Weekly update – it’s not all frustrations at the hospital!

I need to have a good rant and get things off my chest about the hospital.  Also to reflect on an early Christmas – in late November!

A while ago I asked for an Urology appointment, at the hospital.  The idea was to check everything is okay and to discuss the issue of urinary tract infections.

First appointment was okay; a chat and a plan being agreed.  The plan agreed on some tests; so far two down, two to go.

I said that I was having more frequent infections which, while I was generally able to flush myself through by drinking loads of water, some infections had required antibiotics to clear things up.  So I was issued with a low dose, longer term antibiotic to be a preventative treatment.  I was happy with that and I think the Doctor said it was for three months.

However, when I got to the village pharmacist, they couldn’t be sure whether the prescription was for 3 or 5 months, plus they didn’t have it in stock anyway.  This is how the conversation then went….

Pharmacist “I’m sorry, Sir, I can’t dispense this as it’s not clear.  You’ll have to go back to the Doctor and ask him to clarify it”

Me “That’s a bit awkward, he’s in the hospital and will be difficult to reach there.  Could you call the hospital?”

Pharmacist “No I can’t call the hospital”

Me “Why not? you’re a health professional, you must be able to have a professional conversation with a Doctor in a hospital?”

Pharmacist “I’m a Locum here.  We aren’t allowed to make calls that cost money”

Me (somewhat astonished that her employer wouldn’t let a member of staff use the phone for a legitimate call, if that was the truth) “Here’s my mobile phone, you can use this if you like”

I handed my phone to the Pharmacist who reluctantly calls Doctor using my phone.

Pharmacist “Sorry, the number won’t connect, sorry I can’t help you”

The next day I returned to the hospital with said prescription, although I was very tempted to alter it myself as I was fairly sure it was for 3 months but not completely sure.  I explained to the department’s receptionist about the problem and handed her the prescription.  Eye brows raised, we joked about Doctor’s handwriting never improving.

I sat down in the waiting area.  I watched the receptionist pass my prescription to an assistant, who then passed it to another who walked away with it.  Five minutes later she walked back and handed it to someone else, who also walked off with it in the opposite direction.  Later still, someone different came over to me and said they were getting it sorted but I needed to wait a little more.

As I sat there I watched the other patients, mostly older men.  I wondered if they were all at different stages of getting their prostate problems resolved. Or maybe they were also waiting to have handwritten prescriptions made clearer.  Meanwhile I continued to watch various people walking around with my prescription, each one looking increasingly perplexed.

Eventually someone returned the prescription to me, somewhat apologetically.  It had the word THREE written under the number in question.  Flip, I thought, I really could have done that myself but I do need to play by the rules.

So while you might think I am happily taking my low dose antibiotics and being infection free, I have had cause for concern.  Twenty four hours ago I started to feel shivery and my urine was cloudy – these are both tell-tale signs of an infection.  For me, infections always seem to come along at the most inconvenient of times, when away from home, weekends etc.

Nearly grandparents!

I may have mentioned before, our eldest daughter is expecting our first grandchild in the near future.  Emotional and excitement all combined.

We agreed to visit them last weekend for an early Christmas as events might over take us (our youngest daughter joined us as well).  It was lovely.  They had acquired a Christmas tree which was duly decorated in a poverty stricken way, they don’t want to waste money on frivolous things when there are walls to knock down.

It was rather poignant as their new house is still a “work in progress” with a builder lined up to demolish a wall in order to make a more open-plan area downstairs.  Until that is done, there’s not much point in having a new floor laid, having a new kitchen installed and so on.  As the slightly concerned Dad, I wondered if those things could be delayed until next year.

So as the upstairs is much nicer, they are living on the first floor with its newly painted walls and newly laid carpets.

Meanwhile, at the gym….

I’m afraid to say I have been one of those people with gym membership and I never go these days, or until a couple of weeks ago.  I had fallen out of the habit during the various lockdowns and it was time to be decisive.  Either quit or get my money’s worth.  I decided on the latter you will be pleased to hear.

As luck would have it, the computerised system still had my settings.  Trouble is, those settings were on the basis of me being reasonably fit.  As an example, my treadmill run was twenty minutes of varied running.  It involved a couple of warm-up minutes followed by increasingly demanding speeds and gradients.  There was absolutely no way I could keep up with that.  I could barely keep up with the gentle warm up let alone the remaining stuff. It was just the same with weights – there is no way I could get anywhere near the strength I used to have.

So I booked a session with a coach and we agreed on a new training plan.  We squeezed a good mixture of cardio, strength and stretching into an hour.  So far I’ve been four times and already I can notice a difference!  That is so encouraging but I need to keep it up.

The main snag with all of this is the injured ligament in my foot.  I always seem to be aware of it when I’m walking around and also when I run.  I can, however, run continuously for 20 minutes before it either becomes too painful or I run out of steam.

So I’m really encouraged.  It feels good being back in the gym.  I get a little – and I mean a little – dose of the Runner’s High from my time there as a reward.  I know that I need to be patient and consistent with getting fit again but so far, so good.

I think it’s now about 18 or 19 years since I became a runner and it’s been a brilliant thing to do.  I have never won a race or been anywhere near a medal but that’s not the point.  The point has always been to do as well as I can and to enjoy the huge range of benefits.  Onwards and upwards!