Home once more.

Firstly may we say a huge thank you for all you messages of support, either on here or on our facebook pages. We really do read them all, even if we do not manage to reply to them all.

As you can see from the title of this post. Keith is home again. Having spent the night in hospital, they sent him home on Thursday and told me he had to manage the pain at home, as they can do nothing until he has the exploritory operation, which may not be until May. The Consultants Reg, who was looking after him, did give some hope, as he is going to try and get the operation date moved forward, but neither of us will hold our breath.

The experience in A&E this time was certainly not a happy affair, when targets seemed more important than the fact that Keith was in pain and needed to be treated. We arrived in A&E at 4.05am and waited to be seen. It was very busy as always, with people screaming and shouting. Patients running off and police and security all over the place. Just a normal night in A&E. But what really got me annoyed was when I sat and listened to the sister and doctor standing in A&E arguing about my husband. The argument began because they had just five minutes left of the four hour turn around time and no decision had been taken by the doctor as to what they would do with Keith. So the sister wrote him down as going home. This of course annoyed the doctor and an argument began. It ended with the sister telling the doctor, he had five minutes to make his decision, otherwise they would be over their target time of four hours, to assess, treat, refer or send home time. As it turned out having gone ten minutes over the turn around time, the doctor sent Keith up to the SAU (Surgical Assessment Unit) for the surgeons to assess him. The sister then wrote on the board that Keith was referred at 8 ish, just so she could keep her target time of being seen within the four hours. Infact she was out by a good ten minutes. Who says they fiddle their target times???

So having been transferred to SAU, he was given a Morphine injection and put on a Paracetamol drip, which did nothing to easy his pain. The Consultants Reg saw him later in the evening and agreed that Keith needed the exploritory operation and would do his best to bring it forward. Keith had a comfortable night and on Thursday morning was told he could come home, as there was nothing more they could do for him. He has to manage his pain at home.

Back on the boat, things have settled down once more and he is coping with the pain. I am sure he is rattling with all the pills he is taking. As he felt more comfortable we moved Hadar from one side of the basin to the other, to help Debbie with mooring issues. She had a 70ft hire boat coming in over the weekend and needed our space. We are now moored near the Sanitary Station, out of the way. It is actually a quieter mooring and of course closer to the bins etc. We are not complaining, because Debbie has been so wonderful at allowing us to stay.

We have enjoyed visits from friends Al and Del on Derwent No6. It is always a pleasure to see them both. Thank you for the Easter Egg. We will think of you as we tuck into it on Easter Day.
We will now wait and hope that an appointment comes very soon. So that Keith can get rid of his pain and we can get on with cruising the system.

Have a fantastic week everyone.