, worst case scenario is that early diagnosis gives you a better than fighting chance.
I hope the clear light of day will help you to find a calmer frame of mind, that your journeys will be safe and that your mammogram result brings you peace of mind.

My best wishes to you Shanma - I hope it all works out for you. Easier to say than do but "ONE DAY AT A TIME"

Shanma My DH used to volunteer for a charity which provided transport for patients who had difficulty getting to hospital appointments. I think the patients had to pay a small charge. Perhaps you could find something similar in your area re Google. Good luck.

via Google I mean

Can you try for a Personal Assistant from Council in interim?

. Shanma Sending you good wishes.
There was storm in your head as well as tempest outside.

I hope you make your meetings with out too much disruption
I can't add to thoughts and suggestions other than things usually work out one or another.

I have used ambuline
This is a ambulance type service
(seats)
I booked it to take my father to his hospital treatments as it was to difficult to get him in to my car.

Some hospitals run a car volunteer service.

I hope you are able to get some sleep tonight after your exhausting day.

Can't better the helpful suggestions made by others shanma, hoping today is going as well as it can and you will sleep tonight. The middle of the night thoughts are the worst.

shanma Best wishes and a hug, I too suffer dreadful anxiety and nothing seems to make it go away. I hope your journey is event free and you feel a bit better tomorrow

I hope things work out for you, Shanma, and you got back home safe and sound.
I'm like you, always thinking of all the problems that might crop up. On Sunday we had to go on a long complicated car journey to a big city. All night I was thinking, we'll get lost in the dual carriageway system, the satnav won't work, the car will have that old problem etc.
In the end all 3 dreaded things happened, but we lived through it and got home ok. Thank God.
Hope it taught me a lesson, but I doubt it.

Thank You all so much for the support and helpful suggestions. I did get to the meeting on time, and the buses ran like clockwork ,
The meeting was delayed a little as the Chair who was travelling from Huddersfield was delayed as he travelled by train and there was some flooding in a tunnel. I will not know the outcome of the meeting for about a month, and of course everyone had their poker faces on so I can't tell how it went really. I will say though that it also ran like clockwork, very professional, and I was given as much time as I needed to put all of my points accross, and I did.

The mammogramme isn't a problem to get to, it is on the mobile unit a very short busride away. I am worrying in advance in case I need an operation!! I do have these worrying tendencies. I guess made worse by the fact that I have had Breast Cancer, and was discharged three years ago, so this is the first mammogramme since my discharge. I don't have any symptoms but then neither did I when they found the first one. I am going to try to stop conjouring up trouble now and try to go with the flo.

I must say I am very tired after today, and I had no time to eat from 6 in the morning until I got home at teatime, That won't do any harm anyway, the odd fast never hurts.
Thank HYou all agin, it is nice to get a different perspective on things, and to realise that one is not alone .

So glad the journey worked out well and you were able to have your say at the meeting. You will sleep better tonight. ?

Shanma I'm glad that you got to your meeting in time and without any hassle. That is one thing done and dusted for you.

You are very brave to go back through the doors of the breast clinic. I have put mine off until the New Year. I can't cope with anything else just now.

I got told today that I need a blood test to see if my heart failure if getting worse and an operation is in the offing. I will have a similar problem, no one to look after the animals here while I am in having the operation. But something will work out, it has to if I need to go in. There is a lot of help out there, it is just trying to find it. Have you got in touch with SS? Maybe they can help with your husband? Is there a Ring and Ride in your area for your hospital visit? Or hospital transport from the hospital you are going to?

With respect of worrying about going into hospital, it is right to go with the flow, but to have an understanding of how you would cope is not a bad thing. Maybe have a word with a practice nurse at your surgery? Or, and this might be a long shot, but the pharmacy might know a thing or two or even the library. Our old library used to have folders of leaflets of organisations which help people etc.

Write down your worries in the middle of the night, get it out. And then sort out what you can do something about, what you cant. Then promise yourself that you will make phone calls etc in the morning about what you can change.

I wish you all the best with your mammogram.

Another idea is Age UK, they might know things too.

Thanks Ruby,
So many good suggestions . It is nice to talk to someone sensible when one's own head is all over the place.

I did sleep for TEN solid hours last night though!! I think the day took more out of me than I thought

Shanma - ten hours of sleep sounds ideal!

For those worried about pets whilst in hospital The Cinnamon Trust can help www.cinnamon.org.uk/cinnamon-trust/

Thanks Tizliz! Good to know.

Shanma I wouldn't call myself sensible, I was talking to a pair of black trousers the other day that had fallen on the floor, thinking they were the dog! #losingit!