Running about

What a day! It’s been ‘orrible! If you don’t like a horror story, look away now.

The lovely sunshine and the thought of spending time with George and Sue, either in the garden or tinkering with the car, before they went home, beckoned delightfully this morning. First job though, was to call the doctors’ surgery to see if the Community Nurses could call and administer a ‘special something’ to John to ease his alimentary stoppage. Seemed a simple enough task.

Ha! That was at half past eight this morning. I didn’t stop with the running about up and down the hill to the surgery and over to the pharmacy, phoning other pharmacies, phoning the surgery and answering the door to doctors and nurses until six-thirty this evening. And all that time, John was, and still is, in a poor state.

Honestly, it has felt like an obstacle course. “Oh, we don’t arrange the visits from the Community Nurses,” said the receptionist at the surgery. “You’ll have to phone them.” Oh? Okay, then. “Oh, we don’t have the product you need,” said the nurses. “You have to ask the GP for it.” Oh? Okay, then. “Phone us back when you’ve got it,” they said. Right.

At the GP surgery, they seemed nonplussed that I should be asking for help. “I’ll put a message on the system,” says the receptionist. “I’ll red-flag it.”

Then the wait began. After an hour or so, and no reply, I tried phoning the surgery. Oh, chortle, chortle – here’s a good wheeze – we won’t answer the phone. I hopped in the car and ran down to the surgery to have a conversation. “You should have flagged this to us before ten o’clock this morning,” says the receptionist. Eh? I did!!!! “Oh? Ah, well, we’ve put a message on the system. It’s red-flagged….” Please, could somebody, anybody just knock on the doctor’s surgery door and ask? “I’ll put another message on the system……”

And so it went on. And on.

We finally got the prescription about one o’clock. I phoned the Community Nurses. “We’re on,” I said, “I’m going to the chemist’s now to collect what we need.” Ha! That’s what you think!! The chemist didn’t have item in stock, did they? “We can order it for tomorrow…..” But he needs it today. “Oh….. well, you’ve missed the deadline for an order for this afternoon.” Great. Thanks.

How do you get said product then, folks? You have to phone round every chemist within a 15-mile radius. “No…. sorry, we don’t have it. Have you tried Boots/Dudley Taylor/Meadows Pharmacy, etc etc?” Yep, tried all of ’em.

Tried to phone the surgery to tell them I couldn’t get the product. They were playing that game of not answering the phone again. I hopped in the car….. The doctor finally said she’d change the prescription for another product if there was a pharmacy that had an equivalent in stock. Started phoning the pharmacies again. Lovely.

The doctor did come out to visit John – that was hilarious cos he was on the loo. The doctor stood in the bedroom talking to him through the doorway. “I would like to examine you,” she said. Poor John had to struggle from the loo to the bed for her to check him over. I wasn’t awfully impressed tbh. And it felt like she couldn’t wait to get away.

The Community Nurse also came after I’d tracked down said replacement product to a pharmacy on Banner Lane. She administered it, wrote up her paperwork and left us to it. “See you tomorrow,” she said cheerfully. Poor John didn’t feel cheerful at all. He was/is in pain so has had morphine all day, which has knocked him out. He’s as dopey as anything, bless him.

John’s regular doctor and the one on call both prescribed some laxatives for John to take. I toddled up the road to collect the prescription. Brought it home, triumphant. Then I read the leaflet. It contains potassium. The last thing the hospital doctor said to John was, “Your potassium levels are still a bit raised so no bananas, beans or nuts. We want to try and keep the potassium levels a bit lower.” Hmmm….. I wondered whether the product was suitable. I phoned the surgery. I played the game of holding on four times – ‘you are number six in the queue’ until I was number one in the queue when the line mysteriously cut off. I hopped in the car and explained to the receptionist what I was concerned about. “I’ll put a note on the system,” she said.

This time it worked and John’s regular doctor phoned us. He was a little bit contradictory – first he seemed to be saying the product would be OK and then as he talked it through it seemed he changed his mind and sent another prescription through to the pharmacy for a different stuff. I toddled up to the pharmacy again….

In between times, there have been lots of visits to the loo. “Any luck?” I would ask, and there’d be a grim face and a shake of the head. Poor John, it’s been very difficult for him. He had a minor success this evening, however, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that another go at it tomorrow might start the motions again. Oh, I do hope so. Wish us luck and send us lots of healing vibes please!!

Oh, and there’s been lots of swearing……

Take care everyone. God bless.