Here and There

I went out for the, by now, routine walk with Alfie, around the park. He came back slightly damp because the effect of the recent rain had left the grass quite wet and he also came in the house with bits of twig and other plant matter stuck into his coat. He really doesn't like it and kept stopping to pull it out with his teeth.

Carol had to be at the Maple Centre this morning to have the P.I.C.C. line removed. This was scheduled for 10.30, but on the way we went to Ashfield to check to see if a repeat prescription was ready for collection. One was for oramorph, is a controlled medication so the prescription can't be sent electronically to the pharmacy at Lloyd's at Sainsbury's as can other medications. You have to sign specifically for it. Fortunately it was ready for collection. We got there at around 9.30 which meant we would be far too early at the hospital so we drove to the Ouzel ValleyPark, somewhere we've taken the dogs to but haven't been to for a long while. It's a pleasant place and not far from our home. We walked for quite a way, and considering Carol's health condition we managed to go quite a way and then came back to the carpark and sat at one of the picnic tables. It was a warm and sunny morning. It was actually strange walking without a dog and may come back tomorrow with Alfie.

We then drove to Milton Keynes hospital. We managed to park the car directly opposite the Maple Centre so it wasn't too far to walk. We reported to the reception desk in the A.E.C.U., which is within the Maple Centre. We came here a few months ago when we had to wait for Carol to see a doctor after a blood test and we waited something like six hours. Not a particularly pleasant experience but there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Fortunately this time Carol was attended to very quickly and the nurse managed to remove the P.I.C.C. line relatively quickly and they did all the obs they always do, blood pressure, temperature and so on. After having the P.I.C.C. line in her arm for so long (actually the second of two. The first put in late last year before the 12 cycles of chemotherapy began in December and the second when she was in hospital for a total of 4 weeks.) Carol was totally relieve to be without it as it has been rather restricting having it in place for so long.

We then drove across town to Sainsbury's to have the two prescriptions made up at Lloyd's pharmacy and to do some shopping and then returned home.

Short Trip To Hospital

Early morning and it's hot. It's going to be another scorching hot day. Just as well we don't have to do much, although Carol needed to pick up antibiotic tablets from Milton Keynes Hospital. We weren't sure where to go to collect them. It would have been easier for us to go to the pharmacy in the hospital.

I took Alfie out for his, by now, daily walk. He's following me around the house, making sure I'm aware that we hadn't been out. We do the usual circuit of the park and we see the two little dogs we came upon a couple of days ago. Chihuahuas both, one a brown-and-white and the other black. The black one, Poppy, obsessed with a rubber ball, very protective of it. Alfie just wants to be friends with them. He's not going to bother with the ball. After all, he's a terrier and not a reliever and don't you know it. He runs rings around both dogs and wags his tail frantically. Just having a lovely time. Really great that he's socialising with the dogs he meets.

Right. Having walked Alfie and had breakfast, we had to go into the hospital to the A.E.C.U.           (Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit) department in the Maple Centre.  Actually we didn't at first know it was there. We parked in the hospital multi-storey carpark and walked to the reception in the new hospital entrance. Well, not probably that new, as it has been opened for about 6-8 months now. It was here that we were directed to the Maple Centre. Had we known, we would have parked at the front of the hospital, in the ground-level carpark, which is actually directly opposite the Maple Centre. Never mind. We were somewhat surprised that there were notices along the top of the low wall outside the main entrance, telling you not to sit on it. Why? What reason was there that you couldn't sit on a wall, particularly at the moment when it's so hot? Might it be because the wall isn't designed to take a person or persons sitting on it? Are they concerned that it might collapse and then be sued for injury? Is it our old friend Health and Safety gone slightly crazy? Oh, never mind, there are a couple of benches further along which are designed to be sat upon and not likely to collapse if you sit on them. It was a relatively short walk around the hospital campus to get there. We spoke to a lady on the reception but then we had to go round the corner to the A.E.C.U., which is where Carol had to come a couple of months ago, when we had to wait virtually all day before a doctor could deal with a situation she had at that time. It wasn't long before on of the nurses managed to find the antibiotics that were needed and handed over a package of these medications to take home. Fortunately, when we returned to the multi-storey car park and out our ticket in the payment machine, we didn't have to pay anything, no doubt because we hadn't been more than half and hour, which means you don't have to pay.

Another Unpleasant N.H.S. Experience

On Monday Carol had to have a blood test done. She was told this when she was on Ward 20. There was no particular time she had to go to the Maple Centre at Milton Keynes Hospital. On arrival we went to the reception desk, to be told that the Blood Unit wasn't open on a Monday. Just made us feel annoyed to learn this, but once the lady on the desk looked at her computer she told us that Carol was going to be in the Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit (A.E.C.U), which is through a door and along the corridor. So, we followed the signs and landed up at another reception desk. Carol was on the system and we had to wait in the waiting room. Another of those bland rooms with bland decoration with the standard N.H.S. fittings: sink, rubbish bin (with 'silent closing.' I can't in all honesty what's so 'Silent' about a bin closing. Just don't use your hands to push the lid down when you've put your rubbish in. It's supposed to close itself automatically, but not many of them do, so the lid will stay half-closed.) a water-cooler, a few uncomfortable plastic chairs (although there were a couple of better padded chairs, again, standard N.H.S. furniture) and it appeared that the room wasn't originally intended as a waiting room as there was the trunking you find in N.H.S. wards everywhere, with a row of power points and places to plug in oxygen and other things. We sat and waited. People coming and going. Some in wheelchairs. People trying hard not to make eye-contact with others, low voices. Nothing to keep you occupied. The television on the wall not working, and a pile of really ancient and very tatty magazines. After about 20minutes Carol was called away by a nurse. I was left to twiddle my fingers. One man quite intent on talking, fortunately. 

After around half an hour Carol returned. She said that the results of the blood test would be known after an hour. We could either wait where we were or go home and wait to get a telephone call from the department. We chose to go home. Fortunately the car was parked over the road from the Maple Centre. We drove home, only a short distance, fortunately. We had some housework to do, for example changing our bedding. Changing a duvet cover is not exactly my favourite occupation, but it needed doing. Had coffee and then, after an hour or so the phone rang. The doctors wanted to see Carol, and could we come back to the Maple Centre? Yes, we could, even though it meant paying to park yet again. On arrival back at the Maple Centre we saw the doctors, to be told that the blood test had shown up a slight problem. It might mean Carol having to be readmitted to Ward 20. She had got somewhat dehydrated. The alternative was to return home and drink plenty, which is what we decided to do. We would need to return the following day (Tuesday) for Carol to have another blood test to check that her kidney were working properly. So we went home.

The next day we returned yet again to the Maple Centre.  We waited in the waiting room. More poor souls with pained expressions, waiting for whatever procedures to be done on them. This time the television was on, so we could at least watch that to elevate the boredom. The blood test was done fairly quickly and because Carol was experiencing so much pain she went into the Ambulatory Emergency Care Unit and allowed to lay on one of their beds, or rather, one of those trolleys they have in A and E, but with parts that could be raised or lowered. So at least we didn't have to wait in that miserable waiting room.  We were told that it would be an hour before the results of the new blood test were available. So we waited. Apparently, the doctors who would give the information were not permanently assigned to the department. They could be doing ward rounds, in A and E, or even in theatre doing surgery, so we wouldn't get an immediate response. A crazy way to use doctors. Why not assign doctors permanently to this department? Was it a shortage of cash? It's quite obvious to me now, having spent so much time in Milton Keynes Hospital, that they are short of funding, particularly for staff. When I was with Carol on Ward 20, I was able to help her with her personal care, no doubt a job that would have been done by a Health Auxilliary or whatever the staff title would be, probably Assistant. So why would have done this work for her? Helping her move about with the drip stand on wheels, which it would be difficult to manage on her own.

A good six hours after we arrived in the Maple Centre the doctors appeared. We were at the point where we had decided if we didn't get a response soon we would go home and wait for them to telephone us and possibly come back to the Unit to see the doctors in the morning. But it turned out that the blood test hadn't shown up that there was a problem with Carol's kidneys, so it was fine for her to go home. Thank goodness! All that time sitting in that place, with no clear idea when we would get a result. After all that, we could have received the news via a telephone call. So fortunately Carol didn't have to endure another night on Ward 20.

I really begin to wonder whether they missed some of Carol's medication on the ward, as she was supposed to be on antibiotics, because Carol got that call when I was at church on Sunday and then had to fetch the prescription from Ward 20 and then had to go and get it made up in Boot's at Kingston and she was supposed to be on a drip to dehydrate her but this was left off. What on earth were they doing? A lack of proper care? Probably all this not doing her kidneys much good, although, with all the medication she's currently on, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't upset her kidneys. There's o point on being on antibiotics if the course isn't completed. It can make things worse, but as I'm not a healthcare professional, how would I know?