31 January 2023
What a contrast between two health professionals and their conditions of work. We visited two hospitals today both for Maggi and the difference between private and public health was glaringly obvious.
We arrived at Northwick Park Hospital at midday for the first appointment in the outpatient vascular clinic. The whole hospital was heaving with people. We had to wait ages for a lift to arrive that had room enough for Maggi and I to enter. Admittedly we saw the consultant very quickly after our arrival. We entered his shabby office which went along with his shabby demeanour. In fact he looked a bit dirty. He spoke very clearly but neither of us felt confident about him.
In the evening we arrived at St John and St Elizabeth Hospital in St John’s Wood to meet James Youngman the knee consultant. In contrast he kept us waiting for nearly 30 minutes, but the environment was totally different. There was no sense of rush or noise from lots of people in fact the place was very calm. When we finally entered his office he had a relaxed demeanour and immediately told Maggi to stop using her walking sticks. He then gave both of us sense that this problem would disappear very shortly and Maggi would be back on her feet (literally) and walking within 6 weeks. He gave her some exercises to do and demonstrated how to do them and said that flying to America should be perfectly possible on February 11th.
1 February 2023
To carry on from the health theme I went straight to Gor Pharmacy first thing in the morning to pick up a dressing to replace Youngman’s patch that he put on last night.
Highlight of the day was my first walk in the countryside in 2023. What with all the health issues pneumonia/broken patella in January I just haven’t been walking other than in town or locally. I drove over to see Matt who has had his own health problems. He says that the skin cancer on his face has been finally dug out, but the issue of reconstructing his face has been awful. He has had to make many visits to The Royal Free in Hampstead and last Friday needed to have a general anesthetic.
Anyway we spent a fair part of the two hour walk from his house talking about health issues and various other bits and pieces. But I felt excited to be walking in the woods and through the open fields again. Underfoot it wasn’t too boggy and we had a good old natter as we trudged along. Great.
