Today was a day with some difficulties. We started it early as we had to be in at the Nephrologist's( not Urologist's and a Professor at that) at 7.45am to see him at 8am. This meant a 6am start.

I had a tummy ache all night from eating the wrong foods. I know, I know I am a big girl and should know better but it didn't occur to me that the topping on the fruit pie slice for dessert would be coconut until I had eaten it. Palm oil and I don't get on so I was here at 2.30am my time waiting for the pain to go away. Some medication and four glasses of water over a period of an hour generally dilutes the problem to manageable proportions. So 6am came early for me.

Ray was very co-operative and got dressed and ate breakfast without a fuss while I searched for last week's ultrasound, some notes from the local doctor, some old notes from another specialist etc. Fortunately the early commuters had gone and the traffic was moving well. Only four lots of roadworks between us and town and then hey! my luck was in, there was a parking space left.

The interview went smoothly, the specialist was a bit surprised to see us as Ray isn't on death's door but when he read the reports etc he said it was a good idea to review and change ALL his medication, all six main medications have to be replaced by others more gentle on the kidneys. Hot Dog!! Then Nurse Susie had to escort the patient to the cubicle and Ray had to produce a urine sample. That was semi-satisfactory and we got some remarks about uncontrolled diabetes etc. And then the crunch - Ray will have to go onto insulin!

I have been fighting the change for a while now, as far as I am concerned this will be the end of our present life. No more impromptu stopovers at a friend's house, no more bus tours ( because of the disorganised meal times) no more Ray going out to Scallywags as he wouldn't be able to go through the routine by himself, and maybe not even going to Lions dinners as there is nowhere I can go with Ray to take his blood test and give him a needle.

* Insert a line of swear words here and you don't have half the feelings I am feeling here.*

And then we went on down to the pathology lab to get the test results and we had done the test wrong and it would have to be redone the following morning at the same time. It should have been the first one of the day. Well excuse me! Could someone have told me that? So I did call in to the nearby pathologist's where we usually have bloodwork done and got a full list of instructions, bottles, gloves etc. Tomorrow Nurse Susie will be on the job and this time it will be right! Right?

A lot of you have been here before me I know and am wondering what I am going on about. Well at school I was told in vocational study that I should be a nurse and I said "Ewww, all that blood and bodily fluids, no thanks." and that looks a lot like what the future holds for us doesn't it?