Sunday, September 19, 2010

Win an autumn break in Scotland

Mills & Boon and Visit Scotland have teamed up to offer a break to the Scottish borders. You can read more about it here.  It is very simple to enter and the scenary is sure to inspire. Good luck!!!



In other news:

I've had a hard few days. My daughter ended up in hospital with  suspected appendicitis. Luckily it turned out to be a burst cyst. Young women are notoriously difficult when it comes to severe stomach aches. As a general rule of thumb, if the patient can hop, it is not appendicitis. Also with appendicitis, the pain increases rather than decreases. The non-invasive way to rule appendicitis out in young women is to have an ultra sound scan. Boys are far more straight forward...
My daughter is back home. Tired but pleased to be home. And I am glad that it turned out to be better than first feared. Have net book, can work anywhere but my daughter understandably wanted attention as she improved.
Given the immense bureaucracy of the NHS, patients do need advocates.
  Because of administrative procedure, the request for the ultra sound was initially lost/put to one side and it was only because I persuaded the junior doctor to personally ask the ultra sound person to add her to the end of the list that my daughter received the scan and was allowed home on Friday evening. Had I been content to wait as the head nurse of the ward she was on suggested that I should be, she would have had to stay over the weekend and would have blocking a bed that someone who really needed to be in hospital could have used. I like to think that some unknown person's life was saved because of my insistence.
 A letter of complaint will be going to the hospital. Non invasive diagnostic tests which can determine if a patient needs to have an urgent operation or can go home should be done as soon as possible and preferably BEFORE the patient is forced to endure an ambulance ride of over an hour and spend 36 hours in a busy hospital ward. And giving such tests early saves the NHS money!

I did a workshop to a small select group in Haltwhistle yesterday. It was a great deal of fun. I met a lady who will be entering the NV competition. She was a true reader of series romance. Her favourite passion is Blaze and my fingers are firmly crossed for her.

5 comments:

Caroline said...

((Hugs))) to you and your daughter. I hope she is feeling a lot better. And good for you - the NHS wastes SO much money. Like your DD my step son had to wait for a MRI scan. He bed blocked for 5 days before he got one! What a waste - he was discharge almost immediately after he had it!

Glad your workshop went well last night. I will look out for the Blaze story. (Are you able to tell us who she is?) Caroline x

Donna Alward said...

I am just relieved K is okay and well on the mend.

Ultrasound in particular is so easy. It makes one wonder.

Nell Dixon said...

Hugs, glad she's feeling better. I have had gynae probs for years and know how painful cysts can be - I had my latest run in with them last week - so I really feel for your dd.

Kate Hardy said...

Hugs, Michelle - what a worry for you. Hope K is feeling much better now. Big hugs to you both xxx

LindseyHughes said...

Know how stressful it can be to have a daughter in hospital and have to contend with the NHS and all that is illogical.

Glad you got your daughter home for the week end!