Why are the "Two Muppets" gracing my blog? Well, the reason is the fact that these Two Muppets actually did bring a little sunshine into my life today in the form of a good old laugh courtesy of the Sun's dare I say "genius" photograph and caption. Other than that, would these two really bring anyone sunshine?
I have had one heck of a day today with two trips to very different hospitals. When it comes to hospitals, you have to realise that they practically come with the territory of being a part of my family. My mother having worked in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for the best part of 25 years. I myself having worked in the Pathology Department - I loved that job!! My darling younger brother having been in and out of hospital since approximately 2000 due to cancer. Obviously various members of the family having babies, myself included and now my dad having treatment at the Oncology Unit at the Western General Hospital. Oh and who can forget my sister in law's emergency trip only 6 weeks ago now to have her gall bladder removed ! So you see, hospitals really do feature quite a lot in my family's life!
The only trip I was expecting today was to collect my father from Oncology following upon his two weekly dosage of chemotherapy. Now I do not normally do this "run" as my brother, Martin, is the designated driver for the chemo trips whilst I deal with the shopping run with my mother. However, Martin was pretty unwell yesterday so I had prepared myself for the fact that I was given a new duty today!
That one expected trip very quickly turned into two trips to two different hospitals miles apart upon my arrival home from taking the kids to school to see my mobile phone flashing 'you have a message'! I always leave my mobile at home in the morning - it is a very bad habit that I really must get out of!
The message turned out to be from my sister in law Angela asking me to call her urgently. I called to discover that Martin had been rushed into Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in the wee small hours of the morning due to his throat "closing up..........."! Quite scary stuff I hasten to add. Angela went on to tell me that he had now been moved to St John's Hospital in Livingston as he was suffering from acute tonsillitis with the added unusual factor of a quinsy (peritonsillar abscess - yes I googled it) which is a very rare condition which can occur from acute tonsillitis. What I found strange was the fact that the NEW apparently 'State of the Art, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary' does not have an ENT Department! Bizarre!!
Due to the fact that Martin had been taken by ambulance in the early hours, he did not have his wheelchair (he lost his leg to cancer), crutches, clean clothes, toiletries - all the usual stuff that you need whilst in hospital with him. So, considering that the only driver in the family who was not in hospital was me, the duty fell upon me to ensure that all necessities were delivered to Martin.
This entailed a quick drive in my own car down to my brother's house to collect his wife, son and belongings and his car as my little Corsa would never have taken the wheelchair. Oh my goodness, my first challenge of the day, driving an automatic car! I did say to Angela and Robert "do not worry, it will take a little time but the car will stop kangaroo jumping as soon as I get hang of it". My darling little nephew replied, "it is okay Suzanne that car always kangaroo jumps"! YES, what a result, I am a great driver after all ;o) !!
The drive to Livingston proved to be uneventful although once in the hospital it was a completely different story. The patient in the next bed to Martin had a cardiac arrest literally minutes before we arrived. Needless to say, it was rather crazy with doctors and nurses running around and the call of "crash team.............." sent shudders down my body. We were ushered into a waiting room complete with quite a few patients and given the fact we had wheelchair, crutches, bags and ourselves, the room became quite crowded. The patients who were in the room were quietly whispering about the "incident" and all I could think of was the fact Martin was still in the same room as this patient whose life was literally on the line. Thankfully a nurse came in around 15 minutes later and I heard her telling one patient that the man was fine, well fine in the sense that he was being moved to intensive care.
We finally got to see Martin and off loaded his belongings - actually Angela, being the very good wife she is, set to work at folding away his clothes into the little cupboard you get beside your bed - why are these cupboards so small? Angela and I then left Robert with his dad whilst we went to purchase him a newspaper to read hence the photograph on this blog - yes, my brother reads the Sun !! We had to bid him a swift goodbye as time was pressing for me to collect my two kids from school and get back to Oncology to collect my dad.
I actually brought both kids out of school early as this was to prove the only viable option. Chloe was ecstatic due to the fact she missed half an hour of comprehension and Ruaraidh was ecstatic due to the fact his mummy was driving Uncle Martin's "cool" car - is my Corsa really so boring?
Drove home to my sister in laws and deposited her and the two boys. Chloe wanted to come to Oncology with me so I ensured that her tie was straight, blazer de-fluffed and hair brushed. Angela laughed at me saying that she had told Robert that he "could not wear jogging trousers to hospital and had to look smart". It made me think "why the necessity to look smart for hospital"? Is this a "mum" thing? It is obviously a Suzy and Angela "mum" thing ;o). That said however, I think Chloe feels such a sense of pride in her full uniform and although I am biased, she does look absolutely fantastically turned out!!
Chloe and I arrived at Oncology just as dad's chemo was finishing which was really good timing as we were going to miss rush hour traffic. I am so glad I went to collect both him and mum as they really did look tired. Chloe was fascinated with the amount of people sitting around smiling with cannula's in their hand/wrist/arm - in fact any where a nurse can find a vein, taking in drugs which are hopefully killing off their potential life threatening disease. I think it did Chloe the world of good to actually see what happens in Oncology. Actually, I really would recommend a trip to Oncology to anyone who ever feels down in the dumps as the people there who are fighting life threatening illnesses are absolutely AMAZING!! They are ALL so positive and upbeat and come in all shapes, sizes, age, colour religion etcetera yet share the same common goal - 'let's fight this cancer' and by god, they really do fight hard!
I finally got my parents home around the back of 5 and then drove back down to Angela's. She had kindly made dinner for all of us which was very gratefully received as I realised I had not had a thing to eat all day. I must admit though that my slightly warped brain did think "hmmm wonder how many lbs I have lost today" - not really a good way to think about it but something I can address later ;o).
So, my share of hospital running is over for the day and has "sunshine" been brought into my life. Yes, it certainly has through being able to help out my family, spend quality time with them, introduce my daughter to the wonderful world of positivity in relation to illness and of course, not to forget, my laugh at the Two Muppets above.
On that note I should finish as my son lost his first tooth today which thankfully did not warrant a hospital visit ;o) but does warrant a visit from the tooth fairy and in case she forgets to arrive, I best go remind her now ;o) !!
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