Mild and Sunny Weather

Sunday. 8.15 a.m. Well, here I am again, once more writing this blog. I haven't real;y wanted to write it, but after such a long break, I did decide to continue.

I now have my bed reconstructed. It came with me when I moved from the house in Eaglestone and had come with us when we moved from the house in Crownhill. It is a rather nice IKEA king sized bed and because of it's construction, it didn't really appreciate being dismantled and then reconstructed. I think there were parts that got mislaid, and I had broken it up and put the mattress on the floor and attempted to sleep on it. I asked someone at church if there was the possibility of him being able to reassemble it, so he came to have a look one Saturday and then got some brackets which were used in the reconstruction. It is now in one piece and my sleep-pattern is getting more or less back to normal, thankfully.

Around three weeks ago, a Wednesday, at around 6 a.m., I had a sharp pain in my chest. Having had two heart attacks, I have a fairly good idea what a heart attack feels like, although in some ways if I have heart burn, it can feel very similar. I used my G.T.N. spray, but it didn't make a lot of difference and then I took a  Gaviscon, a tablet  which usually relieves heart burn fairly rapidly, but this time it didn't.

By about 9.30 the discomfort hadn't gone away, so I thought it necessary to get assistance from Vashti, the Dexter House S.H.O. She wasn't in the front office, so another tenant went to find her in a flat with another tenant, and she eventually came to talk to me. It ended with me using my mobile to dial 999 and the paramedics came within about 20 minutes.

The paramedics ran a few tests on me, one hooking me up to their portable E.C.G. machine and from the printout they could see I had an irregular heartbeat. From this they decided that I should go to Accident and Emergency at Milton Keynes Hospital, but then they decided that I should avoid A and E and go into the Maple Centre.

I was left in the reception area by the paramedics, who handed me over and I was eventually taken into a triage room and a nurse took my blood, which was somewhat difficult as I might have mentioned in earlier posts, I don't like giving blood, or needles and at one point in the past, I passed out. Anyway, she did eventually manage to take some blood and I was then taken through to wait in a corridor, which seemed to be for a long time.

I texted someone from church, just so they knee where I was. I was eventually texted back to say where I was and part-way through the afternoon I was joined by Margaret, who sat with e in that corridor.

I was eventually seen by a doctor, who had seen the various blood tests and E.C.G. readings and informed me that I had had a abnormal heart beat which would have caused the pain I had felt earlier. He informed me that I hadn't had a heart attack, which was a relief.

So, having had this piece of news I was free to go home, and Margaret, bless her, drove me there.

The following Wednesday night I woke up to use the toilet, but on the way back to bed I collapsed on the floor. I had no idea why, but it was somewhat unexpected. I told Vashti when she came to my door around 9 o'clock. The next thing I know is I'm laying on the floor, but having absolutely no idea why. I think I must have blacked out and, as a result, collapsed on the floor in the space between the bathroom and bedroom. It was the oddest sensation, and Vashti was standing over me, calling my name. She got me to sit up and said that, because I'd collapsed twice within 24 hours, it would be advisable for me to go to Accident and Emergency.

I had intended ringing 111, but I could not get through, so, instead, I rang 999 for an ambulance. It was around 30 minutes later that paramedics were knocking on my door. I was soon given a check and then an E.C.G. was connected to me. From this, it was possible to read the print-out and see that I had a somewhat irregular heart beat.

I was whisked off to A and E (although I noticed it isn't called 'A and E.' It's referred to as the 'E.D' department, which is short for 'Emergency Department.' But it could be mistaken for something else which has those initials. 

A great deal of being left waiting, which is the usual thing in any A and E department. I had bloods taken, several E.C.Gs and at one point, because I had fallen heavily when I'd blacked out, I had a C.T. scan and an X-ray, which didn't show any breaks, fractures or anything else. But they had to take a fresh blood sample because the first one wouldn't take, for some reason or other.

After a doctor had seen me, it was decided that I should be fitted with a heart monitor. This consisted of similar contacts  that are used when you're connected to an E.C.G. machine. This had contacts stuck on my chest and then to a machine, so I had to lay on a bed in the A and E department, which made moving around quite difficult, particularly if I had need of the toilet, because I had to get a nurse to disconnect me from machine. If I pulled any of the cables off accidentally, the machine made a noise. All this made life very difficult.

Quite late in the evening, it was decided that I would need to stay in over-night. At around 2-3 a.m. I was eventually taken upstairs to Ward 1,  a new ward and part of the Maple Centre. It was dark when I was eventually taken in, being pushed in a bed by a nurse. The unit had only 4 beds and t was very spacious.

A doctor came to see me on the ward during the morning. He said that my blackout was a rare occurrence, but, since  had had two heart attacks, it was likely to happen. He also said that I was on far too much medication and took me off caesarean and isosorbide mononitrate

I had breakfast and lunch and I was eventually discharged at around 3.30 that afternoon and was collected by Margaret Jobling. She managed to find a place to park at the front of the hospital. I had intended walking there, but I wasn't allowed to and had to wait for a porter to take me by wheelchair. I don't actually think I would have managed to walk as it was quite a distance, but I was glad to be out of the hospital environment and soon back in my flat.

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?

'Mission Impossible' Squirrel and Blood Tests

A far more relaxed Monday morning. Carol is now at home, so none of that walking along that interminable hospital corridor on my way to Ward 20.

I was sitting on my own with Alfie on my lap, giving him some attention early this morning. He's been quite confused over the nearly three weeks with Carol in hospital. He usually sleeps on our bed, but with Carol sometimes finding it far more comfortable on the sofa downstairs, the poor little dog has had divided loyalties, spending half the night upstairs but then trotting off downstairs sometime in the wee small hours. But even more confused with her not being here at all. He's been following me around the house when I've been here on my own, almost being like a shadow, even when I got to the toilet or have a bath. The other day he was looking really depressed, laying on our bed, in the place where Carol would have been, and downstairs on the sofa, laying in the corner of the sofa where she would have been. It's been quite sad really.

Anyway, returning to what I had intended to write on here. As I looked out of the window towards the garden (which isn't a fair description if it as it's just grass and more grass with a few trees over-hanging the fence and a tatty shed covered in bamboo screening because it looked so awful. You can get into it as the door is hanging off and it's full of some previous tenant's ancient and mouldy mattress which you could see through the cobwebby windows, enough to put anyone off, so totally useless for us as a place to store anything, such as a bicycle.) As I sat in the lounge I saw a squirrel on the top of the shed. It was twitching it's tale, which I believe means a threat. I think it was aware that Alfie was nearby. Perhaps it could see us through the window. Alfie wasn't aware of it and was looking the wrong way. Then the squirrel ran along the left-hand fence, down the fence and onto the grass and then up the central pole of the bird feeding station. Quite amazing that it could climb this metal pole. It than began to climb onto the cross-pieces and eat from the nut-feeder. At one point it hung upside down from the top-most branches, a bit like someone out of a movie like 'Mission Impossible.' Even then Alfie didn't notice what was going on. It was certainly quite entertaining. Then it climbed back down the central pole and shot across the grass, up onto the fence and away into the trees behind the fence. I could see it leaping about in the branches of the tree. It came back a couple of times and then flew across the back fence and off.

When Carol was discharge from Ward 20 last Friday she was told that she would need to have a blood test and that she would need to go to the Maple Centre at the hospital to have one done. I still can't see why they couldn't do it on the ward, as the phlebotomist was always coming to her room to take blood. Not exactly a job for me because needles and blood for me don't go together. Well, of course, they do in order to take blood from a patient, by my propensity to pass out when I give blood.

We drove back to the hospital, fortunately living only a short distance, it's not far. We parked in the ground-level carpark and I managed to park virtually opposite The Maple Centre, so it wasn't far to walk. On arriving at the reception desk, we asked the receptionist about having to come in for a blood test to be told that the blood centre wasn't open on a Monday. So you can imagine our annoyance at being told to come in when we left Ward 20, but were soon told we had to go to another part of the centre, the Emergency something-or-other department. We waited in the obligatory waiting room, with other people. I have to talk everyone I meet, wherever possible, and I spoke to this lady who was there with her daughter. Pity I had to open my mouth, as she had to tell me absolutely every detail of her daughter's illness. Some rare disorder, part of which was being managed by the hospital we'd been to on Friday, The John Radcliffe. Some people seem to make a full-time career of their illnesses and relish telling anyone who will listen the ins and outs of their illness, the therapies they have to use, even their medications, operations, all the details that, frankly, you don't want to hear. I couldn't get a word in sideways, and it was just as well they left for their appointment, otherwise I think I would have gone slightly doo-lalley.

Then Carol was called in to have her blood test. She was gone about ten minutes and when she came back she said that the results would be known in about an hour. We could stay in he unit to then get the results but we decided to go home, as it's only a short car journey away. So we decided to go home and await a telephone call with the results. We had to go through the ticket-machine routine once more. One machine wasn't working, and the other one had a queue of people using it. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long and managed to get home quickly.

We did some house work, changing the bedding (duvet-changing is my least enjoyable task. Putting a duvet cover on is difficult enough, but a king size one is perhaps even more difficult, and we couldn't find all the matching sheets and pillow cases, but we eventually found them and the job was done.

Almost on cue the phone rang. My mobile. But, on running downstairs and almost breaking my neck in the process and finding my mobile in the lonuge I wasn't too pleased to find out it wasn't the hospital, but someone attempting to sell electricity and gas or something. I have to say I gave the man on the other end of the line a piece of my mind, wasting our time and effort.

But then the call did come from the hospital. They wanted us to go back as the doctors wanted to see Carol and have a word with her.

We drove back, I dropped Carol outside the Maple Centre and a parked the car and then I walked back into the unit. There were several more people in the waiting room, but one man, who was there earlier, was still waiting. I have to say I was somewhat sad for him, having to wait patiently to be seen.

It was excessively hot. It's the old thing again, which I couldn't but help but notice on Ward 20. The heating was turned up far too high. It might be November, by why run the heating at full blast? In the ward we had to have a fan on full-time and the window open, to reduce the heat. But in the Maple Unit I was beginning to get really hot and beginning to wilt like a lettuce. More like the temperature you've expect in a hot-house, ideal for growing tomatoes or the more exotic fruit such as pineapples or oranges. Surely the N.H.S. can ill afford such profligacy and it might solve a lot of their financial problems if they cut the temperature in such places.



After some considerable length of time Carol was called in to see the doctors. Not just one, but several, together with a nurse. One was sitting working on a computer and I wasn't entirely sure whether she was part of the consultation. One was doing all the talking (a doctor) whilst another was standing at a sort of metal stand writing notes on yellow paper. It would appear, from the blood test, that Carol's kidneys weren't functioning properly. No surprise considering all the medication she has to take. They wanted her to come back into the hospital, but we weren't happy about this, considering she'd only been discharged on Friday. For me, the thought of having to keep coming in, walking all that way to the ward, would have been too much, but they said it would be O.K. for her to go home so long as she drank plenty and she came back tomorrow (Tuesday) for another blood test so they could keep an eye on her kidney function. So that is what we agreed.

Thankfully we could go home and on the way we went to the Coop in Netherfield, just over the road from the hospital, to buy some few items for lunch and our evening meal.

So, Carol has to drink plenty of fluids for the next 24 hours. Then we have to return to the Maple Centre tomorrow morning and they're going to do yet another blood test to find out if her kidney function has improved. I just hope so as I don't want her back in hospital. I know they have to get on top of all these things before the chemotherapy begins, but that place is a nightmare.

Hospital Appointment For Carol

Carol had to go for a hospital appointment this morning. She went into the Academy as usual, but walked home at around 10.45. The actual appointment was 11.30. As the hospital is so close, there was really no point driving, because we'd only have to pay to use the hospital car park, and it would be quicker to walk, what with traffic. It's no more than a ten minute walk there, along the Redway behind our house and then straight through to the path that runs beside the road. The only problem was that it was threatening to rain, a miserable undecided sort of day on the weather-front, overcast and cold.

We had to walk around the front of the hospital complex, to the Maple Centre, which is near the entrance for Accident and Emergency. In through the front entrance and we were inside a typical N.H.S. unit. Why do they always have that air of depression, the same rather strong smell, clean, but unpleasant? Is it the cleaning material they use, or what is it? Over-clean, I think. Obsessively so. It's difficult to see immediately where you have to go. So many signs, go here, co there. Reception desk, do you sign in or not? I would have come with Carol anyway, but in the letter she had for the appointment, it said that she needed to bring someone with her as they would put drops in her eyes as part of the procedure and she wouldn't be safe to drive afterwards and, as a result, also have a pair of dark glasses as her eyes would be sensitive to bright light. At the reception desk Carol gives the woman behind the counter the letter she was sent and the information is put in the computer. Signed in and told to sit and wait. We go and sit in the Yellow Bay. A lot of old people sitting and waiting. It's even more depressing. Nobody talks. Nobody wants to give anyone eye contact. Which is ironic, when you think it's the eye clinic. Carol is here because she's recently been diagnosed as diabetic and they have to check your eyes to prevent eye problems which might result. The place is decorated white, cold, typically N.H.S., standard paintwork. Why can't it be done in more bright and colourful colours? Surely it wouldn't cost anymore. As people walk about the floor seems to move. It's got a strange sort of movement, as if the place is built on springs or something. Why is it like that? The Carol gets called to go in to her appointment. I make notes in my notebook I try to take with me everywhere. This is a good place to study characters, people's behaviours. A woman comes in with a baby in a stroller. I'm not actually sure what you call these things- stroller, buggy, baby-carrier. Anyway, a complicated machine with wheels, lots of levers and handles and the actual bit into which the baby is inserted, padded and comfortable, with straps and looking to me like a sort of coal scuttle. I think it disconnects so it can be put into a car, with the baby safe within it. Then a second lady arrives, and it turns out she is the sister of the other lady with a baby. Why are they here? Is it her appointment, or the babies? Difficult to know.

The Carol calls to me from another waiting area. Green Bay. She says, come in here and sit with me. She has to wait for 20 minutes for the drops she has had put in her eyes to take effect. Green Bay is even more depressing than Yellow Bay. I don't see how you differentiate between the coloured bays, but Carol says it's the door-frames, painted different colours. The green paint in Green Bay is rather insipid, not a proper green to my way of thinking. The place has posters all over the walls, rather too many for my liking. Don't do this, don't do that, information over-kill. They tell you that, if you use a mobile phone, to respect other patients privacy. As if you'd ever not. But I suppose some people have no idea about 'respect.' Probably use their mobile to take a 'selfie'. As if you'd want to in a hospital. There's free wifi, so presumably it's alright to use a mobile. I was always under the impression you weren't supposed to use your mobile at all in a hospital. Something about the radio signals they use interfering with the computers and other equipment. But there is no evidence that this is true.

It's so gloomy. Nobody wants to talk to you. People being lead about, rather like the blind leading the blind. More deep irony. We just want to have a laugh. Why are the people in here so miserable? I know, a hospital isn't a particularly laugh-out-loud sort of place, and especially a department like this.  But please, just lighten up. I think I'd go completely nuts if I couldn't have a laugh. So many old people, just looking miserable, is enough to drive you completely doo-lalley. There's not even a television to watch or a coffee machine. Nothing to while away the time.  A pile of ancient magazines, most more or less past their best before day, if they ever had one in the first place. Can't the N.H.S. employ a stand-up comedian to get people to at least SMILE? laughter- supposedly the best form of medicine. Then Carol gets called back into the room to have a chat with the clinician or whatever he's called about her eyes. They take photographs of her eyes, which is why they put the drops into her eyes so that your pupils dilate which makes taking the photographs easier. I had this done when I had my eyes tested the other week.

Which reminds me, also on an eye-related matter. I have been to SpecSavers, on Wednesday, in Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, to have the prescription I got when I had my eyes tested the other week, and I'm having two pairs of glasses made up, for £69 (a really good offer.) One pair will be for distance work (for example, driving, watching television etc.) and another pair for reading, using the computer etc, more close work.) These will be ready next Wednesday.

So, having been back in to chat with the clinician, she comes back out and we leave. It's a matter of finding your way out into the hospital campus and trying to decipher the various conflicting notices, some saying 'Exit' and 'Way Out.' It's bright sunshine when we get outside and Carol puts on the dark glasses she bought with her. We stroll back home through the hospital grounds and back into Eaglestone and along the Redway and home.