Today started out like any other, I got up, checked email…everything was fine. In the United States today many radio stations will be carrying a story about my music video release of “Rock and Roll Heaven.” I was quite excited to start the day and I came downstairs, greeted my mom and Max my dog…and then all hell broke loose!
With an Arrrrhhhhhhh!!! from my mom, everything started, and everything went to hell. She was in screaming agony. She sat down on the sofa and for the next half hour as I sat there, she was in pain, and then not and back to pain again. I was of course very worried because my mother has an extremely high threshold for pain, and does not usually actually scream in pain.
I called the local doctors surgery to see about getting her in. I explained that my mother was screaming in agony and she needed to see someone right now! The absolute incompetence of our local doctor’s surgery followed with orchestrated precision. They were unwilling and unable to change from the programmed response. They said that she would not be able to see a doctor until 4PM. By this time I was getting irritated and told them that was simply not good enough, she needed to see a doctor immediately, and would not be able to make it to the surgery under her own locomotion. As expected, I was placed on hold while “she checked” with the doctor on call. She came back and told me that she was unable to get us in before more than an hours time had passed. I told her that an hour was too long, and asked her for the phone number for our local Hospital, I did not think it necessary to call the emergency number. She gave me a number that was incorrect, outdated. With another scream from my mother I made the decision to call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
The ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later with two very pleasant paramedics/EMTs. They talked to her and determined after taking blood pressure and talking about medical history, that it was necessary to take her to the hospital Accident and Emergency Room. When we got there the usual waiting game started and she was finally seen by an emergency room doctor, about an hour later. He said it was nothing serious, and offered her a pain killer that contained Codine. My mother is violently allergic to Codiene, and when informed of this the doctor was unable to offer an alternative other than paracetemol, which is of course not a strong enough drug for agony. She arrived back in the waiting room less than 5 minutes after she had gone in and is still in similar pain now that we are home. I hope this clears up soon.
We had to get a taxi home which started another game when the Taxi driver told us that he had absolutely no idea how much it should cost, and that he thought it would be around 10 pounds, He radioed to his dispatch, and was unable to raise them without incredible interference on the channel. He had a mobile phone in the car and never once considered using it to call his dispatch. We told him we thought it would be around 5 pounds and I actually ended up calling the taxi agency and asking them myself! They informed me it was 4.50 and I told the driver. He was visibly irritated that he was unable to swindle us. So we got home for 4.50.
An incredibly stressful and non-productive morning.
You can never tell what life if going to throw you at you, can you? I will add that I plan to contact the doctor’s surgery and launch an official complaint. I am pleased with the diagnosis of “not serious” anything not serious means we can breathe a little easier, well I can, it still hurts for my mom to take a deep breath. I am hopeful that she will be better in the next couple of days, and I am grateful for the neighbours who have come and asked if I need anything and if my mom is alright. Knowing people care, really helps.
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