Two Months Of Worrying Over,

well not very much,

about 8 weeks ago, I noticed what seemed to be a small lump in my throat, with Christmas just around the corner and friends calling over I decided not to do anything about it till after Steve and Kai had gone home, well it would not have been much of a Christmas if it was bad news, so off to Pattaya International Hospital, the doctor looked down my throat and said this needs to be seen by a specialist with a internal camera, so I asked when next week, the reply was today, come back at 5.00 in the afternoon, so with that happy thought we left,

and made our way to the UBC shop that sells/rent satellite television programs, opposite what was CareFore, we were thinking about a silver package as our Shophon cable was really not up to much, also BBCE had been returned to the line up, but we were told that there was no silver package from this outlet, I later checked there is a silver package available, but from the UBC office on Sumkivitt, not from the agent we had just visited, so maybe we will go there nearer to the time we want to take out a subscription,

 next stop the fish shop, we were getting low on food, 

they have a marine aquarium set up in there, but I have to say it is not as nice as the one in the Kodak shop,

 also a couple of freshwater set ups too, this one using plastic plants,

 whilst these are the real thing,

just inside the shop there are concrete rings made into pools with guppies and other live bearing fish in,

 the shop is on Pattaya Third Road,

a few hundred meters before the flyover to Bali Hai pier on the left hand side,

Mark called round for a tea and a chat, then it was time to head back to the hospital, I took a quick picture of the shrines in the grounds,

 this one quite large,

 the hospital itself, hopefully you will never need it but if you do it is on Soi 4 Pattaya Beach, Bang Lamung, the Soi is almost opposite Alcazar on Second Road, 

so in I go, I was seen promptly at 5.00 after a look in my nose and a much more detailed look down my throat it appears that the late night snacks I have when watching television are not the right thing to do, as I was sleeping acid from my stomach had been burning my throat, what I felt as a lump was the burn or I guess scar that the acid had left over night, which also conceitedly explained that the symptoms were worse some mornings but seemed to get better in the day, this was good news, although my mother had a stroke ultimately both my parents died of cancer, which was my worry over Christmas that I too may have a cancerous growth in my throat,


the doctor examined my lymph glands, advised me to give up smoking, which I had done some 4 years ago, avoid eating for three hours before sleeping and eat three meals a day rather than the two I normally eat, in the examination he mentioned my systolic blood pressure was a little high but my diastolic and heart rate were fine, the good news also was that he said nothing about giving up drinks, so I did not mention it either! the price for all of this, was 400 baht for the GP, then 2,400 baht to see the specialist including some tablets to take before I sleep and some to take before meals, remember I just walked in off the street this morning, so for a total of 2,800 baht (£57.00) I had seen a GP, been referred to a ear, nose and throat specialist and been given medication all in under 6 hours,


I wonder how long all of this would have taken in say the UK? of course I am paying for this privately, if I was a Thai national I would go to my home town and take advantage of the Thai Health Service, all of the above would be exactly the same, except the charge to the Thai national would have been a flat rate of 30 baht, (60 pence),

as it was Friday off to the market, the skies were overcast it had been threatening rain for a day or two now, but none yet,

we were a bit later than usual, the lights in the flowers looking brighter than they normally do,

a secondhand clothes stall opposite the bar this evening,

the sky looked even more menacing as the evening past, but still no rain,

 Brian and Sa were here as well,

as was Dang, all of the girls disappearing on a shopping fest as they normally do,

then this little cutey came by with its owner, I often think about getting a dog as a burglar deterrent, the problem being asking some one to look after it when we are away, we could put it in to a kennel when we are not here, but then that defeats the purpose of having a guard dog, but going back to this one, I like the look of huskies, especially if they have blue eyes and a black and white coat,

for our evenings entrainment we watched Spider-Man we have never seen the whole film before, just bits of it, so as the series of three was on special offer on BluRay we bought them, the story is based on Marvel Comics' superhero character, a nerdy, shy, and awkward high school student gains spider-like abilities when he is bitten by a GM spider,

I have been looking forward to watching this for some time, entitled Bronson, his real name is  Michael Peterson, it is the story of Britain's most violent criminal, despite never killing anyone or laying a finger on a woman or a child, to date of the 37 years he has spent in prison 33 of them have been in solitary confinement, his last sentence was for 3 years, he has spent another 8 years in prison over his sentence, it appears the establishment is intent on keeping him there, is the establishment correct to do this? click on the last link read it, all of it and you decide, then for us off to bed.