NO! no Nurse Ratched, (please, please) - I won't go to hospital if she's there. I'll stay home here where it's safer.

spaw - thanks for your advice, I had tears in my eyes when I read it - I'm taking extra food - & have good advice from my nutritionist. Almost all I remember from my last (only) admission in 1964 for appendicitis, was not getting what I ordered. If I wanted cornflakes & a boiled egg, I'd end up with rice bubbles & a fried egg! I was planning to take my usual folk Festival snacky food (oatcakes, dried apricots & fresh fruit) & he suggested adding nuts & seeds & making sure I ate a lot more red meat when I get home. He said I'd lose weight so I needed eat enough when I get back to regain the lost weight, before getting back to smaller meals as I still have 7 or 8 kilos to lose.

And thanks to everyone - normally I'm a rock, & an island, & reaching out to local & Mudcat friends is not easy.

sandra