Greater Stitchwort

Last night I got a WhatsApp from the surgeon to say that Gavin can be discharged today. He did have a good day yesterday but I felt it may be too soon, but then patients often recover better at home in their own environment.

This morning Gavin phoned me and told me not to come up to visit him as he was coming home. He waited all day to be discharged. In the meantime he had another IV drip with iron, as blood tests revealed his iron to be too low. Another IV drip with antibiotics. And finally the MRI scan on his brain to follow up on that meningioma seen on the CT scan. The nutritionist came to see him about what he can and cannot eat. I had already googled all of it and knew it is basically a low fibre diet, all the things we never eat like white bread, white mashed potato, no grains, pulses, nuts or spices. 

As I had time today after walking Xena I went to the supermarket to get all the food that Gavin requires - and also went to the optician to collect his contact lenses. I had a few other errands to do and managed to get everything done.

When I came home I made a beef and vegetable stew for Gavin, which I then turned into a soup - easier to eat. 

I would have preferred to be there when Gavin was discharged but because there is no parking outside the hospital, I cannot drive there and leave the car somewhere close by while he gets discharged and besides, we had no idea when he would get discharged. As he waited for all these last tests to be done today by the time he was ready to get discharged it was the end of the day, so Luke is going to collect him after work - just stopping his car outside while hopefully hospital staff take him to the car.

As asked to do so by the surgeon, I have made an appointment with him for next Wednesday to go through the pathology report as he will have the results by then. We are not going to think about it until then, I am putting it out of my mind.

It has been very hot today, Xena was finding her walk just too hot. I photographed these flowers, one of my favourite wild flowers. I never knew it had all these names, here is something about it.
 Greater stitchwort grows in woodland and along roadside verges, hedgerows and grassy banks. It has many other common names, including 'wedding cakes', 'Star-of-Bethlehem', 'daddy's-shirt-buttons' and 'snapdragon' - the latter because its stems are brittle and easily break. Its pretty, star-shaped, white flowers bloom from April to June; as the seed capsules ripen, they can be heard 'popping' in late spring.