Saturday 26 January 2013

A trip to the Eye Infirmary

Thursday 1st September 2011

All day my right eye had been itchy which is a sure sign that I'm getting a cold sore on it. However whenever I'd looked in the mirror I couldn't see any blisters.

While I was waiting for John to come out of the bathroom so we could do our weekly shopping at Morrisons, I had another quick look in the mirror to see if I could find any little tell-tale cold sore blisters.

They were hard to find as they were on the white of my eye, however they were there.....

“Huston. We have a problem”, I said to John when he came out of the bathroom, “I've got a cold sore in my eye”.

“Right”, said John slowly, as he always does when he's thinking.

We both had a think of what best to do in getting me to the eye infirmary.

“We have three options”, I said, “one, we go now and leave the shopping until tomorrow; two, we go shopping, drop off the stuff back here then go; and three we go to the hospital in the morning”.

“OK”, replied John, “so what do you want to do”.

“I'd rather not have option three given that the blisters are actually in the eye”, I explained, “how do you feel about going shopping tomorrow”.

“I don't....”, John replied, “so that leaves just option two. Happy with that”.

We pulled into the Eye Infirmary's car park at 8.50pm. A porter opened the side door for us.
“You may have a long wait”, he said, “as it's rather busy tonight”.

As the receptionist only works office hours, to get any attention you have to knock on the triage door.

A nurse popped her head out of the door, wrote my name down on a bit of paper, then disappeared back into the room.

A couple of minutes later I was called into the triage room. After taking some details I was back into the waiting area. There must have been a dozen people before me. Spending the evening in their A&E wasn't something I had planned to do tonight !!!!

The door into the doctors consultants room opened. “Marie Harper”, called out the doctor. I had only just sat down......

“So what can I do for you”, asked the young lady doctor.

“I've got some cold sores in my eye”, I replied, “I get them quite a bit”.

“Any other medical problems”, she asked.

I looked at John who had come into the consultants room with me and we both laughed.

“Where do I start”, I replied, and gave her a very brief history.

“Poor you!”, she said, after I had finished, “you have been in the wars”.

I was given the usual eye ointment and we were back home at 9.20pm.

The night was still ours....

Sunday 6 January 2013

The return of the back man

Wednesday 31st August 2011

Yet another visit to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

This time it was to see the Back Man. I am to tell him what I already told him back in June about having an operation on my back. The answer is no....

One of the nurses called out my name so I slowly made my way to the nurses station.

“Take this slip down to x-ray”, she said, handing me a white form.

“Why”, I enquired, “I wasn't told the last time I was having any x-rays today”.

She had a look through my notes, “it's for your right hip and right knee”.

“I'm here for my back, not my knee”, I replied.

“Kermit has asked that an x-ray of your right hip and right knee be taken on arrival at your next appointment”, she snapped..

“I'm here to see the Back Man, not Kermit”, I said.

She looked at my notes again, “waiting area two”, she barked.

About twenty minutes later we (my Mam have come with me again as John couldn’t get time off work) were called into the consulting room.

“Good afternoon”, smiled the Back Man as he sat on the consulting room bed, “I've had another look at your MRI scan and I'm afraid there isn't anything I can do for you”.

“But I thought you said you could operate”, replied my Mam.

“I thought that too”, he answered, “but having looked at the MRI scan again there isn't anywhere for the metal rods to be attached to”.

He brought up my MRS scan on the computer, “the rods would go there”, he said, pointing to the discs, “and they would be held into place by putting screws into the hip joint and pelvis. Unfortunately as you don't have a hip joint on your left side, there is nowhere for the screws to attach to”.

I’m just glad I had initially decided against having the operation as it would have been yet another blow if I’d built up my hopes only for them to be dashed again.