DaiOakley 21-Dec-2007
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21-Dec-2007 - TAKING SOUNDINGS
Today I am off for more tests at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH). I have an appointment with the X-ray Department at 0915. They intend to do an Ultrasound Scan of my pelvis, a flow test to assess bladder emptying and an abdominal X-Ray.
The instructions ask that I drink 2 to 3 pints of water within the 2 hours before the appointment so that I arrive with a full bladder. So as I write, I am tightening the drum - 2 pints down and 1 to go and Sheila has checked the bottle to ensure that it has no gin or vodka in it. I am not sure that I want to become too experienced at tuning the filling of my bladder to someone else's timings. It seems to be a tricky business - Too Much Too Soon Too Late. I am not sure at 0835 that I have timed it right. It doesn't feel as If I am going to be full by the time I get there. I am lucky in that I live just 3 minutes from the hospital so at least I haven't got to sit cross legged on the bus for ages hoping that the driver misses all the pot holes.
I arrived at the RSH Main Entrance and go to X-Ray as requested in my letter.
The Wait
My appointment was for 0915. I arrived at the X-Ray Department waiting room at 0850. My bladder was filling nicely. It seems I was a little early. There were very few people about. There was a cleaning lady who was instructing an eastern European person in the finer arts of driving a polishing machine. She told me to wait and that someone would come to see me.
The Flow Test
Being a good boy I waited --- and waited --- My bladder was beginning to protest. Someone walked past and I looked at them very pointedly. The same person walked past again - I looked again. The third time the person walked by she asked if anyone had seen me. It then transpired that the Ultrasound department is in a different place. Off I trotted. As I approached Ultrasound I was met by a lady who was expecting me. I explained that I was rather full and would be grateful if she would not keep me waiting too long, which she didn't. I was ushered into a lavatory cubicle where I found a white bucket type arrangement placed on top of the lavatory pan. At the bottom of the bucket was a black plastic 'plug' thing. As I began to urinate I realsied that this 'plug' was a flow guage which was wired up to some point elsewhere. With much relief I went back out to change out of street clothes. and to make ready for the Ultrasound Scan.
The Ultrasound Scan
After removing my dressing gown I was asked to lie on my back on an examination couch. The lady smeared 2 areas with a gel which was a little cold. She then scanned my kidneys and bladder with a roller ball type scanner. She watched the results on a screen which I could not see. That took all of 5 minutes - dressing gown on and away to x-ray.
The Abdominal X-Ray
As I walked out of Ultrasound I was met by a lady who took me straight into the x-ray room. Dressing gown off, lie on back on couch. Set up overhead gantry x-ray machine - deep breath - hold it - breathe normally again. This was repeated 4 times. Thank you - changing cubicles over there - exit that way. All extremely efficient, quick and painless. I was told that Mr Elves, the urologist, would probably want to see me in a month's time. Yet again, the treatment could not have been better if I had been a private patient.
The Flaw
Sheila and I have long since resigned ourselves to the fact that it is our job in life to find the flaws in any system we encounter. This was no different today. Sheila dropped me at the main Outpatients Entrance. The plan was that she would park in a secret location near the hospital, walk back and join me at the Ultrasound waiting area. When I had dressed, I spent more than half an hour looking round the hospital for her. She was nowhere to be seen. I therefore went out, caught the bus and walked the last few hundred metres across the fields to get home. I arrived back at home less than 2 hours after I had left.
A neighbour asked how I had got on. I explained and he seaid that he would give me a lift back to the hospital to look for Sheila again. I found her waiting in a totally different area which I had been through at least twice on my earlier hunt, but she said she had gone to the loo twice so I had missed her. The flaw was in the fact that the receptionist insisted that Sheila should wait in an area where I had not been at all before my tests. In spite of the fact that lots of friends and relatives were accompanying those going for tests, Sheila was told that she was NOT to go through to wait with me. I was rather confounded because I could not work out how this particular receptionist could have any information about me. I had been nowhere near her. Anyway, after a 3 hour wait, Sheila was nearly in tears thinking that they had decided to get on and do the TUR(BT) without further delay.
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