what a morning... the mother had to go to the eye & ear hospital for a 9.30am appointment - doesn't sound too early hey, unless, of course, mornings are your worst time when elderly and infirm!!! so it was ringing her up at 7 to make sure she was okay and able to get up at that time... she was going to be able to do it so it was psyche-up time for me, then off around to her place for 8...
being public transport users, and it being peak hour (usually extremely hard on me mum - 35-40 minutes standing upright is hard work for a frail 83 year old! and very few offer to give up a seat for the elderly these days!) we decided a cab was the best bet... but as that hadn't arrived after 20 minutes wait downstairs ("if you're ready and waiting now, the next available is on its way!") she wasn't hanging around...
so it was back to catching a tram - and surprisingly it was relatively empty (must have been a lot of extended long weekend takers)... that tram only takes us a couple of stops though, and then it's onto another one - we catch the 112 at the terminus so we usually get a seat... we were travelling well all things considered - until, of course, the tram in front of us broke down!!!!!
what can you do? nothing, so it was a matter of waiting patiently... luckily they had it moving within 15 minutes so we were still going to make it on time - my mother's always been one to be early (guess that's where i get it from) and panics even if she has plenty of time 'up her sleeve'...
i was actually surprised when she asked me to go with her to this appointment - i always offer but she more often than not declines, her independence being important to her, but this time she wanted support - after today i can understand why...
this is the eye & ear hospital, right?! so, visual and aural - one might hazard a guess that everyone going there has a problem with either their sight or hearing?!i must have assumed wrong!
once we found the right floor - her letter hadn't arrived so we had no information as to where she had to go - i was astonished when, in a waiting room full of people - perhaps 50-60 - remember, hard of hearing and or seeing - they called out - ha, that's a joke, they virtually whispered in that environment! - the name of the next patient... the crescendo soon built though with "who", "did you call mrs...", "what was that", "what did they say"... lucky my hearing is good - i didn't want to miss judy's name being called out and ending up going to the back of the queue and waiting all day!!!!! 5 different clinics from the one area so then you have to scan every direction to see who is calling you and what direction they're sprinting off in... no, don't lose sight of them or you'll be lost in those little hidden away corridors forever...
this is the eye & ear hospital, right?! so, visual and aural - one might hazard a guess that everyone going there has a problem with either their sight or hearing?!i must have assumed wrong!
once we found the right floor - her letter hadn't arrived so we had no information as to where she had to go - i was astonished when, in a waiting room full of people - perhaps 50-60 - remember, hard of hearing and or seeing - they called out - ha, that's a joke, they virtually whispered in that environment! - the name of the next patient... the crescendo soon built though with "who", "did you call mrs...", "what was that", "what did they say"... lucky my hearing is good - i didn't want to miss judy's name being called out and ending up going to the back of the queue and waiting all day!!!!! 5 different clinics from the one area so then you have to scan every direction to see who is calling you and what direction they're sprinting off in... no, don't lose sight of them or you'll be lost in those little hidden away corridors forever...
i was to be astounded one more time though... when you finally get seen on this floor, then you're given your file and sent to another floor - "just follow the red (or black, or yellow) line (or whatever colour line goes to your department!!)" too bad if you have really, really poor vision like my mother (eye & ear hospital remember) - the result of kidney failure, glaucoma, diabetes, age (did i miss anything?)... oh, and nausea kicks in if she has to look up or down quickly or for any length of time...
we had to visit 3 different departments today, and i know why she wanted me with her now... she's losing her confidence and stoicism as her health declines, and these are scary places for our more frail senior citizens - they are invisible people who, without advocacy or support, get told nothing - they just get 'seen' and then moved on - they're stamped, dated and rotated... i was my mother's eyes & ears today... and i saw red... and black, and yellow...
this wasn't the post i had planned to write, but i'm still doing some research for that one after watching a documentary at the weekend, that'll be my next post...
for now though i'll leave you with the touching tale of suryia the orangutan and roscoe the dog that a friend sent me the other day... two lost and lonely beings who found friendship...
for now though i'll leave you with the touching tale of suryia the orangutan and roscoe the dog that a friend sent me the other day... two lost and lonely beings who found friendship...
