Update plus wedding pics

Some things medical can be funny. For example, one day recently we were sent to the blood testing station and took our turn amongst many others. The procedure is to take a number from a machine and wait until that number is called. We were number 55 so we knew we were in for a long wait. By lunchtime the countdown hadn’t just slowed, it had stopped. There was a definite lull at 26. I guessed the phlebotomists (my medical knowledge is growing) had stopped for lunch.

Well, you know how people chat when they’re all in the same boat. People started saying funny things and I made the comment that when eventually we neared number 55 we might hear someone shout ‘come in No.55 your time’s up’ which immediately reminded me of the old times when people hired rowing boats on the lake and had to be called in by the boat keeper. I can’t count the times as a kid when I heard the man in charge yelling ‘Come in Number 7 (or whatever) your time’s up’. I commented to Joe that I didn’t think that sort of thing went on anymore... ‘No,’ he replied, ‘they probably send a text’.

How very droll!

When play started in the afternoon the phlebotomist took three phials of blood which to my mind was just plain greedy.

We had already seen the consultant and his registrar, neither of whom were satisfied with Joe’s medical condition ... too much blood in the urine. So right after providing the NHS with more blood I whisked him off to another hospital armed with letter from one doc to another. After a long wait we saw a doctor/surgeon/specialist who, like all others, was mystified as to why the ‘good’ kidney wasn’t working as it should. Investigations to commence! Joe was detained in hospital for one night so they could sort out the bloody urine while I caught up with some sleep after the ten hour stint.

Surprise of the week came on Monday afternoon. We were relaxing in the lounge with daughter Rosanne (who is over from Australia) when the phone rang. It was a ‘withheld’ number which could mean someone was ringing from somewhere in the medical profession. We were right! It was our own family doctor who asked if he could visit us that day. After all the hospital visits and admissions plus tests, scans and consultations, you can imagine what went through our minds. I think all three of us suffered from shock in the first instance.

What the doctor really came for was to advise us that Joe has been elevated to a new level now that he is 75 and has undergone an emergency hospital admission as a 75 year old. He will be the subject of frequent discussions between local doctors, hospital consultants, nurses and others, and home visits will regularly be made. Fame at last! I now feel I must curtsy when in Joe’s superior presence. I mean, this is real celebrity status, something that doesn’t come easy to the average man about town. Or woman! I am older than him and I haven’t been graced with such importance.

And they moan about the National Health Service, as far as we’re concerned it’s brilliant.

Rosanne found it all very interesting. She was recently married to Frank and this was our first time with her since the wedding. She has been a great help in so many ways and we spent a lot of time looking at her photographs. We are to have a copy of the video when it is ready. I am including some pictures of her and Frank on their wedding day.