(Thursday) It's quite mild this morning, compared, at least, to what it's been over the past couple of days. A few days ago I woke to fog as I peered out of the bathroom window as I was shaving, but this cleared gradually as the day progressed.
I was booked to have an appointment at the Oxford Heart Centre Outpatient and Echocardiology Department at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford this morning. Try saying that in a hurry. I must say it's a bit of a mouthful, and I would feel sorry for anyone working there if they had to answer the telephone to anyone who rang that department and you were expected to say all that!
I drove to the Oaktree Centre, home of Shenley Christian Fellowship, to meet Dave, who was going to drive me to Oxford. I got there in good time, at around 9.15. It shouldn't take more than an hour to get to Oxford, driving out through Buckingham, taking the route I know well because Carol and I always seemed to be going somewhere or other in that direction, probably visiting a Naional Trust property, Stowe Lanscape Gardens being the nearest to Buckingham. We got to the John Radcliffe with pelnty of time to spare before I was due for my appointment, but there was the thorny problem of parking Dave's car. On arrival we had to endure sitting in a queue of vehicles entering the hospital campus. As time was ticking on slowly and there was no sign of finding a carpark, I decided to get out of the car and walk to the reception at the hospital entrance and then text Dave to let him know where I was and then meet up again in the Marks and Spencer cafe near the entrance. It's such a big hospital, almost like a town in itself. So, I walked to reception and got directions to the department my appointment was in.
I got to the Heart Centre and showed the young man on the reception desk and he signed me in and it was then a question of sitting down in the waiting area and, well, what else do you generally do in a waiting area, but wait? A good deal more spacious than the Cardiology department at Milton Keynes hospital. The decorating is a lot more imaginative, not the standard colours, usually white, and far fewer posters. The John Radcliffe seems so much more spacious, the corridors are wider. Is it because Milton Keynes hospital was built on the cheap? It always seems to me that it looks as if the buildings were prefabricated and now, some 40-odd years after it was built, looks a bit shabby. I know they've built a brand new entrance with a Costa inside, but it still looks cheap. I know the money should go on the actual care and treatment of the patients, but the buildings do have an air of sort of run down.
Nobody wants to give anyone eye-contact in these waiting areas. Stare straight ahead and avoid anyone's gaze. I found they had some interesting magazines I would have liked to read, the Royal Academy magazine. Goodness! Something intelligent. Not the usual ancient editions of Reader's Digest, or, usually, women's magazines, or those which are about the goings-on of 'celebrities.' It wasn't long before I was ushered into a side-room by a male nurse and he did some measurements of my height and weight and blood pressure. All quite normal. I then went back to sit in the waiting area once I had finished and it was around a ten-minute wait before a consultant came out of his room with a clipboard in hand and called out my name.
It would appear that I'm doing alright, regarding my heart-health. I was asked if I had had any further angina attacks, to which my answer was, no, I haven't. I'm generally feeling fine. I did say that I got tired easily and I asked if it was likely to be any of my medications, and, if so, could anything be changed, and was told that possibly it was the beta-blockers, the bisoporlol, so I might be able to stop taking that medication. It would be helpful to not get so tired. I want to do a whole day at Camphill, because at the moment I only do three hours, finishing at noon. The consultnt said that he would write to my doctor as well as sending me a copy, and suggest I stop taking the bisoprolol. There are no other problems or complications. I asked if it was possible I could feel one of the stents when I lay on my side in bed at night. There was a possibility that I could. Since having the stents fitted I haven't had any angina pain. Nothing else to report and that was the end of the consultation. I did ask if there was a possibility that any further appointments could be conducted at the cardiology department at Milton Keynes hospital, as it would be more convenient, as it's only a 10-minute walk away from my home, and he said that it would be fine. It's just a long way to go for what was only a 15-minute appointment and I don't have any serious health issues, otherwise I would have to go back to the John Radcliffe. I left the department, texting Dave that the appointment was over and we met up in the Marks and Spencer cafe and I had a sandwich and a drink and we went back to his car and we drove home to Milton Keynes.
I was booked to have an appointment at the Oxford Heart Centre Outpatient and Echocardiology Department at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford this morning. Try saying that in a hurry. I must say it's a bit of a mouthful, and I would feel sorry for anyone working there if they had to answer the telephone to anyone who rang that department and you were expected to say all that!
I drove to the Oaktree Centre, home of Shenley Christian Fellowship, to meet Dave, who was going to drive me to Oxford. I got there in good time, at around 9.15. It shouldn't take more than an hour to get to Oxford, driving out through Buckingham, taking the route I know well because Carol and I always seemed to be going somewhere or other in that direction, probably visiting a Naional Trust property, Stowe Lanscape Gardens being the nearest to Buckingham. We got to the John Radcliffe with pelnty of time to spare before I was due for my appointment, but there was the thorny problem of parking Dave's car. On arrival we had to endure sitting in a queue of vehicles entering the hospital campus. As time was ticking on slowly and there was no sign of finding a carpark, I decided to get out of the car and walk to the reception at the hospital entrance and then text Dave to let him know where I was and then meet up again in the Marks and Spencer cafe near the entrance. It's such a big hospital, almost like a town in itself. So, I walked to reception and got directions to the department my appointment was in.
I got to the Heart Centre and showed the young man on the reception desk and he signed me in and it was then a question of sitting down in the waiting area and, well, what else do you generally do in a waiting area, but wait? A good deal more spacious than the Cardiology department at Milton Keynes hospital. The decorating is a lot more imaginative, not the standard colours, usually white, and far fewer posters. The John Radcliffe seems so much more spacious, the corridors are wider. Is it because Milton Keynes hospital was built on the cheap? It always seems to me that it looks as if the buildings were prefabricated and now, some 40-odd years after it was built, looks a bit shabby. I know they've built a brand new entrance with a Costa inside, but it still looks cheap. I know the money should go on the actual care and treatment of the patients, but the buildings do have an air of sort of run down.
Nobody wants to give anyone eye-contact in these waiting areas. Stare straight ahead and avoid anyone's gaze. I found they had some interesting magazines I would have liked to read, the Royal Academy magazine. Goodness! Something intelligent. Not the usual ancient editions of Reader's Digest, or, usually, women's magazines, or those which are about the goings-on of 'celebrities.' It wasn't long before I was ushered into a side-room by a male nurse and he did some measurements of my height and weight and blood pressure. All quite normal. I then went back to sit in the waiting area once I had finished and it was around a ten-minute wait before a consultant came out of his room with a clipboard in hand and called out my name.
It would appear that I'm doing alright, regarding my heart-health. I was asked if I had had any further angina attacks, to which my answer was, no, I haven't. I'm generally feeling fine. I did say that I got tired easily and I asked if it was likely to be any of my medications, and, if so, could anything be changed, and was told that possibly it was the beta-blockers, the bisoporlol, so I might be able to stop taking that medication. It would be helpful to not get so tired. I want to do a whole day at Camphill, because at the moment I only do three hours, finishing at noon. The consultnt said that he would write to my doctor as well as sending me a copy, and suggest I stop taking the bisoprolol. There are no other problems or complications. I asked if it was possible I could feel one of the stents when I lay on my side in bed at night. There was a possibility that I could. Since having the stents fitted I haven't had any angina pain. Nothing else to report and that was the end of the consultation. I did ask if there was a possibility that any further appointments could be conducted at the cardiology department at Milton Keynes hospital, as it would be more convenient, as it's only a 10-minute walk away from my home, and he said that it would be fine. It's just a long way to go for what was only a 15-minute appointment and I don't have any serious health issues, otherwise I would have to go back to the John Radcliffe. I left the department, texting Dave that the appointment was over and we met up in the Marks and Spencer cafe and I had a sandwich and a drink and we went back to his car and we drove home to Milton Keynes.
No comments:
Post a Comment