Kitten Day Minus One :-)

Picking up the new kittens tomorrow. Eeeep. I'm a bit worried about how the three existing cats are going to take to this, given how badly Cassie-Cat in particular took to Romeo and Juliet when they arrived. It took absolutely AGES for her to settle down with them, so perhaps she's passed that onto them now that it's their turn, and hers again, to greet new arrivals!

Our caterpillars finally became chrysalides - three of them days ago, then the fourth the day before yesterday and finally "slowcoach" made his move, so we now have five chrysalides which we've moved from the "pot" to the rather more upmarket residence of the mesh thingamijig.

Education has been haphazard again all week, but we did squeeze in some maths yesterday, with Emily eventually getting to grips with word problems along the lines of "Voldy spent 84.20 sickles on an elder wand and a holly wand. The elder wand was 9.50 sickles more expensive than the holly wand. How much did each wand cost?" which I guess covers a bit of logic and some basic algebraic thinking in terms of understanding that you can't just do 84.20 - 9.50, and why that doesn't work, and how to actually do it. Emily also finished up her work on Ancient Africa, so we're nearly ready to move onto the much anticipated Ancient China section of History Odyssey.

Took Grandad to the doctor on Tuesday morning. Oh yes, the saga continues. Hull cardiology unit hadn't been in touch with his GP at all. The GP states that his kidney function is better than it has been for ages, and that he can't understand why the angioplasty didn't take place. He also states that in any case there isn't a drug he can give to improve the kidney function, and that it needs someone to go through Grandad's 418 existing tablets step by step either varying the dosage or finding alternatives. He also states, very firmly and categorically, that this isn't the GP's job and that it needs to be one under a specialist consultant's supervision. I can quite see his point. Needless to say, my father in law can't and is not remotely happy. As far as I can see, the reason the hospital haven't been in touch is because *they* aren't expecting the GP to do anything, they're dealing with it themselves and he's just got to wait to hear form them as to how they're going to proceed. He wasn't asked/told to see his GP, he just decided he wanted to. Anyway, GP dictated a strongly worded letter to the hospital asking for clarification of what's going on, and stating that the patient is anxious, which is probably doctor's code for something entirely less tactful.

Anyway, Grandad insisted he wanted another blood test done even though the GP said it wasn't needed. He got his way, and we went back first thing yesterday morning for a blood test. The nurse told him that he should make an appointment to see the doctor immediately the results come through, which would be tomorrow. So, good girl that I am, as soon as we got home and I'd checked the calendar, I rang to make an appointment with the doctor for Monday. Hurry down to tell Grandad, to put his mind at rest that it's been dealt with. Wrong. Turns out Grandad doesn't want to see that doctor, having figured out that he's not saying what Grandad wants to hear. He wants to wait and see a different doctor when that doctor gets back from holiday.

It would appear that there's very little I can do right these days.

So, I've cancelled the appointment I made and will have to try and get one with his doctor of choice ASAP. Honestly, I could scream. If I hadn't immediately made an appointment, he would have been chasing up to ask why it hadn't been made yet. Hello wit's end.

I shall refrain from writing anything else on this subject for the moment, since it really winds me up so much and I'm sure I come across as as not very nice person to boot. Actually, I am a very nice person who cares a great deal, as does my husband. We're just rather battle weary.

Emily went out to a friend's birthday party today and apparently spent most of the day in their huge pool. I'm sure that child would live in a paddling pool, given half a chance. I shall now go and attempt to tidy up the sitting room. I'm not sure why on earth I'm tidying up for the sake of two bundles of fluff who will no doubt have wrecked the place within minutes of arrival, but somehow it seems appropriate! Expect kittie pics over the weekend :-))