… how many times I’ve been out of my room today for an examination of one sort or another nut I’m sure that the wheelchair folded up in the corner of he room knows its own way across the campus to the clinical part of the hospital.
And in a wheelchair too, not fenced into the bed and being pushed lock, stock and barrel. Things must be looking up.
All of this is in fact very reminiscent of the old days when I had my taxi company in the 80s.
There’s a dispatching office and a crew of about 50 porters here, each porter with a tablet-type of computer.
A specialist will ring up the ward to say “patient X needs to come to such-and-such an examination at such a time”
The ward sister will ring up Dispatching to say “Patient X needs to go to such and such an examination at such and such a time”
Dispatching then sends a message to the nearest porter to pick up patient X and take him to such-and-such an examination
Porter then goes to the ward to pick up Patient X and take him to is examination.
Porter then tells the Dispatcher that he’s free
Dispatcher sends porter off on his next pick-up.
It’s all very reminiscent of having a very busy fleet of taxis.
Last night was rather busy too.
To my own great surprise, and probably to yours too, I fell asleep without actually taking a sleeping pill. Every now and again I awoke to find myself being poked and prodded by various members of the medical staff but I went back to sleep quite quickly.
By the time 03:30 came around I couldn’t go back to sleep and when the alarm went off at 06:30 I was already up and working, having had a really nice orange to start the day.
Breakfast was late today because at 08:00 I was dragged off for the first of the many examinations that I had.
On one of the examinations that I had, round about lunchtime, they wanted to put a camera up my nose and down my throat. “Over my dead body” I said but the doctor was very persuasive and insistent and you have absolutely no idea of how much I suffered, physically and also mentally
This particular examination took place in a very out-of-the-way part of the hospital and it took an absolute positive age for someone to come and pick me up to take me back to my room.
Another visit was to have my throat investigated by one of these Stargate time-travelling things. Not one made by General Electric, my former employer. All of those have been replaced, so I was told. That company has really gone downhill since I stopped working there.
As for the other examinations, there were probably more. I really can’t remember.
Examinations aside, I had several visits from various doctors and specialists
And also a dietician who told me that I’m eating too much fruit and salad and that’s something else that will surprise you just as much as it surprises me.
Good news is that I’ve had a telephone call from the Post Office. Apparently they tried to deliver a “parcel” but there was no reply. So we chatted about it and they said that if it’s not claimed within 14 days it will be returned “to Roissy” which, for those of you who don’t know, is where Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport is situated.
And so it looks as if STRAWBERRY MOOSE has finished his wanderings and wants to come home. But if my friend Thierry doesn’t get a move on and reply to me, His Nibs might be off on yet more wanderings.
But the only wanderings that I’m going to do right now is to wander off to bed. It’s almost 23:00 and I’m going to try once more to go to sleep without a sleeping pill.
There’ll be a nice little stock of those in my drawer here by the time that I’m finished if I’m not careful.
