Carol has been in hospital since Tuesday. As I have mentioned on these blog posts. I have been visiting her each day and walking to the hospital from home, which isn't actually far, around a 10-minute walk along the Redway and then into the hospital campus. I've mentioned the difficulty of navigating the site, with the long and complex system of corridors and signs within the site.
On Thursday we had hoped that one or other of the doctors who had been looking after her on the ward she eventually transferred to would be able to give us some idea of what their investigations had found, having done some scans and from observations since she arrived on Ward 19, having been mored from the Accute Ward which she had been on after her time in Accident and Emergency which we had gone to early on Tuesday morning.
I'm not going to explain here what the problem has been causing Carol so much pain as it would not be right to do so on here. Just let me say that it has been very difficult to see her in so much discomfort, regardless of the medication she has had. A lot of paracetamol, co-codemol and ibuprofen which doesn't seem to have helped in the long-run.
On Friday morning I was eating my lunch. Cheese and Rivita crackers. I got a text come in from Carol. I had taken her mobile so she could at least text me if I wasn't at the hospital. She told me in the text that the doctors were about to do their rounds. I couldn't eat fast enough, and it would take me at least 10 minutes to walk to the hospital. The weather had done what it always does, it changed dramatically. I had done a load of washing very early in the morning and it was out on the line by around 6.30. Nothing like being early when it takes me. But by the time I was due to begin the walk to the hospital, it began to cloud over. Those black clouds brewing up to deliver a downpour. I was in two minds to bring in the two lines of washing but having gone out to check how dry it was I decided against it. I also wore my big blue jacket which has a hood and plenty of pockets in it to carry my mobile and wallet as I believed that Carol was likely to need cash or perhaps we would be coming home together and would need cash for something or other at the hospital. Something out of a vending machine perhaps.
On arrival on the ward the nurses were making her bed. No doctors in sight, unfortunately.
They bought round the lunches to the patients. Not exactly over-whelming. Fish and chips, but not exactly likely to achieve a few stars from Egon Ronay or any other restaurant reviewer.
By 2 o'clock Carol had a doctor's visit and it was decided that she could at last be discharged, thank goodness. She would have to return for further investigations and we'd have to wait for a letter to give her a date and time for an appointment. She already had a consultant's appointment for this week, 23rd August. We just had to wait for the paperwork to be done and the pharmacy to make up her medications for us to take with us.
By now it was threatening rain. A few drips seen outside. I had to walk home to get the car. I got home in time to avoid the rain, which started and it was torrential. I drove back to the hospital and parked in the ground-level carpark which we'd used when we'd come in to A and E on Tuesday morning. There was a flat roof just outside the window near Carol's bed on the ward. As it had been raining there was quite a large amount of water in a large pool on this flat room. The rain fell and filled this pool considerably. A couple of rather stupid looking pigeons came and paddled in it. It needed a few water lilies, ducks and perhaps some carp and it would have been complete.
As time was ticking by and it was taking longer to get the paperwork sorted so Carol could be discharged, I walked home to fetch the car and some clothes for Carol.
It took a good forty-five minutes to walk back to the house, collect some clothes for Carol in a carrier bag and drive back to the hospital. By now the rain was starting to fall heavily and I was beginning to feel a certain deja vu, having walked the same bit of path several times during the last couple of hours.
We eventually left to walk to the car, with all the things Carol had come in to the ward with. We went to pay for the carpark by putting the ticket I had collected when I'd parked earlier but for some reason the coins we put in wouldn't work. Neither did my debit card which we inserted. It just got rejected. Without paying by inserting your card into the machine and paying the required amount there was no way we would be able to leave through the exit barrier, but when we got to the exit barrier a little bit later we found it was up, so we assumed that there was some technical problem with the ticket machine or the barrier so we were able to leave without having to pay, which was actually a relief.
On Thursday we had hoped that one or other of the doctors who had been looking after her on the ward she eventually transferred to would be able to give us some idea of what their investigations had found, having done some scans and from observations since she arrived on Ward 19, having been mored from the Accute Ward which she had been on after her time in Accident and Emergency which we had gone to early on Tuesday morning.
I'm not going to explain here what the problem has been causing Carol so much pain as it would not be right to do so on here. Just let me say that it has been very difficult to see her in so much discomfort, regardless of the medication she has had. A lot of paracetamol, co-codemol and ibuprofen which doesn't seem to have helped in the long-run.
On Friday morning I was eating my lunch. Cheese and Rivita crackers. I got a text come in from Carol. I had taken her mobile so she could at least text me if I wasn't at the hospital. She told me in the text that the doctors were about to do their rounds. I couldn't eat fast enough, and it would take me at least 10 minutes to walk to the hospital. The weather had done what it always does, it changed dramatically. I had done a load of washing very early in the morning and it was out on the line by around 6.30. Nothing like being early when it takes me. But by the time I was due to begin the walk to the hospital, it began to cloud over. Those black clouds brewing up to deliver a downpour. I was in two minds to bring in the two lines of washing but having gone out to check how dry it was I decided against it. I also wore my big blue jacket which has a hood and plenty of pockets in it to carry my mobile and wallet as I believed that Carol was likely to need cash or perhaps we would be coming home together and would need cash for something or other at the hospital. Something out of a vending machine perhaps.
On arrival on the ward the nurses were making her bed. No doctors in sight, unfortunately.
They bought round the lunches to the patients. Not exactly over-whelming. Fish and chips, but not exactly likely to achieve a few stars from Egon Ronay or any other restaurant reviewer.
By 2 o'clock Carol had a doctor's visit and it was decided that she could at last be discharged, thank goodness. She would have to return for further investigations and we'd have to wait for a letter to give her a date and time for an appointment. She already had a consultant's appointment for this week, 23rd August. We just had to wait for the paperwork to be done and the pharmacy to make up her medications for us to take with us.
By now it was threatening rain. A few drips seen outside. I had to walk home to get the car. I got home in time to avoid the rain, which started and it was torrential. I drove back to the hospital and parked in the ground-level carpark which we'd used when we'd come in to A and E on Tuesday morning. There was a flat roof just outside the window near Carol's bed on the ward. As it had been raining there was quite a large amount of water in a large pool on this flat room. The rain fell and filled this pool considerably. A couple of rather stupid looking pigeons came and paddled in it. It needed a few water lilies, ducks and perhaps some carp and it would have been complete.
As time was ticking by and it was taking longer to get the paperwork sorted so Carol could be discharged, I walked home to fetch the car and some clothes for Carol.
It took a good forty-five minutes to walk back to the house, collect some clothes for Carol in a carrier bag and drive back to the hospital. By now the rain was starting to fall heavily and I was beginning to feel a certain deja vu, having walked the same bit of path several times during the last couple of hours.
We eventually left to walk to the car, with all the things Carol had come in to the ward with. We went to pay for the carpark by putting the ticket I had collected when I'd parked earlier but for some reason the coins we put in wouldn't work. Neither did my debit card which we inserted. It just got rejected. Without paying by inserting your card into the machine and paying the required amount there was no way we would be able to leave through the exit barrier, but when we got to the exit barrier a little bit later we found it was up, so we assumed that there was some technical problem with the ticket machine or the barrier so we were able to leave without having to pay, which was actually a relief.
No comments:
Post a Comment