And early to rise...

Today, we got up at 5.00 a.m - it was cold , grey and rainy.  We left the house at 6.00 a.m and drove to the hospital in just over an hour, we signed in and went to wait in a small, hot windowless room with 10 others (patients and family).

At 9.00 I rang M to say we were waiting to see if there was a bed or if H had to come home - I couldn't leave in case he did. She said she was fine, she'd drink tea in lieu of breakfast until I got back.  At 9.30 another potential patient was sent home - no beds. We waited, in ignorance.  Eventually we were told that they were waiting for rounds to finish to see who could be sent home as there were no beds.  We waited.

At 10.15 another person was sent home, a third was told they would have a bed on another ward - soon.  The very elderly man waiting with his daughter was looking more and more ill.  We waited.  The third man went down to the other ward - he was sent back to wait. Everyone was tired, the waiting patients and most of the rest of us had had nothing to eat or drink since the early hours, it was very hot. No information came.

At 10.50, at last the third man went to the other ward and someone at last took the elderly man in.  Now there were two - H and another man, still waiting.

At 11.05, the other man was called - the sister looked at us in surprise and asked H's name - he gave it confirming that he'd signed in at just gone 7.00.  We waited.

At 11.55 a passing nurse inquired how long we'd been waiting. She went to ask what was happening.  The sister arrived - pleasant but obviously a little cross.  There would be a bed, she said, but the elderly man in it at present could only be discharged to a relative and he had an hour's drive yet.  But, she said, why were we there, we'd been phoned yesterday and told not to come in until we'd checked.  We looked blank??  No-one had phoned us all day yesterday.  Well it was marked on the intake list that we had been spoken to - the same list they had ticked in confirmation 5 hours earlier.  Anyway, she said, as if conferring a special favour, H could have a bed but we could have come in much later.  H couldn't resist pointing out that we wouldn't have got up at 5.00 leaving M alone to cope without breakfast until well past her lunch time if we could have stayed at home.

At 12.15 I left H still waiting.  I had to go to the canteen to get sufficient change for the carpark charge (£5).  In the canteen I met the wife of the third man sent to the other ward - he just been admitted, they been waiting in a different room. She refused to let me leave the canteen without a coffee as she said I looked terrible (kind soul, she was quite right) I went to the car and promptly spilt my coffee on the passenger seat.

At 1.40 I got home to poor M, whom I'd now phoned several times, and quickly got her some lunch - I was a bit past caring and cobbled together a sandwich.  I checked the phone, no calls yesterday at all, one answerphone message left at 10.00 a.m,  would H please phone ward 18 - made while we were sitting 30 feet away, waiting.

I've heard nothing so I don't know when H is coming out, or where he is or even if he's in that ward.  I'm hoping I hear tomorrow before I drive over for visiting - another 3 hour round trip.  I suspect there will be people there waiting for beds too.

Early to bed.......

As  a person who never seems to get enough sleep, I'm really struggling today with the change of time.  M got up as usual and went into bathroom mode - except of course it was 6.30 not 7.30 in old time - no comfy lie-in here to acclimatise I'm afraid.  Tomorrow we have to leave the house at 6.00 am new time to get to the hospital - I'm glad H will drive there as I shan't be properly awake even if I get to bed early tonight.  I'm taking a flask of coffee to revive me for the return journey!

Choice? What choice?

Husband has to go into hospital for a couple of days next week - nothing drastic, just one of those 'let's do it now it'll only get worse' things that start to come with age.  The local NHS trust has a policy of not having all its specialism in each of its hospitals, so although the specialists themselves have clinics all over the county, the only operate - in the practical sense of the word -  in one of the hospitals.  Unfortunately for us, husband's is in the hospital furthest away.  We went yesterday for his pre-op check and found it took well over an hour to get there and an hour and a half to get back by a slightly different route (that looked more direct).
This causes us a few problems - not least the length of time that M will be on her own on Monday when he has to be taken there to arrive between 7 and 7.30 a.m and I won't be back until around 9 to get her breakfast.  She will have either to wait from when she wakes up around 6.30 until I return or risk boiling the kettle and making hot drinks with her weak arthritic hands whilst still in her wobbly early morning state.  Once H is there, I shan't be able to go back and visit until the next day, and when they discharge him, either the next day or the one after, I shall again have to be away for about 3 hours probably leaving M with a cold lunch and to make her own hot drinks. 
Having said that, we are able to get in a car and make the journey.  I feel really aggrieved for the number of elderly people who would not wish to drive that far or have to make a really awkward journey by bus and train.  To add insult to injury, the journey takes us past the local community hospital, the new community hospital due to open later this year, and within yards of the large hospital in the next town. 

These were in the 'reduced (probably dead) bucket' at Waitrose, but they've repaid my faith by blooming beautifully.

Really feel that spring is here now, the hang gliding has started off the hills above us. (clck to enlarge as trying to blow up the photo with photoshop doesn't seem to have desired effect.

Lastly, an attempt at capturing the Light photos from Lincoln in a previous post photos below, using watersoluble crayon and pastel and light effects from the window.

Feel I'm more or less up to date now - camera by courtesy of H.

So where did last week go, I'm wondering. Monday I've already mentioned below.  Tuesday, Daughter was laid up at home with a leg problem and couldn't drive - though fortunately could work from home - so I had to drive over to do  cheering up with cream cakes. Wednesday and Thursday the impending end of the financial year suddenly dawned on me so I spent those days, surrounded by paperwork and emails, reading up on the HMRC site to catch up on the changes brought in by the new finance act - and talking to accountants when I couldn't find what I needed - I missed a deadline in November which lost a lot of work already done due to the change in the online system and I couldn't bear to go through that again!. 
Friday morning I got out early to get to the Craft show which was being held just down the road.  It took 20 mins to go from the junction into the carpark, and the show itself was already packed when I got in.  Many thanks to the lovely lady who sold me an advance ticket that she didn't need - I never buy tickets in advance in case I can't go so it was nice to have the saving and the vouchers.  Did get the couple of items I wanted and managed only to buy one thing not on my list - some pom-pon yarn, so I felt reasonably virtuous.  A lot of people were complaining about the poor catering arrangements as the queues were terrible, and most people were surprised at how busy it was so early.  The nicest thing was talking to other people in the various queues - I met a lady who runs a wool shop locally that I didn't know about. The majority of the stalls were bead or cardmaking so I wasn't as tempted as I might have been. Staggered home in time to get M's lunch - I bought her a scarf which she is very pleased with, so for once I'm in favour! 
Unfortunately, we had to cancel a Mother's Day outing due to Daughter's lack of mobility and the weekend flew past as I tried to catch up with shopping and housework, so now I'm back to Monday with a week that promises various trips to check on D's cat who is poorly, the car needing an MOT and service - also a 10 mile trip to garage - and more accounting to be sorted.
Just heard that husband's A level student got an A in her resit which is pleasing.  She's now on to more interesting texts so he's enjoying the teaching more - which leads to a quieter life all round!
Camera has now given up completely, so unless I can borrow H's or find a suitable photo on line, this blog is going to be a bit dull for a while, sorry.

Light

These pictures of sunlight through stained glass windows were taken in Lincoln Cathedral a couple of years ago.  I've been looking at them and trying to find ways of converting them into abstract water colours.  The best attempt I've come up with so far is water soluble crayon/pencils on black paper.  I'll put up some of my attempts in a future blog post.  The sunlight outside is encouraging me to make all sorts of plans, putting them into practice is another thing though.  Hope you're having a good weekend.

end of round one..

A nice bundle of little things waiting to go in the post, and just a bit of a dent in my stash.  Excuse the photos, my camera is definitely on the blink - a real problem for an impecunious blogger!

Encore

I'm sure everyone's fed up with photos of this view, but I have two excuses.  Firstly, the weather is so fantastic today that you can see the Cathedral which is 10 miles or so away and that in itself has lifted my mood. (if you enlarge the photo it's to the left of centre above the bare branches). Secondly, the combination of lack of time and an unreliable camera means I can only photograph what's here so I have to make a virtue of necessity!

Baby sewing is all finished for now, so I can now think about another project and if the weather would just co-operate I shall be able to start some decorating (- which will make me spring clean as well, and goodness knows I need to).  I might even try and drag myself up onto the hills if it stays sunny.