This comes with no apology for it being entirely personal.
On Tuesday last, I had to attend hospital for an assessment for a cataract operation - simple enough you might say.
Fine, no problem with the assessment (or, normally, the operation).
To get to the hospital, 13 miles away - there is no public transport from this small rural village my wife would have to take me and no way could she or I lift my wheelchair or scooter into her small car. So I contacted the hospital asking if wheelchairs are available there. Yes, no problem was the reply.
BUT! When we got there, the only wheelchairs are large ones that have to be pushed (no self-propelled chairs). And Kate struggled pushing one with lumpen me in it. She complained of a painful back afterwards.
Now the appointment letter told us the assessment was in Ophthalmology in the “Windsor Suite” but with no clue as to where the “Windsor Suite” is in the hospital. So I looked on the hospital website and it said Ophthalmology is just to the right of the main entrance! So we went to the main entrance reception and were directed back outside and down to another part of the hospital - true it is to the right of the main entrance but some way down from it. But we got there, with Kate still struggling.
At Ophthalmology reception they said: oh no! you have to go to the “Windsor Suite” on the second floor of the hospital! Back we went, through the main entrance (luckily we had allowed plenty of time), around the ground floor to the lifts and along about a quarter of a mile of corridors. We eventually found it and I was parked in the waiting area.
Unfortunately, Kate then had to leave to attend to other family matters.
I was left waiting in the wheelchair for about 50 minutes. HELPLESS, as I couldn’t propel the chair or do anything myself. Other people waiting were appropriately socially distanced so that was no problem. My main concern dawned on me then. If I needed to go to the toilet I couldn’t do anything about it. There was no one in attendance to ask for help. I would be left to wet or even soil myself in my helplessness! (luckily I’d had the forethought to leave off my diuretic medication that day).
I was then seen by a nurse who wheeled me into her consulting room. In a long and thorough assessment she was excellent but a portent was hinted at.
She then wheeled me back to the waiting area and after another long wait I was seen by a doctor who also wheeled me around himself. He too was excellent.
Bad news though. I was told by the doctor there was a consensus I would have to have a general anaesthetic for the operation itself. Partially because they’d had problems with my head staying still for retinal photos (essential tremors) but mainly because they’d sussed I can’t lie straight on my back, without acute pain for the half hour the operation would take.
The problem is in 2010 I was told by my Orthopaedic Consultant he could not operate because a general anaesthetic was far too risky because of my general shaky health.
The upshot is that I will have to have another appointment to see the Ophthalmic Surgeon. For that, I will have to find some way to take my own wheelchair or scooter.
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