Normal service has, unfortunately, been resumed

2 minute read time.

Remember how yesterday I blogged in some excitement because the Churchill had managed to do a few things right?

Well, scratch that. The doctor who was intelligent enough to come down and find me in the Day Treatment Unit to let me know that he'd booked me a tummy drain rather than trying to phone me at home when I wasn't there, was, unfortunately, not intelligent enough to book me a bed on the ward at the same time. No bed, no drain. So we traipsed all the way over there for the third time this week, bag all packed and bear in hand ... then hung around in the day room for a couple of hours, and then traipsed back again. Undrained. I know I said I didn't want an overnight stay, but this was not what I meant!

A nice little nurse scurried around quite determinedly on our behalf and he swears, cross his heart, that he has rescheduled both drain and bed (well, just scheduled bed, I suppose) for Friday. I'll believe it when I see it. Also, that means that I won't get my visit from Tim this week, so major sulk about that. *grump* And also it means that we will have been to the Churchill four days out of five this week, and the petrol mounts up. Imagine if I were having to do it by public transport!

It is quite a pretty drive: I'll give it that. The horse chestnuts and the hawthorn are over now, so you may cast as many clouts as may gladden your heart, but the elderflower is in bloom, and there are wild roses, poppies, moon daisies, ragwort, and some rather straggly but grimly determined Queen Anne's Lace. And everything is very green. Everything that isn't under a foot of water, that is.

I may sound quite resigned and chirpy about the Churchill fking up, but I am actually so cross that my jaw has locked quite tight and I keep having to massage it to loosen it up again. Grrrrrr.

I have often felt inclined to get my treatment moved to the Horton, which is near Banbury. But (a) I have no guarantee that it would be any better - it's run by the same hospitals trust - and (b) I don't know how to go about it.

And no, LM, I don't really think that moving to Wales is a viable solution!

Never mind. Here is Java Bear, who comes to hospital with me and cheers me up.

He had his work cut out for him today, I can tell you.

Anonymous
  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Thank you, everyone, and special thanks to Minima for the pome. (Breeding?!)

    I don't think this is unusual or extreme incompetence; I think it's just the norm nowadays. Nobody seems to be very good at doing anything, or at getting things done. We spent a lot of time in the day room talking to a lady who runs a drugs charity dahn sarf somewhere, who had a lot of harsh things to say about middle management - although not as many as the former magistrate I shared a room with one of the times I was in the Jane Ashleigh. (I usually sic these people on to Judy, who can talk to them at their level while I try to get myself back to the age of 15 and wishing that a Dragonrider would whisk me away for thrilling and romantic adventures.)

    Anyway: I phoned the Macmillan nurses to let them know what was going on, and one of them phoned me back this evening. They can't really help much, but I like to spread the misery around. To that end, I also emailed the hospital PALS. I doubt they'll have much to contribute either, but, again, a trouble shared is still a trouble. One of my friends thinks I should get the local press involved, but I hardly think that "Local hospital a bit incompetent" is an earth-shattering headline, or much of a surprise to anyone, really.

    What I am mostly upset about is that now I won't see my brother on Friday, and he won't be able to get over next week, so I shan't see him till the following Monday, at best. That's a long time! But maybe what I am even more upset about is how quickly June is going, and how fast the whole year has gone, and all the time since I was diagnosed with cancer, and we still have nothing to show for it.

    Not that I want to bring anyone down, or anything.

    xxx

  • FormerMember
    FormerMember

    Hilary, if all this were happening to me, I WOULD want to bring people down because I would be in such a miserable state I wouldn't care about anybody else's feelings, and wouldn't be as rational and stoical as you are (breeding, ya see...pure class).

    I think time does speed up, generally, after one reaches a Certain Age. Seems to be aging J and me extra super fast these days, anyway. Illness and worry seem to eat up time in a big way, and when you're not at work, days blend into each other too.

    To make you smile (or grind your teeth): today my 13 year old daughter had a supply teacher, who for some reason, was talking about a sepulchre. 'Seepoolcher', she called it and didn't know what the word meant. M (my girl) told her the correct pronunciation and meaning, but Teacher said she would Google it to make sure as she didn't believe M...omg and ffs and so on. M is THIRTEEN. Teacher is a TEACHER and is paid way more than I am, a humble teaching assistant. M does not hold teachers in very high esteem. I wonder why... Why are there so many assholes in the world, and why do most of them seem to work, no, be employed in Education and Health Care??? (mini rant over now).

    mega hugs to console you after a mega-f***-up

    mini-not-haha xxxxx