Funny Bones

Serious times are upon us...

This photo was taken last week.

 Sime was clearing up out-of-date paperwork. 

He puts it in piles on the floor for recycling & burning, but then he gets fed-up & says he'll finish it the next day.

Which is fine - usually...

This time he slipped on the paper walking through the dining room in the dark.

He stumbled & ended up bashing his side on a chair...

He has a large bruise which is fading now with arnica, but we did end up visiting firstly, the local minor injuries dept (which is actually over 12 miles away). 

What a terrible place it is, yes it's free - but incredibly degrading. The waiting room was full & you have to ring a bell to get the receptionist's attention. When she arrives at the hatch, she speaks very loudly & discusses your problem for all to hear. 

Then you are left to just sit & wait, surrounded by whole families & lots of small children running around.

We decided to sit outside the room in the hallway & another woman came to chat to us, she was supporting her Husband & had been waiting for over 2 hours.

Doing our calculations, we worked out we would have to wait probably at least 3 hours before Sime would be seen, so in his wisdom - Sime cancelled his appointment & we left. 

He just didn't have the patience or the ability to sit for that length of time...

Anyway, that same night he was in agony & the painkillers were not working, so we went off to Truro A&E.

We arrived at 10pm & were pleasantly surprised to see just a handful of others waiting.

He was promptly seen by a nurse & given some strong painkillers, which eventually eased the pain & enabled him to sit down, but then we had another 2 hours to wait before he saw a doctor.

We were taken into a cubicle, where a nurse came & asked all the same questions that the previous nurse had done... She also had a look & feel around Sime's bruise & asked a couple more questions: Who's this with you? Do you have a job? I think she seriously thought that I was his carer from a local homeless hostel - he was just so scruffy & unkempt....

And when she suggested that Sime may have damaged his liver & will need a scan - we were both shocked!

She left us while she went to find a doctor & for a second or two, I felt panicked - what would this mean??? Will he have to stay in? Will he be ok? How will I cope without him?

Before I burst into tears, the12 year old doctor came in...

She had a good rummage, though not before she'd put her gloves on & it was decided that there was probably just some muscle damage & no need for an x-ray.

Was this because of his appearance or did she really think that that was all it was?

He was prescribed strong painkillers & we finally arrived back home at 2am.

As he got up this morning & was still suffering so much, he thought it would be a good idea to see one of our GPs & she thinks he has possibly broken a rib.

It will be about 6 weeks before he's back to normal, so in the meantime - we've been banned from saying anything funny...

which is harder than you think...

Bye for now,

Kay & Sime xx