More medical….

We thought we might get a bit of a breather today from intensive medical stuff but there was more of the same today, plus a bit more…..

This morning we were up early again and off to Solihull Hospital for a bone density scan. We were delighted that it didn’t take very long and so we were back home in time for me to do my yoga class. However, John was unsteady on his feet today. He says he feels woozy/dizzy/wobbly and, when walking, it feels like he’s on a wobble board.

We managed to park in a disabled spot for no charge and stumble towards the front entrance, whereupon John collapsed into a seat while I took his letter to reception. There were some very inviting wheelchairs at the entrance so we thought it prudent to partake. “What an embarrassment,” John wailed. “Not at all,” I reassured him. “No-one knows you here. It doesn’t matter.” I am not sure he was thinking of his immediate situation of course, I think he was more concerned with me consigning the event to posterity in the blog……..tee-hee.

Once home, John watched a bit of TV and was about to eat a packet of crisps when I said I was going to prepare some lunch. Fortuitously, my singing lesson was postponed until tomorrow, so that gave us time to eat and then get back to Solihull Hospital for his second radiology appointment of the day: a CT scan of his chest.

He was able to walk in this time, leaning on me, as it wasn’t far from where I’d parked. More fortuitousness, however, when the radiologist said that as John had had a recent scan when he was in hospital, he didn’t need this one.

By then, however, we were both concerned about John’s ‘wobbliness’ so we decided to take a trip to A & E at Heartlands. “Shall I pack an overnight bag?” I enquired. “No,” came the very firm reply. Hmmm……

I left John at the entrance to A & E and went home. I did a local shopping order and some tidying up; spent a little while chatting to Michael and Andrew; and kept my eye on the messages from John. He was in a corridor; he’d had an ECG; he’d had blood tests; he wasn’t near a plug; the battery on his phone was dying; and….yes, please, I’ll have an overnight bag.

John stayed in the corridor until ten o’clock this evening. He was waiting for a porter to take him to a ward. The porter never turned up, so a nurse pushed him to the ward. Once at the ward, however, he was tipped out of the wheelchair and into an ordinary chair in a waiting room………along with two other patients. Finally, they found him a bed to lay on (although just in a corridor, I think) and he texted, “I don’t know what’s going on. They are waiting for a doctor to decide whether to admit me. I am going to lie down anyway and sleep.”

I am hoping that I don’t get a phone call at one in the morning asking me to go and collect him……..nine o’clock tomorrow will be just fine. I am also praying that John is kept well clear of anyone who might be infectious with anything and especially COVID, of course, and that they quickly establish what’s making him wobbly and can treat it. More positive vibes needed, folks.

In the meantime, the rollercoaster of life is still happening to others too and so I think of them and empathise. In terms of the latest infections of the dreaded lurgy, it seems to me that the figures are plateau-ing.

• 6,753 people tested positive for the virus today
• 181 people died with the virus in the community in the last 24 hours
• 63 people died in hospitals with the virus on 9 & 10 March
• It’s Day 64 of Lockdown 3; Day 352 since the start of Lockdown 1 last year; and Day 360 since John and I voluntarily shielded last year. I think we’ve got the patience of Saints.

Take care everyone. God bless.