A Day And A Half

Well I was up early ready and waiting for the promised electrician who was coming supposedly for just after 9am once he’d arrived on site. Neil informed me yesterday I would be first on the list. This was to be followed by the floor fitters! By 10.30am no one had showed and I decided I would go with mum to her doctor’s appointment.

I’ve not written about this before because all my recent posts here have been about bathrooms and pathetic none showing workmen but my mum is not well at the moment and hasn’t been for a while. She’s losing weight, not eating and is constantly tired. Her ankles are so swollen from water retention that’s she in pain to walk around. It’s caused me a lot of concern so much so I’ve debated writing to her consultant at the hospital to voice my concerns. Anyway she went to the doctor this morning as an emergency appointment as she was awake all night with severe itching on her legs. This is a sign of the uraemic toxins building up in her system and a clear indication her transplanted kidney is packing up. Truthfully mum would now be better back on dialysis. That is going to be the only way her body will start to feel any better, she knows this and we know this but the consultant seems reluctant to pay much attention! I’ve decided that it’s time I became more involved again.

I went with her this morning to see the GP and he was really good with her. After the appointment we had to head up to the hospital to get an urgent blood test done. The GP would have done it but we’d just missed the pathology collection service for that day. Anyhow we headed straight up there and didn’t have to wait long. I got my own blood test done whilst I was there which I should have had done a couple of weeks ago to check my HBAC1. It was rather funny since we both got called together but I was done in about 30 seconds and it took about 10 minutes to get blood out of mum!

Just as I was leaving the house at 10.45am to meet dad’s car to accompany mum to the doctors Neil turned up. I was literally locking the front door and was not in the mood for excuses!

Neil: “Oh I was just on the way to see you…”

Me: “I am going out, I am sick of waiting in for people who don’t show up, I’ve had enough of excuses… I have to take my mum to a doctor’s appointment as she is ill and she takes priority over you…”

Neil: “Oh okay (completed flabbergasted!) Well you have my number ring me when your back and I’ll come up…”

Me: “Fine, I will…”

Of course going to the doctors meant going over to the hospital afterwards but I was back home for 12.45pm. I phoned Neil right away to tell him I was now for the afternoon. At 1.30pm an electrician called and told me he was sorry the fan had still not been done they where waiting for stock to come in. I just replied “It’s already in and has been for almost two weeks…” You see the inside is done but the outside has not been done, it was another job they started but never actually finished!

Finally 2pm Neil shows up with some lad who removes and replaces the tiles repositions the cable and then puts new tiles on! It takes him about 30 minutes if that and then he disappears. By 3.15pm still no one else shows and so I am really none the wiser whether that is it for the day or whether I am expecting someone else to come, but then everything changes with one phone call…

Mum’s GP called her up just after 3pm, her blood results where back already and the calcium in her blood results were dangerously low and she needs to go into hospital. The GP had already arranged it and there was a bed waiting for her on the renal unit at Salford Royal. So off we go. Getting there is technically no problem until that is you meet the most ignorant car park attendant on the planet.

Salford Royal is undergoing a lot of major improvements and car parking is crazy. The main car park is currently on the opposite of the hospital whilst they build a new multi storey one. For 15 years maybe more there is a side entrance with a limited number of disabled spaces but also a drop off area for patients, taxis and ambulances. We tend to always use this since the renal unit outpatients and wards are a few minutes walk. Never in the 15 years plus we have been going have we encountered problems until today.

We get to the barrier and inform the man on the intercom we have a disabled badge, he says there are no spaces – okay fair enough. So Dad asks can we go through to drop off his wife who’s being admitted as an emergency to the renal unit. This parking attendant refused point blank and said “You’ll have to use the main car park” Dad informs him that mum can’t walk and she’s using a wheelchair, so jobsworth replies “Use the shuttle bus…”

At this point I can feel my blood beginning to boil and shout across we are only dropping someone off and will be about five minutes if that. Again the guy refuses and by this point there is a queue forming behind us. Right mate if you want to be like that I’ll get mum out here and hold up everyone. So I did. I hopped out the car and unloaded the wheelchair and bag and helped mum and then we walked the 400 yards or so to the entrance. Took about 3 minutes if that! Dad asked for the name of the guy on the intercom but he refused point blank to give it which tells me he knows he was in the wrong to refuse to let us through. I plan tomorrow to put a formal written complaint in to the hospital about him because he was without a doubt one of the most ignorant employees I have ever met!

It was just too inconvenient to park over the road, wait in a cold bus shelter for however long it takes the shuttle bus to arrive for mum. Personally he was out of order for his attitude and I am rather pleased he was not sat in the booth there at the barrier because I’d punched him!

So I get mum to the ward and she’s allocated a bed right away and within a few minutes the doctor has come over to check her in. We left after about an hour. I think to raise the calcium in her blood they will put her on a drip. They also mentioned some routine x-rays and a scan of her legs because they are hot just to rule out DVT.

We hit the rush hour traffic back home so it took about an hour longer than it would normally. I am tired and dad’s done nothing but moan non stop since mum went in which just pisses me off even more. I get home I take Alfie out who’s not been for a walk all day because of waiting in for workmen and we enjoy a walk in the dark and I step in something not so pleasant!

I spend a quick hour with Alfie after his walk and then head back to Dad’s for a shower because of course I still don’t have one! Personally I’ve got to the point where I am just sick and tired of this whole bathroom saga. I was in tears this morning when again no one showed up I just don’t need it enough is enough… I’ve had to cancel my hair appointment tomorrow and I’ll wait around again to see if anyone shows up to do some work. Of course I am only going to be around till around 1.30pm ish because I’ll have to head up to the hospital to see mum.

I’ve texted people from the therapy group today to tell them about mum but I’ve had little response which pisses me off because for once I could do with some support now. I support them does it not work the other way round? I want to attend on Thursday but I also really don’t feel like bothering at the moment.

To top it off it’s Oscar’s 9th birthday today and the poor thing didn’t get his cream cake which we always do because we’ve just not had a chance to go to the supermarket or anything. I know it’s just a dog but he’s part of the family and we always celebrate our doggies birthdays.

I think I’ll just go and cry right now, maybe I will feel better…