Hello
Good morning.
Do you remember Jackanory?
I do.
Who was your favourite Jackanory story teller?
Oh god I've got no idea.
Mine was Bernard Cribbins.
I can't remember that far back.
You can't even remember what he had for tea Yesterday.
Can't remember what time I got up this morning.
and Floella Benjamin, I liked Floella Benjamin too.
Yes.
Anyway, are you sitting comfortably?
Then we'll begin, do you remember that?
[Laughs] Yeah.
[Laughs]
do you remember back in June, early June,
we did a vlog called, My Anxiety is Killing Me.
Do you remember that?
[Colin] Well you do. [Shaun] I do.
I do.
and we recorded that back in early June, but it was about something that happened
in early May, the first week in May
and I was out filming the Lambs, do you remember the Lamb's been born?
I do.
That was Sunday the 8th of May that was
and I was in this field
and all of a sudden I'd had this this pain in my abdomen and around my side and back
and it got quite bad and I started feeling faint and I collapsed in the field.
I was taken quite speedily down to Raigmoor Hospital in Inverness
which is about an hour and a half from where we live
Yeah.
and they did all sorts of tests and poked and prodded me
and sent me home saying it's probably anxiety and stress
because I'm quite an anxious person
and we did a vlog about it,
saying all about how anxiety can cause physical effects do you remember that?
Yeah I remember it very well.
Blaming the anxiety.
Anyway jump forward a few weeks
and I went to see the doctor a few times because he wasn't going away,
I was getting these pains in my lower right abdomen and around the side and in my back
and feeling a bit lethargic
and every time I did anything strenuous, it made it really bad didn't it?
Yeah, because we're all in your head.
Errr, and that's what I kept getting told.
Doctors kept saying it's in your head it's anxiety it's stress,
but it kept carrying on
And we kept phoning the doctors.
So,
I'm trying to calm myself down thinking it was anxiety
and I was talking about it a lot on social media.
But it never went away
and then about, oh about a month ago
it got really bad and I ended up going back to the hospital
and they did some more tests and everything's fine,
it's all in your head. Go home!
It's all in your head. Go home.
and then about two weeks ago we went to Inverness,
just shopping just for a day out,
you know to try and relax to get rid of the anxiety,
[Laughs]
because it was all in my head.
Failed!
and it failed miserably,
I ended up collapsing again in a really nice garden centre,
which is a shame because it was lovely wasn't it?
Yeah, we didn't buy anything, we didn't get a chance
We didn't get a chance.
We nearly bought a stag if we'd have had five grand.
I wish.
It was beautiful.
But I nearly collapsed
and the pain was just like it has been all the time,
really bad but I have quite a high pain threshold,
so I don't moan about pain a lot do I?
We'd been phoning the doctors
a lot
and they actually said, Colin we need to put parameters on when new phones us,
because it's all in your head.
So,
we were in Inverness and I collapsed at the garden centre,
so luckily the hospital is literally two minutes away from the garden center
so back to the hospital.
And the same again took loads of blood,
took some urine and all sorts of other bodily fluids off me.
Urgghh!
I don't know if that was to do with the tests or what to be honest
it was just the look in that doctor's eye, I don't know.
Err, you're all right Colin, everything's good go home.
There's nothing wrong.
Try some paracetamol.
So came home again
[Sighs]
and then
last week
Wednesday.
Tuesday night, things really turned quite nasty
and I'd been in quite a lot of pain all day hadn't I?
Yeah you'd been uncomfortable all day.
and we went to bed and then just within minutes,
it just turned from Pain to Agony again
and
and I collapsed again.
So we rang 999 this time because it was just,
What an eventful night.
Shaun's laughing because like this is the bit of the Vlog you want to see.
We rang 999
and we were basically told that there's that there wasno chance of getting an ambulance to us quickly
and that it would be quicker if we drove to Inverness
which is an hour and a half away from from where we are.
So Shaun bundled me into the car
and we set off from from our house to to Inverness.
Now we literally got five minutes down the road
and I was telling Shaun to stop because I was just feeling very very sick
So I had to pull into a lay-by.
and I was literally hanging out of the window
thinking I was gonna be sick. I know you don't want to hear this, it's not pleasant.
Now if you know the A9 you'll know that there's lay-bys quite often, every mile or two
and we got into this lay-by and I literally fell out of the car
and I was hanging over the the
Crash barrier.
the crash barrier and vomiting.
And that's that's where my memory of a lot of this stops,
I bundled him into the back seat.
I remember laying in the lay-by
kind of moaning and screaming in pain on the floor in the lay-by,
so I was literally rolling around the A9, in Pitch Black, screaming and being sick
and you rang 999 again didn't you?
Yes.
and was told the same again,
that they couldn't get an ambulance to us, it was still going to be quicker to drive.
So he bundled me back into the car, this time onto the back seat,
where I'm curled up in a fatal position, moaning and crying and screaming and
Passing out!
and passing out and I don't know, talking about jelly
And then the next thing I remember
is
something, because I'm laid in the back seat I remember
a weird noise towards the back of the car
and we were,
And the dashboard lit up.
And we were about halfway to Inverness
and the tire blew on the car.
So we were stuck on a roundabout
halfway between where we live and Inverness with a blown tire.
By this time it was about, I don't know, half past 11, midnight?
Oh no it was later than that, something like that yeah.
I don't remember
and so Shaun rang 999 again and said look,
he's in the back of the car
Third time I've phoned!
screaming in agonies being sick, he's in and out of consciousness.
Errrr,
well we still don't think we can get an ambulance to you,
Arrgghhh!
Now luckily
Yeah
an ambulance was coming, not for me.
No it was just passing, it already had a patient.
But Sean flagged it down
and the ambulance errr,
The paramedic.
Paramedic got out and came to see to me
and they deemed that I needed an ambulance urgently.
So he phoned them.
so he got on the radio and they did then send an ambulance out to me,
which arrived, I don't know.
It was within 15-20 minutes.
and,
so,
the ambulance arrived.
uh I think they carried me, because I was out of it at this point.
You was out for the count on the back seat of the car
and they lifted you out of the car and tied you onto a chair,
strapped you onto a chair and carried you into the ambulance.
Not the first time I've been strapped to a gurney is it?
[Laughs]
for my own safety.
[Laughs]
So yeah, I'm strapped into this chair
and they carried me, put me in the ambulance
I remember being laid out in the ambulance, because they were putting needles and all sorts.
[Shaun] Yeah they put a cannula on you and did all sorts. [Colin] They were also giving me pain relief
and gas and air.
I remember that and I remembered the pain starting to subside a little bit
and just feeling really kind of dreamy and drowsy.
That's what he does to you.
[Laughs]
And so Shaun was left behind
and there was that horrible moment,
With a flat tyre!
there was this horrible moment where I think I'm dying,
you would if you've ever had really, well you'll find out what it is in a second,
but if you've really had what I have,
you'll understand the pain
So I think I'm dying and Shaun's got to stay with the car,
because the car needs recovering, because it's on a roundabout on the A9
with a blown out tire
And as you know with new cars they don't provide a tyre,
we had an emergency inflation kit,
which was completely useless.
I think that the hole in the tire must have been
It was too big.
that big that it couldn't be repaired by the kit that comes with the car.
So he had to ring, luckily we we're members of a rescue service, so we had to ring them.
But it was a horrible moment, because Shaun had to leave me behind being rushed off to Inverness
and he had to stay with the car, he couldn't come with me.
So I remember that and I remember crying then when you were going,
But then I,
they whisked me away, so I was, I was off on my way to Inverness
Blue lights flashing!
Blue lights flashing, the rain pouring down.
Floods everywhere!
and yeah if you Google the news from last Tuesday night Wednesday morning,
For Inverness!
for Inverness, you will see they had so much rain that it basically flooded Inverness
and the roads come in on, well from Cassock Bridge down to the roundabout and into the town centre,
the Town Center was virtually well all flooded
and the ambulance got stranded.
An electric ambulance in flood water doesn't mix very well.
So I remember has been just sat for long periods
and again I was floating in and out of consciousness
nd then we got to the hospital.
So what would have been normally about an hour and 20 a a good rate,
Yeah.
actually took over three hours
[Laughs]
to get from our house to Raigmoor Hospital at Inverness.
It would have been quicker to wait for the ambulance.
It would've been quicker to wait,
Well no because they would have probably had a tire blow out too
Well!
It is what it is.
They rushed me in, took more Bloods, took more urine and boy was I peeing.
Blimey and that was a sign of what's coming,
I filled one of those cardboard bottles twice
and I hadn't really been drinking that much.
No.
Took some tests, the doctor came to see me straight away,
more pain relief I was I was feeling a bit more comfortable
and he decided that I needed a CT scan,
so that took me immediately for a CT scan.
All this happened within an hour
and they found the problem.
A six millimetre kidney stone! [Ta-da fanfare]
Six millimetres??
Six millimeter kidney stone. [Laughing]
Now if you've ever had a kidney stone you'll understand
that six millimetres feels like that.
[Laughs] yeah I can imagine.
I've had gallstone.
It's like Shaun's eight inches.
[Laughs]
It's a bit like that isn't it,
it's just like size and scale, so that is a six millimeter kidney stone
I've had gallstones and that is painful.
and that's what's been causing the pain.
Now,
the good news is is that we finally know what's caused the pain
For all these months.
for all these months, it wasn't in my head!
Doctors!
[Sighs]
The complicated news is where it is,
it's quite high up near my kidney.
It's not trapped, it's not causing an obstruction,
It just won't move.
but it just won't move, which is why every time I'm doing anything strenuous,
or anything in particular that aggravates it,
that's when it's causing me the pain and if you've had kidney stones, you'll understand the pain.
So I'm in a bit of a, not, not lido,
that's like an open air swimming pool.
Not libido.
[Shaun] Libido???? [Laughs] [Colin] That's sex drive isn't it?
What's the word I'm looking for?
Limbo,
I'm in a bit of limbo now.
Oh my god!
Because six millimetres is exactly the point where they either
do intervene or don't intervene
If it was 6.01, they intervene.
[Shaun] Bizarre [Colin] So they're not doing anything.
The doctors reckon there's a 40 to 60 chance that it will pass on its own
It's not going to move, it hasn't moved for months.
Yeah for over four months it's been there we think now,
They have referred me for a, it's an urgent referral
to get it looked at and to treat it,
which they're probably going to try and break it up
which is still going to hurt when it comes out,
but hopefully it's gonna get it out and stop all these months of it being in my head.
I'm sorry I keep saying that.
[Laughs]
So this week, this is the Vlog.
Just an update.
I've not really been up to hopping about doing adventures and things like that.
No not this week.
But we wanted to update you to let you know what was going on
and hopefully within the next couple of weeks
there'll be a plan to get it sorted,
so stay tuned.
If you're in the Highlands and you hear loud pitch screams, you know something's happening.
[Laughs]
It's you and your foot.
[Laughs]
Sprained foot, sprained knee, Ohhhh!
What is it about turning 50 that all of a sudden you start falling apart.
[Laughs]
Everytime you, every time you get up to stretch it's like
[Sound of branches snapping]
Ooooh!
Yeah, I stretched in bed the other morning and sprained my ankle.
[Laughing]
Oh dear!
Anyway, you know now.
Don't worry, send supportive messages, don't tell me how bad it is because I know.
Yeah.
Be nice
and hopefully next week we'll have some news on that.
Also next week,
Oooh oooh!
starting on the train barn.
[Shaun] Ooooh!
Work has started, but we've got a plan on what's going on in there,
Yes.
which we're going to tell you about next week.
We're also going to tell you how you can get involved.
Yeah!
if you want your name on trains and stuff.
it's gonna be ace, it's going to be crowds of viewers on station platforms.
There is.
Make sure, make sure you've got short names, because I can't spell very well.
[Laughs]
Oh dear.
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Our moderator will catch the nasty ones,
Yes.
so don't think you can get to us that way
and we'll see you next week for the train Barn,
WooHoo!
take care of yourself, bye-bye.
Ta-ra.
[Music playing]