It’s always best when things are fresh in the memory, especially when you have a memory like mine.
It means that details don’t get blurred or distorted by the passage of time. It means minor inconveniences don’t get blown up into full-blown soap operas, complete with a supporting cast of washed up light entertainers and returning characters best remembered from around thirty years ago.
Which is lucky, really.
Read The Room
We’ll start with yesterday, the day my marvellous missus, Tina, had an appointment at Pinderfields Hospital for a touch of laser eye surgery.
Which sounds dramatic, doesn’t it? It certainly did to Tina, who was, understandably, quite disturbed by the thought, especially as the date grew closer.
Now, I won’t claim to be any kind of aficionado of said procedure and I can’t claim any first-hand or even second-hand experience of what it entailed, either. As I was only the driver and emotional support act I bid Tina a fond adieu in the waiting room and hunkered down to read the last couple of chapters of my book, something which, in retrospect, and given the nature of the clinic, may have been in slightly bad taste.
The Proof Of The Pudding
Regardless it was maybe twenty-to-thirty minutes later I collected a fuzzy-eyed Tina for her promised big-brave-girl cheesecake in Pinderfields restaurant. Twenty-to-thirty minutes in which eye drops had been administered and given time to work and the laser had opened up the drainage pathways in Tina’s eyes (an Iridotomy). A procedure which should head off the chances of getting Glaucoma in the future (prevention being far, far better than cure).
Since then, Tina has complained of sore eyes, blurred vision, and a feeling like having an eyelash caught in her eye. Hopefully, after a couple of days and if her husband actually manages to get some of her prescribed eyedrops actually in her eyes (I only missed the once) these symptoms should quickly dissipate. Unfortunately, Tina does not put the patience into patient, so quickly may not be quickly enough.
Next on the list was the recurring issue of my wheelchair.
Good News/Bad News
Yes, once again a wonky front castor left me somewhat inconvenienced. On the 4th of February I rang Wheelchair Services. It took a week to get someone out to perform a temporary ‘repair’ (a cleaning out of pet hair from the spindle) and order me some new ones.
On Friday the 20th of February I got a call I sadly missed and, as Wheelchair Services aren’t open on a weekend and the lines were jammed on Monday, it was yesterday I managed to ring them back.
Good news! My replacement castors had arrived, and in decent time, too.
Bad news! No one could come out to fit said castors until the 11th of March, two weeks and one day later.
As the offending castor had started to stick in directions I didn’t necessarily want to go I asked if there was any alternative. There was. I could visit Elland myself the next day (today). Something I slightly reluctantly did, accompanied, of course, by Tina.
Fit For Service
To cut a long story short, my chair has been condemned. This is only two years after getting the thing, and I’m not exactly a marathon man nor a Tough Mudder (look it up). A complaint was made, a manager spoken to, and the upshot is, I will shortly be re-assessed for a new chair, and I have a loan chair that’s only slightly unsuitable in the meantime.
Matters of funding and staffing were once again raised as a defence but, for me, it won’t do. I know I’m not the only one left in this position. In fact, as we were waiting for the bad news, another gentleman came in whose son had been waiting four weeks for a repair.
Something needs to be done by someone, somewhere. The service needs to be improved. It’s not just a matter of mechanics and parts, this is people’s lives we’re talking about. If I couldn’t get to Elland I would have been effectively housebound for two weeks without the means to even make myself a cup of tea. No, someone needs to do something. Someone needs to be told. I’m just not sure who that someone is
Until next time!
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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think.
New Tales Of Old
Death Ship
Pestilence: Drabbles 1
Reaperman: Drabbles 3
The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu
Eldritch Investigations
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