If we ever needed purrs

Adrian A wrote:



Still purring for Dave and you. It was very kind of you to let that medical
student live, the mood I've been in recently I don't think I would have.
--
Nor me but thankfully for him I didn't have anything sharp to hand! And
he's only a prat and when you're dealing with them as a partner of a
patient or a patient you start to realise just how many prats currently
work in the NHS excluding some management (As someone who works with
management I am suddenly aware they ain't the only prats in the NHS!!)

Lesley

Hi all

Is it legal to shoot w***ers? I have had a day of them and this number
includes Dave...Yes he's a lot better and as miserable as sin Can't
blame him through..he got moved to a new ward last night and they
wouldn't let him call me to tell me because I had completely forgotten
to leave him some money so he could use one of their vastly inflated
charge phones. This meant I strode onto the ward he was on and found an
empty bed....Managed not to panic as I knew he was only in
there for the short term but still not one of my finer moments!!!

The ward was opened in 1995 which is a shock to both of us as we
thought it
was ancient. There is no air conditioning, the windows do not open, he
tells
me when the cleaners came round in the morning they shut the doors
while they not so much cleaned as rearranged the dust. Dave has mild
hay fever so the pollution is naking him ill like with a cough abd a
sore throat Furthermore they turn
all the lights out at 10.00 and when Dave wanted to keep a light on to
read
(He's tackling a book on the social history of LSD in America- you can
guess
how well that's gone down! Along with asking me to bring a Hawkwind CD
for
his "trip" through the MRI scanner!) because he couldn't sleep other
patients told him to F off so he had to sit in the darkness til the Sun
came
up- One nurse said he had done nothing but moan about the place in all
of
the 12 hours she had been nursing him , I told her that was a sign he
was
getting back to normal and who would blame him? He's asked to go
somewhere
else but they think not. Seriously he is in there for 2-3 weeks at the
moment and they are all busily scribbling notes about his attitude
problem probably along with mine (Elsewhere on the thread) whereas as
far as I am concerned the problem before was he didn't HAVE an
attitude! He's getting back to normal and they can't deny the evidence
of the lab, his bloodwork is getting there, as of today he is allowed
as much fluid as he wants (Now there's wonderful example of NHS double
standards, yesterday he was only allowed 750ml of fluid, breakfast was
cornflakes which he likes soggy (I don't) but when he calculated if he
had them the way
he likes them and had a coffee he would then have only 250ml til
midnight ie
one more coffee or a moderate glass of water- he decided not to have
them
and then got bollocked for not having breakfast!)

They moaned he wasn't eating which earned the comment "I would if it
was edible"- he still swears Sundays roast dinner is up in the
pathology lab where they are trying to identify what kind of meat it
was (He
thinks this could be a case for Mulder and Scully!)

Apparently at some point we have to meet Social Services...from what he
has
overheard I am in for a serious kicking from them then again there are
a
number of people we should have seen yesterday and still haven't for
example
it's agreed by all he needs physiotherapy but they won't come in until
he's had an MRI scan and been cleared by the neurologists for the
simple
reason if his problem is in his back, they don't want to try anything
and make things worse. Today his doctor had to ask him if he had a
scan,
which to me is simply out of order. Where I work til Friday our doctors
get
told when a patient is getting a scan and our patients are elective and
have
to wait weeks for one, Like take this social services thing. I
apparently
have to be ready to drop everything. I have told them I am there
tomorrow,
Thursday and Friday but it might be better to make the appointment
later as
I have to go to RPH to collect stuff and make farewells still I am not
allowed onto the ward until 2.00 (The nurse was nice today and when I
did
the required amount of grovelling explaining I didn't know he was on a
new
ward they let me see him for a bit at 12.00) and they don't work
weekends
but they say "Well it might be Monday" and when I point out that I am
supposed to be starting a new job on Monday I get the look that
suggests I
really don't care about Dave....I fail to see what good it will do in
the
long term if I lose my job.....

Hackney has been mentioned they have suggested he shouldn't have pets
and they weren' t pleased when he said "I don't I just happen to have
furry flatmates"

They then suggested the RSPCA.....WHOA!!! Apparently according to some
amateurs (Remember we have not seen social services yet) he is not
capable of caring for the Furballs and maybe (A word some people are
using WAY too much for me) it would
be better to get the RSPCA to take them away and find them a better
home,,,,

Rant mode being switched off

Cheers

Lesley

"Lesley" wrote in message
ups.com...

Julie and Sam wrote:

First, you know you don't have to worry about anyone here giving you
a hard time about relaxing at a pub for awhile.

Ahhh today I did it and a nurse commented they could smell beer on me I
said I went to the pub and they got most disaproving- surely I could
have gone to the hospital restaurant or maybe to one of the fine eating
establishments in Whitechapel High Street

I regret to say here's a rough summary of what they got.... (I was
****ed off at the time)

*The pub is quiet so I can make the calls I need to make like to his
mum without too much background noise. And I get a decent break can sit
and read the papers and unwind! I WORK for the NHS do you THINK I would
actually WANT to eat in the canteen I KNOW what the food is like! So
you want me to go to the high street where I have the following options
for lunch and I do so need to eat because if I don't I could end up ill
which is no good! Let me see, fish and chips okay but I don't LIKE deep
fried food so that really cuts out every other place because they sell
fried chicken which I hate or there's MacDonalds or maybe I could just
get a sarnie. As it was I had a lightly grilled tuna steak served on a
huge bed of mixed salad which is probably much healthier than anything
else. And yes I had a beer to wash it down....what's your porblem?"

We're both getting known for the wrong attitude!

Lesley


Your attitude sound extremely healthy to me. Since when is having lunch in
a Public House a sin anyway? And when did where and what you had for lunch
become subject to anyone else's approval?

Besides, when it comes to the medical establishment, disapproval beats being
ignored anyday.

Jo

On 26 Sep 2006 16:44:36 -0700, "Lesley" wrote:


Julie and Sam wrote:

First, you know you don't have to worry about anyone here giving you
a hard time about relaxing at a pub for awhile.

Ahhh today I did it and a nurse commented they could smell beer on me I
said I went to the pub and they got most disaproving- surely I could
have gone to the hospital restaurant or maybe to one of the fine eating
establishments in Whitechapel High Street

I regret to say here's a rough summary of what they got.... (I was
****ed off at the time)

*The pub is quiet so I can make the calls I need to make like to his
mum without too much background noise. And I get a decent break can sit
and read the papers and unwind! I WORK for the NHS do you THINK I would
actually WANT to eat in the canteen I KNOW what the food is like! So
you want me to go to the high street where I have the following options
for lunch and I do so need to eat because if I don't I could end up ill
which is no good! Let me see, fish and chips okay but I don't LIKE deep
fried food so that really cuts out every other place because they sell
fried chicken which I hate or there's MacDonalds or maybe I could just
get a sarnie. As it was I had a lightly grilled tuna steak served on a
huge bed of mixed salad which is probably much healthier than anything
else. And yes I had a beer to wash it down....what's your porblem?"

We're both getting known for the wrong attitude!

Lesley

Wonderful response! That is the kind of response that makes you seem
rational and adult and the prat as a silly child. A great put-down!

Purrs and prayers for you and Dave and your cats,

--
CATherine

Lesley wrote:
Hi all
snip

It makes my blood boil just reading about the idiots you have to deal with.
I'm amazed you haven't been charged with GBH yet.

It's more than 20 years since I worked for the NHS, I thought it couldn't
get worse, maybe I was wrong.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

Jo Firey wrote:

Your attitude sound extremely healthy to me. Since when is having lunch in
a Public House a sin anyway? And when did where and what you had for lunch
become subject to anyone else's approval?

I have no doubt that I'm being filed as an alky for it! But the ward he
was on had a 2 hour break in visiting times and it wasn't worth me
going home- an half hour each way unless I get a cab (expensive) to
cook. The ward he's on now doesn't allow visiting until 2.00 so at the
moment I have some pasta and mixed veg on the cooker so I can eat
before I go and I am almost tempted to open that can of lager in the
fridge just to **** them off!

Better not we may recieve a visit from the social worker today and my
plan is to confound them utterly! I have a feeling what they have been
told about us will lead them to expecting some drunken slag! Guess who
is wearing her smart outfit? I will teach them to think in stereotypes!

Besides, when it comes to the medical establishment, disapproval beats being
ignored anyday.

Oh yes!!! They ignored him completely yesterday- they seem to ignore
everyone- some of the nurses are nice- the rest are a shame to their
profession! They served dinner last night and Dave couldn't get into
the position to eat it-because of his hands he eats at an odd angle at
which position he can feed himself but did one of them ask about that?
I helped him with it, which earned him a gold star when they saw that
he had nearly cleared the plate- not that it wasany good he tells me
and wishes they had salad on the menu. Then I put his tray aside and
was immediately bombarded with patients asking if I could do the same
for them and one old guy who was terribly upset was being completely
ignored I think some nurses have marked him down as a "bad patient"
because apart from anything else his English is virtually non existent
but with a moments attention I realised he'd dropped his water cup and
couldn't reach it. Ten seconds work and he smiled and said "Thank you"
and poured himself a drink....Left to his own devices he might not have
been able to and then he does not get the gold star from the nurses
because he gets dehydrated (The ward is so hot that I poured a litre of
red grape juice down my throat and then had to go and get some more
within 30 minutes- I suspect a ploy by the hospital shop to make more
money!)

The best moment was when the nurses did a real double take, I was about
to be kicked off the ward and I said to Dave that I wouldn't ask him
what he was going to do tonight as I very much doubted he'd be heading
to "Stringfellows" to pick up a blonde...

Quick as a flash he came back with " No way Stringfellow isn't my type
of blonde"

I think that they had a sudden sinking feeling when they realised the
poor disabled "Victim" had a sense of wit and a brain cell or two!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Adrian A wrote:

It makes my blood boil just reading about the idiots you have to deal with.
I'm amazed you haven't been charged with GBH yet.

I am very patient and prefer to avoid violence? Actually i am saving it
for Dave after all he's been the one who is having this 24/7 so I guess
he gets GBH on a choice of his 10 least favourite members of the
medical profession!

As long as he leaves me a couple!!!

It's more than 20 years since I worked for the NHS,

What did you do?

I thought it couldn't
get worse, maybe I was wrong.

We were talking about this last night (sorry so called "Caring
professionals" but he does have a brain you know - he can hold his own
in an intelligent conversation) and he was commenting on how things
seem to have gone back 20+ years.

25 years ago, we were used to people being unable to grasp the idea
that he wasn't my son or brother but my partner, yes even to the extent
of having a love life. People used to ask me why I couldn't do better
for myself and imply that I had somehow failed by not having a partner
who was "normal" ( A friend of mine at the time who is in a wheelchair
and has a husband who is "normal" told me that she was frequently asked
how she got "lucky"- so for a disabled woman to get a "normal" partner
was "luck" but for a woman to get a disabled partner was a sign of some
sort of inadequacy on her part)

And yes we once in a restaurant and the waiter asked me what Dave would
have and when he looked up and said "I'll have the fish" and the waiter
was so shocked that he dropped the plates!

Then for a long time things got a lot better

But now....I'm being ignored because as far as junior doctor idiots can
see- I have to be his paid carer I can't simply be someone who has
lived with him for 28 years!!!!! They are making so many patronising
assumptions that I can't even start to list them as I have to be off to
the hospital soon!!!! I mean one nurse I noticed was calling other
patients by their first names and asking them if they didn't mind that
or would they prefer to be called "Mr"? Well and good I thought that's
a nice touch some older people (my mum was one I remember a junior
doctor saying to her "Well Rose" and getting the tetchy reply "I don't
know you and until I do and I tell you you can use my first name then I
would prefer you called me Mrs Madigan"- she was as bad a patient as
Dave) don't like informality. So she gets to Dave and completely blots
her copybook with "Hello sweetheart" delivered in tones suitable for a
rather dumb 3-year old! She was lucky he wasn't feeling too well at the
time......

Anyway it is time to put my smart jacket on (Confound them!) and drag
myself to the hospital and can I say thanks for all the purrs, prayers,
cyberhugs etc but most of all thanks for practical advice, cheering up
messages and giving me a place to rant!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

Lesley wrote:
Anyway it is time to put my smart jacket on (Confound them!) and drag
myself to the hospital and can I say thanks for all the purrs, prayers,
cyberhugs etc but most of all thanks for practical advice, cheering up
messages and giving me a place to rant!

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

You more than deserve it, Lesley. I have been one of those
loners in the medical establishment constantly harping
on colleagues, but especially the teachable ones like students
and registrars around me to smarten up and stop buying into
this "patient" role which gets forced onto people as soon
as they put on a hospital gown. It is demeaning, and
humiliating, and completely unnecessary. In addition to that,
for the patients who don't have the strength
and force of personality to resist it (which it sounds like you
both are doing a great job at, by the way) there is the danger
of the "learned helplessness" mentality developing because
patients are told they must just lie there and
take orders, rather than playing an active part in their
own illness and recovery. The more active a role that
the patient has, the quicker they heal and the better they feel,
and the more likely they are to co-operate with anything
in the process that requires work, like physiotherapy and
such.

Here is a silly thought, but amusing. I do not, by any means,
imply that you are doing anything inappropriate in
your lifestyle, it sounds as committed a partnership as
any marriage I have ever known, and probably much more
committed than many marriages I can quote....but wouldn't it be
a slap in the face to all that staff which have been
so condescending to you both to have a marriage ceremony
at his bedside and *MAKE* them be witnesses to it?
(j/k....it's the revenge factor part of me coming out) 8^P

Sorry, silly idea, seen too many soap operas in my day,
I think, heh.

--tension

Lesley wrote:
Adrian A wrote:

It makes my blood boil just reading about the idiots you have to
deal with. I'm amazed you haven't been charged with GBH yet.

I am very patient and prefer to avoid violence? Actually i am saving
it
for Dave after all he's been the one who is having this 24/7 so I
guess
he gets GBH on a choice of his 10 least favourite members of the
medical profession!

As long as he leaves me a couple!!!

It's more than 20 years since I worked for the NHS,

What did you do?

Not very exciting, I worked in the supplies department. I did get to see a
lot of what went on around the hospital, if you're not one of the medical
staff you're invisble but you still see and hear.
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy and Bagheera)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart.
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk

Lesley wrote:

Anyway it is time to put my smart jacket on (Confound them!) and drag
myself to the hospital and can I say thanks for all the purrs, prayers,
cyberhugs etc but most of all thanks for practical advice, cheering up
messages and giving me a place to rant!

I hope you've knocked them dead by now! ;o) Purrs ongoing.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.
Stories and pics at http://koti.welho.com/mkurten/
Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/
and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki