Part 2....

So my appointment came through (giving no indication of access to I had to phone them to check!) and I turned up for a barium meal. It took two laps of the car park to find parking and then an icy walk into the main building... brrrrrr.

FROM A to B

Anyway I walked from shall we say part 'A' of the building all the way to part 'B' at the opposite end of the hospital.

FROM B to A

On arrive at radiology in part 'B' I was told 'sorry' you need to go to CT as they are doing them up there today'...... so off I went with my PA. There were no signs and asking local wards where this quite critical part of the hospital imaging department is - they hadn't a clue.

Eventually I worked out is was in the cancer unit - back up at part 'A'. So off we went.....
On arrival at reception I was told 'sorry, yours is being done at radiology'.... grrr......

FROM A to B

Back we plodded along miles of corridors to the opposite end of the hospital again.... 2 miles later....
Eventually I had to transfer (for transfer read ' be dragged/slided') to three different places because of different height beds / tables etc. Eventually I made it and got the thing done - with no great conclusion as to why or what to do about my problem... Still at least it wasn't anything cancerous or that would have topped the day of nicely!

FROM B to A

All that remained was to trek back to 'part A' to get in the car.... now where was CT again?

How I got this point: I have a problem with my throat and keep gagging as if someone has a finger down it. I went to my GP who got me an appointment at Maidstone Hospital. The plan of action was I would go back for a barium scan to see if its because of my MD effecting my throat or something else more dodgy. That was in December.

Today I received a phone call saying they wanted me to go in on Thursday. Despite having changed my name twice at the clinics they still had me under my maiden name which confused the issue. I then said a 'by the way, I'm a wheelchair user', to which they replied 'ah, that could be a problem.' Does anyone actually read medical notes - its pretty obvious! Apparently the room where they are doing them is not accessible due to moving around of departments or something. The lady was very polite and said she would find out what they could do....

A later phone call that day.....

Now they had booked for me to have it in an accessible room..... I then enquired 'how do you plan on doing this'.... she said 'eh... why' to which I reminded her that I could not sit unaided out of my wheelchair (although she said they had a hoist to get me out of my chair) and also could not hold a cup to drink the barium 'meal' for scan of how I swallow! She said that could be a problem and would have to consult with someone higher up as to what to do and so as to not waste my time or theirscoming in until they had worked something out.

So there you go. It's easy for these medical types to say ' do a scan' but they never put any thought into the needs of patients with impairments.... 0/10 my friends.

Well, last night was a success and we came home with what we wanted - 3 Poangs (chairs to you and me)!

The return journey home became somewhat of a pantomime at the bridge tolls. We used to have free crossing - saving a huge £1 and presented our 'ticket' as per usual. A silly twat then kept going on about how you don't use these any more. We said we had just used it to get through the tunnel and it became an 'oh no you didn't'... 'we did' .... 'you didn't...... 'we did' for some while. With customer service somewhat lacking he then said a jumble of things which made as much sense as calling a chair 'Poang'. Anyway, he let us through and Kevin read on the internet that they just check your car is tax exempt and let you through. Why couldn't he have just said a simple ' you don't need anything now all we do is look at your tax disc and let your through'. Some people...... grrrrrr

Ahh, who could resist... that blue and yellow logo, meatballs by the thousands and wonderfully named products like Schlibs and Oonks. Ok so I made that up but I'm sure a Schlib would be a bright red bookcase or something. We are in fact after some chairs - should be straight forward ... we will see tomorrow!!

Wish us luck...

Yep, it came today in the post.... OK so the postman didn't squeeze a real goat through the letterbox but our goat did indeed come in the post - thanks to my sister's xmas present. The real goat goes to a third world country of course and the recipient gets a picture (not of THE goat - but A goat). I think these donation gifts are a good idea and I started doing it last year through Oxfam and other organisations. This year I sent my sister a toilet... she hasn't commented on her Christmas present funnily enough! My brother thought his 'personal hygiene' gift was amusing.

Whether or not the recipient actually gets a goat for every 'goat' bought I do not know. Perhaps the donations just go into the general charity pot for their work? Either way it's better then receiving a useless gift that starts off on the mantle piece and works it's way to a church jumble sale or charity shop as I suspect many gifts do nowadays...

Ahhh New Year.... Today and during the last week, both myself and Kevin have spent hours and hours surfing the internet for accessible holiday accommodation in North Wales.

We plan on spending a week around Snowdonia (and visiting my family) - but in that great land of Sheep and... ehh more Sheep, this has always been tricky... Take a few years ago for instance. We trekked up to Wales to be Godparents at our Nephew's Christening. We stayed for a few days in a 'cottage' and it was really strange and freezing cold. We took our own planks for a makeshift ramp to gain entry and I was able to get into the bathroom with not a mm to spare - so it was only just about accessible. When we left there was nobody in the main house so we just packed up and dropped the key through the letterbox as we couldn't think of anything else to do. Not the usual good bye you get when you rent a holiday home! Such is life.

I'm pretty sure I have spent over 8 hours trying to find accessible places in Wales in the last few days ....

Alas the words 'Wheelchair' ' Accessible' 'Cottages' and 'Wales' appeared only a few times in the same sentence. One boasted access - as long as you could sleep on the kitchen floor and pee in a bush in the garden. I think not somehow. Not many hotels or guest houses had access neither...

As it happens, on sending an e-mail about access particulars of one cottage, they said they had just opened up a fully wheelchair accessible one which was not on their web site.... it has a wheel-in-shower and an accessible bathroom - the most essential thing when looking for somewhere to stay.... Bala here we come!