It is funny (as in funny peculiar, not funny haha) how things turn out, is it not? I am referring to the cancelled appointments and her storming of the Bastille.. aka the call centre.. of the hospital and her refusal to take 'no' for an answer.
Yesterday was the dreaded wisdom tooth pulling day and so, rather than be late and get into a tizz, she woke up early, gave us our scrambled egg, washed and left the house leaving lots of time to get to the North End Road where the dental surgery is. She arrived at 11.15 for her 11.30 appointment, the receptionist told her dentist and one of his team came up to get her.
Oh, thank heavens for Dr. Shah (her old dentist) and his advice about injections in the gum.. 'Drop your shoulders and breathe through your nose'.. as two horse sized injections were slid almost entirely painless into her gum.
The dentist did some de-scaling and clean up work whilst waiting for the anaesthetic to numb the area, then proceeded to remove her lower right wisdom tooth. There was no pain but having the two roots, it meant that it took quite a bit of manipulation, for they're mighty big, these teeth!
And suddenly, there it was, her poor old tooth. He put a small roll of gauze into the hole and told her to bite down onto it. Then he raised her up, switched off the light and told her to close her eyes and lie quietly. There was no rushing her out, that was for sure, he wanted her to be and feel completely 'ok' before she left his surgery.
The nurse gave her a pain relief pill to swallow and a little plastic bag with the instructions of she has to do for the next two days and a few little gauze rolls to replace the one he put in. Upstairs she duly signed the extraction form and left.. in and out in under twenty minutes!
Onwards.. to the hospital!
Where her next appointment was for 15.40.. I know, she was going to be extremely early but there was no point in coming home and then having to go out again. A 74 bus came along which took her down Lillie Road where she got off and caught a 190 to the hospital.
Up into the ENT at 11.45 and there was the lovely woman who had told her about the Call Centre! She looked at my mum, laughed and said "well, well, well.. what brings YOU here today?", my mama laughed and told her what had happened, there was another receptionist on duty as well and she said "WHAT? They actually let you IN, but they keep that door locked, even we aren't allowed in". They all laughed and she handed over the letter with the new time.
They said "You've got hours to wait, it was now 11.50, so she took out her book and settled herself for the long wait. But what was this? The lovely Renee, who had tested her and recommended the scan, was calling her! "We want to test you to see if that infection has gone away, we gather you have had a really bad attack of influenza, poor you, come this way" and into the testing cubicle she went. Beep.. beep.. ping.. ping.. bomp.. bomp.
And then back to her chair in the waiting area, it was now 12.10.. three hours and a half hours to go.. there was now another patient waiting as well.
A nurse appeared and wiped the clinic board clean, then wrote the new clinic name together with the relevant specialists' names and their assistants. There he was.. Mr. ENT man. Then a flurry of people arrived. A young man stopped and asked "who are these patients", the receptionist explained, he smiled at them and disappeared.
Five minutes later, he reappeared with a smile, said her name and asked her to come through. He explained who he was and asked her to talk him through her problem, he showed her the results from the test that Renee had just taken and explained to her what was going on. That there is significant loss in her right ear which is unexplainable, there is also fluid behind that ear drum and 'much' more.
"That you are now directly under Mr. .......'s care, we are scheduling you for an MRI scan to establish what, if anything, has and is causing this loss, we will also be addressing the fluid situation, we know you've had the infection which has pretty much cleared up but if the fluid does not go, we will put a Grommet into the right ear and the 'much more' was discussed..".
Nice man.. very thorough.. her gave her a form to give to the receptionist, she said her thanks and goodbyes and left his room, the other patient had disappeared, there was new person sitting there, she handed the form to the receptionist with a smile, the woman looked at her watch and laughed, then they both laughed as she left the clinic at 12.40.. Three hours before her appointment was due..
Now you see why you should always be as early as you can be for any appointment.. For this early bird DID indeed get the worm!
GeeGee Parrot.
March 5th, 2015.
PostScript: I am happy to report that the toothless hole has remained pain free (aided and abetted by two heavy duty pain killing pills), that it has not bled and that at midday, she'll start two days of gargling with hot salty water.
Yesterday was the dreaded wisdom tooth pulling day and so, rather than be late and get into a tizz, she woke up early, gave us our scrambled egg, washed and left the house leaving lots of time to get to the North End Road where the dental surgery is. She arrived at 11.15 for her 11.30 appointment, the receptionist told her dentist and one of his team came up to get her.
Oh, thank heavens for Dr. Shah (her old dentist) and his advice about injections in the gum.. 'Drop your shoulders and breathe through your nose'.. as two horse sized injections were slid almost entirely painless into her gum.
The dentist did some de-scaling and clean up work whilst waiting for the anaesthetic to numb the area, then proceeded to remove her lower right wisdom tooth. There was no pain but having the two roots, it meant that it took quite a bit of manipulation, for they're mighty big, these teeth!
And suddenly, there it was, her poor old tooth. He put a small roll of gauze into the hole and told her to bite down onto it. Then he raised her up, switched off the light and told her to close her eyes and lie quietly. There was no rushing her out, that was for sure, he wanted her to be and feel completely 'ok' before she left his surgery.
The nurse gave her a pain relief pill to swallow and a little plastic bag with the instructions of she has to do for the next two days and a few little gauze rolls to replace the one he put in. Upstairs she duly signed the extraction form and left.. in and out in under twenty minutes!
Onwards.. to the hospital!
Where her next appointment was for 15.40.. I know, she was going to be extremely early but there was no point in coming home and then having to go out again. A 74 bus came along which took her down Lillie Road where she got off and caught a 190 to the hospital.
Up into the ENT at 11.45 and there was the lovely woman who had told her about the Call Centre! She looked at my mum, laughed and said "well, well, well.. what brings YOU here today?", my mama laughed and told her what had happened, there was another receptionist on duty as well and she said "WHAT? They actually let you IN, but they keep that door locked, even we aren't allowed in". They all laughed and she handed over the letter with the new time.
They said "You've got hours to wait, it was now 11.50, so she took out her book and settled herself for the long wait. But what was this? The lovely Renee, who had tested her and recommended the scan, was calling her! "We want to test you to see if that infection has gone away, we gather you have had a really bad attack of influenza, poor you, come this way" and into the testing cubicle she went. Beep.. beep.. ping.. ping.. bomp.. bomp.
And then back to her chair in the waiting area, it was now 12.10.. three hours and a half hours to go.. there was now another patient waiting as well.
A nurse appeared and wiped the clinic board clean, then wrote the new clinic name together with the relevant specialists' names and their assistants. There he was.. Mr. ENT man. Then a flurry of people arrived. A young man stopped and asked "who are these patients", the receptionist explained, he smiled at them and disappeared.
Five minutes later, he reappeared with a smile, said her name and asked her to come through. He explained who he was and asked her to talk him through her problem, he showed her the results from the test that Renee had just taken and explained to her what was going on. That there is significant loss in her right ear which is unexplainable, there is also fluid behind that ear drum and 'much' more.
"That you are now directly under Mr. .......'s care, we are scheduling you for an MRI scan to establish what, if anything, has and is causing this loss, we will also be addressing the fluid situation, we know you've had the infection which has pretty much cleared up but if the fluid does not go, we will put a Grommet into the right ear and the 'much more' was discussed..".
Nice man.. very thorough.. her gave her a form to give to the receptionist, she said her thanks and goodbyes and left his room, the other patient had disappeared, there was new person sitting there, she handed the form to the receptionist with a smile, the woman looked at her watch and laughed, then they both laughed as she left the clinic at 12.40.. Three hours before her appointment was due..
Now you see why you should always be as early as you can be for any appointment.. For this early bird DID indeed get the worm!
GeeGee Parrot.
March 5th, 2015.
PostScript: I am happy to report that the toothless hole has remained pain free (aided and abetted by two heavy duty pain killing pills), that it has not bled and that at midday, she'll start two days of gargling with hot salty water.
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