This was to be a happy post about a visit to the zoo …now it’s a moan about the NHS and the happy post will be tomorrow… hold on to your hat ….here goes with the moan.
At 2.30 am I was awoken by the phone and a distraught Emma …DS Steve had woken in such agony that he couldn’t speak …he could only writhe and moan with the pain. Finally he managed to indicate that it was in his back and for Emma to phone Mum.
Now DS is not a typical man …he has a slight cold when he really has the flu and he withstands great pain before reaching for a painkiller …so my immediate reaction was to instruct Emma to phone an ambulance, which she dutifully did. She was met by the usual questions …is he conscious, is the pain around the heart etc etc … the reply was that he was not an emergency and so no ambulance would be sent even though they must have heard him crying out in the back ground ….but someone from NHS 24 would get in contact. They made contact and had to talk to Steve …who by this time could make a few utterances and then they said a nurse would now contact him. She did and through the severe pain he managed to answer the same and a few more questions. The nurse felt that he could have a visit from the doctor and would arrange it. Nearly an hour later the phone rang again …it was the doctor …she had so many visits a head of him that she was not sure how long she would be and said that he should get himself to the nearest hospital …it would be quicker.
Now can you imagine the situation …even if he had a car …how could he drive? …Emma doesn’t drive any way …and then there are the twins?? So ok …there are cabs …if he could manage to struggle into one … but then £20 each way for a family whose bread winner was made redundant from a job he had only done for 4 years …is no joke …every penny counts …and that’s assuming there was cash around at that time as there is no cash point within easy reach. As luck would have it Emma had withdrawn some cash for something else and when I next spoke to her she was in tears not know what was happening and wondering what to do for the best. Steve had just about managed to get down the stairs to a cab and was on his way .. at last …to hospital.
Fearing the worst I had packed a case and scraped together the £75 cash, for a cab to get over to them but Emma said she would only need me to come over if he was to be admitted.
The result of the hospital visit was positive …. ish.
It was almost certain he has kidney stones and one was being pushed out of the kidney. He was given a jab and some tablets and told he would finish passing it in the next few days …and that he would know when he had …. and that was it. No one said whether he should follow it up or whether he it would happen again or whether there was anything he could do to prevent them from forming … just off you go home armed with painkillers and muscle relaxants.
I am sorry but I feel that he should have been taken in by ambulance as that amount of sudden unexplained pain is an emergency. Also that amount of stress worry and fear does not help a 30wk pregnant partner ... and what would have happened if they had had no money ...would they have sent an ambulance then ... 2 hours after the first phone call ….no one knew it was only stones ..and I hate saying only stones as there really was no ONLY about it.
If anyone gets to the end of this ….well done ….I feel better now having got this off my chest.
Am I expecting too much from the NHS nowadays???? ….30 odd years ago an ambulance would have arrived and we still had our own doctors turning out for home visits …life does not always change for the best.
Take Care xx
Any ideas on what the plant is behind it with the small funny yellow flowers ...it's taking over the garden .... ??plant or weed ??
