Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Addenbrookes Hospital

Cambridge - United Kingdom, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized Leave a comment

PLACEAfter a very lazy weekend, I spent today volunteering at Addenbrookes Hospital for two sessions of their annual Patient-led Assessments of the Care Environment (PLACE). I had volunteered for this prior to my husband’s recent surgery and I had not expected, when he came home from hospital, that he would need as much help as he does. However, Victoria, our granddaughter was still on her Easter holiday break, so she came round to “Granddad sit”!

It was an extremely enjoyable, although busy day, when I visited some parts of the hospital that were new to me. I, with others in my group, assessed A and E, (I have been there before) Ward EAU5, N2 as well as some corridors and sections leading off the corridors. It also involved tasting the patient’s lunch, which for me was limited, as I did not have a menu to check which was gluten-free. The lunch provided for me was excellent and included my favourite Marks and Spencer gluten-free sandwich, gluten-free cake and fruit.

As I left the hospital the Park and Ride was just leaving, they run every ten minutes; the next one was due in sixteen minutes, so I walked to the Park and Ride. It was very windy waiting for the bus, so walking was a good option even though the bus arrived at the Park and Ride just slightly before I got there.

New Bed

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Bed

The new bed for my husband, so that he can sleep downstairs arrived at 1020 hours; the delivery people were excellent, put the wheels on, set it up and took away the packaging. They thought at first that it would not fit, but I had measured the space and knew that there would be an inch to spare each end.

Once installed I telephoned the ward to let them know so that they could prepare the paperwork; they said he was not ready yet, but would be taken to the discharge lounge and they would ring me once he was there; I could park at the front. To me the front is the main entrance; not so! Knowing that discharge papers can takes hours, I made up the bed with new linen, the cheapest I could find and went into Saffron Walden to collect our prescriptions. While standing in the queue in Boots, I received a text message from my husband saying he had been waiting forty-five minutes and where was I. They had told him I was on my way to collect him. He then told me that he was to be picked up elsewhere. One problem with hospitals is their lack of communication; it happens in many big organisations, but does not help when you get conflicting information.

Today’s picture is of the new bed, he does not like the linen. It is difficult to get linen for a single bed that is not aimed at children; much of it was pink, yellow or orange with Disney characters, fairies and princesses; I liked the covers with elephants on, but decided he would not!

Please Vote For Me

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I am standing for election for a Governor position with the Addenbrookes Hospital Trust. If you would like to vote for me, you must to be a member of the Trust, you can join using the link below. Joining the Trust, before 12 April will mean that you are able to vote for me. There is no financial cost involved.

https://secure.membra.co.uk/CUHApplicationForm/

As many of you know my husband and other family members have benefitted from the excellent treatment provided by Addenbrookes and the Rosie; as have many of your families. I belong to two “Focus” groups, which are already benefitting patients and their relatives. As a Governor I can do so much more representing you, the public, as well as patients and relatives.

Goldfinch

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TwoThis morning my husband took the large bulky bandage off of my wrist; today was the first time it was allowed off. It looks good and has been photographed and two views have been included below as a record. My husband put on a new small dressing so that the steri strips remain in place. Today’s shower was much better with just a rubber glove on rather than a huge plastic bag!

Today’s main picture is of a Goldfinch, the first one I have seen in the garden for at least two years. I only saw it briefly, just as it was about to fly away. Today has been warm and sunny.

Yesterday when I returned home I found confirmation that my nomination form, to stand as a Governor for Addenbrookes Hospital had arrived safely. If you want to vote for me you need to be a member of the Addenbrookes Trust, you can join here

https://secure.membra.co.uk/CUHApplicationForm/

Dressing removed after five days
Dressing removed after five days

 

 

A Rather Boring Picture

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2017-04-01 08.11.06

But not a boring day.

Today’s picture is the only one I took, although I did ask my husband to take something in the garden for me. He thinks this is a boring picture; you might do too.

I left home at 0645 hours to travel to Milton Keynes for an Open University training day. This means travelling into London, then the underground to Euston Station, then another train to Milton Keynes, plus a taxi to get to the conference centre. This picture was taken of part of a seat on the Virgin train, with Euston Station through the window. It took two hours to get from home to Milton Keynes and three hours to get home. This was partly due to railway engineering works on part of the line.

The day was excellent, meeting with other Associate Lecturers as well as staff who run the modules. Lunch was excellent with a choice of fish or chicken that I could eat. Unfortunately I could not have the potatoes as they were not gluten free; how can you eat protein without potatoes or a similar carbohydrate? I settled for a jacket potato with cheese and sweetcorn with salad with a mango mousse for pudding.

Bandage

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Bandage

I spent the morning marking student’s scripts. Then at lunchtime I caught the train to go to Shelford Station, which is very near to Cambridge Clear Beauty. It is where Mr Tariq Ahmad, then surgically removed the ganglion on my left wrist. I came home with my daughter so that worked out well. I have to keep my arm elevated and sleep with it raised, so typing with one hand cannot be done very quickly.

Today’s picture, taken by my husband, obviously, is of my bandaged hand, which has a large dressing on it, which must remain for a few days.

It has been sunny and warm all day.

Mothering Sunday Gifts

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Gifts

I did a little marking this morning, but our daughter and son-in-law visited bringing Mothering Sunday gifts. After lunch I watched the Formula One highlights, but did little else all day.

The bag at the back contained several items including some special soap, one lemon and one lime with a small frog on it; much too nice to use. It also contains four face masks, woolly socks, some coasters with owls on them and a lovely purple tin to keep things in.

The sun has been shinning all day and it has been pleasantly warm.

Looking At Second-hand Books

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GOG

We are both a member of the Patient and Public Involvement Panel (PPIP), which is part of the Addenbrookes Hospital Trust and we read and comment on papers submitted by researchers seeking funding for their research; these papers then go a specialist ethics committee. Today there was a talk, the history of ethics so we went to Trumpington this morning. It was very interesting although some it was not new to me. What did surprise me was that the average reading of the people in this country is twelve! This makes it very important when we read these papers that everything is fully explained so that the subjects taking part, fully understand what they are being asked to do and any consequences there might be. A buffet lunch was provided after the talk and I was well catered for. However, I shared some of mine with someone who had not been provided for.

On the way home we stopped at Scotsdales Garden Centre, well we were driving past it. As I had eaten only a small lunch I had cake with my coffee. As usual my husband looked at the second-hand books and found two very unusual ones. The money from the sale of these books, which have been donation by Scotsdales customers, goes to the Cancer Centre on the Scotsdales site.

It was dry when we went out this morning, but started raining heavily during the morning and for most of the afternoon.

Alice in Wonderland

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Alice in Wonderland

I had an appointment to have the on my wrist ganglion looked at this morning, at Cambridge Clear Beauty, prior to having it surgically removed. Aspirating it, which works quite often has not worked on mine, which appears to be quite stubborn. It is close to the artery, which is one of the reasons aspirating it was tried first.

Then we went to Scotsdales Garden Centre for breakfast and a look round. I bought four small shrubs, six small flowering plants and some peanuts for the birds.

Our new plumber visited yesterday afternoon to give us a quotation and to look at the boiler, which our previous builder recommended. It seems it is far too big and cannot be used. It was designed for an eight bedroomed house! Our new plumber telephoned the company we purchased it from, but they will not take it back. They also said that the particular builder that we used had a history of providing customers with the wrong boiler.

When I left home this morning it was not raining, but before we had gone very far it rained heavily and continued to do so for much of the day although the sun did put in a brief appearance around midday.