Hospital Hiccups

Hi all,

It's been an interesting few days.

First, I must mention the terrible events that have taken place in France. I am not a political person and I don't like to make statements about events because I don't think I have enough knowledge to back up my gut feelings which is what I always go by.
The 'Charlie Hebdo' massacre was a tragedy and an outrage and, earlier this evening, I sat and watched live BBC coverage of two hostage situations being brought to an end. 12 innocent people slaughtered one day and 4 hostages killed today. Apparently, 2 of the murderers were brothers who were well known to authorities around the world. How on earth were they able to walk freely among the French people, get weapons and enter a building and shoot people? Reports say that they were both shot by police and they were shot down after they ran at the police shooting at random. I suppose, in their heads, they were making the ultimate sacrifice and dying as heroes. How very sad that my immediate reaction was that I was glad they had been killed. That feeling goes against everything I think I believe in but those two men murdered 12 innocent people in cold blood.

Anyway, moving on....over the last week or so plans have been afoot to get my daughter and her 10 week old son to Addenbrookes so that she could undergo 2 lots of eye surgery for complex cataracts caused by her genetic condition. One operation to take place on Thursday and the second op on the following Monday. Her cataracts are dense and complex and there is only one surgeon who has experience of them and who is able to do the surgery. He also operated on my other daughter fairly recently and we know he is the best in his field.
My daughter has 4 children aged 5 and under and the little one had to come with us because she is still feeding him. I had to go as someone had to look after the baby while my daughter was having the surgeries.
My son in law has had to take time off work to look after the 3 remaining little ones and I have had to alter my work shifts to enable me to accompany them. The little one have been prepped for Mummy being away for a few days so that she can make her eyes better.
We set off to Addenbrookes with a little trepidation as we had heard on the news that it was one of the hospitals that had announced a major incident due to overcrowding at A and E and basic bed blocking due to lack of social care packages that would enable many people to return to their own homes.
We got to the hospital with time to spare for the scheduled pre-op appointment where measurements were taken and so forth and when I spent some time sitting next to Warwick Davies and his family. He was asleep in the chair next to me and his family were taking photos of him and laughing!
All of the time we were at the clinic, my daughter was asked how far she had travelled and so forth and she said that she felt that they were trying to prepare her for a cancellation announcement but we left the clinic with eye drops and instructions about the procedure to take place the following morning.
These days, at this hospital at least, they don't admit you as a patient the day before surgery. You have to book into a local b&b the night before surgery, get to the hospital early the next morning, have the surgery and then go back to the b&b for another night, go back to the hospital for a check up the next morning and then, all being well, you can go home. I managed to secure some accommodation on the hospital campus at £50 which was pretty reasonable I thought. It was a bugger to find but, once located, it was spotlessly clean and, although basic,perfectly suitable for us.
We unpacked our 5 days worth of baggage - we had to have enough with us to cover for both lots of surgery so that's clothing and nappies etc for baby, clothing for daughter and for myself including my works uniform as I was having to drive back from Cambridge to Surrey to fulfill my work commitments! We also had to buy food and drink for the duration of our stay so planning was vital.
At 7.15pm my daughter received a voicemail message to say that her operation due 12 hours later had been cancelled. I was annoyed. My daughter was philosophical. She had felt all along that the op would not take place as planned.
We had a nice night actually once the dust had settled. I got to spend time with the baby and with my daughter and it was lovely. We went to bed and slept pretty well.

After repacking our bags, we set off back to the eye clinic to see what was going to happen about the cancelled surgery and what the prospects were for the surgery due on Monday.  A very apologetic secretary came to see us and said that the first surgery had been cancelled because out surgeon was needed to be on call and would be on call (I'm assuming due to the major incident status) for all of the weekend. This would mean that, come Monday, he would have been on call for 4 days in a row. How is that even legal?? The secretary said that she felt that he would, therefore, at some point, make the decision to cancel Monday's surgery too but she couldn't say for certain. We couldn't take the chance that Monday's surgery would take place. It would mean coming back up to the hospital on Sunday night again, staying in the rented accommodation, and so forth. The uncertainty was just too much. in our heads we had no choice. We were then offered dates towards the end of the month and we have no choice but to accept them and just hope that the same thing doesn't happen again. I have to try to reschedule my work shifts again, son in law will need more time off work, the little ones will be upset again because Mummy isn't there and my daughter will have to prepare herself again.

In all of this, it's my daughter who I feel for so much. Her sight is so limited now. She can't distinguish faces and can't really see her baby smile. She manages, somehow without ever complaining (at least, not to me!) about how difficult her situation is. She still walks the children to school and nursery but feels vulnerable and is scared for the children each time she does it. Nobody meeting her would know that her sight is so badly affected and that is testament to her and her attitude. She says that her condition is annoying but, ultimately, she can live with it. It isn't terminal. She can have surgery that will make her better. What an attitude!

Apologies for the ramble...I've got a bit carried away again. I would never slate the NHS. I think it's a fantastic institution and we are incredibly lucky as a country to have it. It has just been an incredibly frustrating few days,

Lastly, I must give my sister a quick mention. It's her birthday today. I won't say her age, suffice to say that she is younger than me! I hope she has had a fabulous day. She really deserves it. She works really hard and is a wonderful Mum and a brilliant Nanny. I love her very much.

Hope you all have a safe and happy weekend.


xxxxx