[Magdalen] Hate to think about the bill

[Michael Bishop]

Roger:
I am sorry to hear of your accident but glad to hear you are back home 
and hope that you will be back to full strength soon. The countryside 
can be dangerous!

....
....
God bless

Michael Bishop
rev at michaelbishop.name

Rector of Boylestone, Church Broughton, Dalbury, Longford, Long Lane, Sutton-on-the-Hill & Trusley

Diocese of Derby, England

On 29/07/2016 14:07, Roger Stokes wrote:
> Now I am home I can update you on my activities, and lack thereof, 
> since Monday. I am part of a walking group that has 3 groups doing 
> different walks eacg week.  The usual pattern is to start at a pub in 
> a local village where we can park our cars, order lunch and then do a 
> circular walk, mostly on public footpaths, over the next 2 hours 
> befire returning to the pub and having our lunch. For various reasons 
> I have not been out for several weeks so was looking forward to it 
> this week. We'd been walking about 50 minutes when my right foot went 
> down a large hole and I couldn't get up even with help so the 
> emergency ambulance was called at 11.25 a.m..
>
> Some people stayed with me, others went to the nearest bit if road, 
> perhaps a mile away, to direct the ambulance crew, and the rest 
> continued their walk. Because there had been a number of more 
> life-threatening cases there wasn't an ambulance available for some 
> time. When they got there they realised it would be difficult to get 
> me to their ambulance so they called for back-up from the Hazardous 
> area Resource Team. There are 15 of these scattered around the country 
> as a national resource, each consisting of 7 paramedics on duty at any 
> time who have undergone at least a further 8 week training session and 
> the majority do a further 2 week urban search and rescue course after 
> that so they are very well-trained.  They travel in a convoy of three 
> vehicles - an ambulance, a support vehiche and a pod which contains 
> other equipment.  It must have been quite a sight seeing them making 
> their 40 mile journey under blue lights to where we were!
>
> When they arrived they off-loaded their Polaris, not an old nuclear 
> missile but a 6x6 ATV which can carry a patient in the back. I was 
> trabsferred to the basket stretcher which was then phuysically lifted 
> onto the vehicle for the journey across the field (under blue lights) 
> to the road where I was unloaded and slid across to the ambulance 
> stretcher.  The suspension did its job and it was a comfortable ride - 
> more so than in the regular ambulance to the hospital where Accident & 
> Emergency was jammed.  This meant the ambulance crew had to stay with 
> me for another coup;e of hours before I could be handed over to 
> hospital staff, sliding over to one of their trolleys.
>
> Over the next several hours I was seen by three doctors and had an 
> X-ray which showed no bones nroken but there was a diagnosis of a 
> ruptured quadriceps tendon which holds the muscle at the front of the 
> upper thigh to the knee. I was told I would be admitted to a ward and 
> the surgical team would decide on Tuesday morning what happened next.  
> That final transfer happened at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, with a further 
> slight delay as there wasn't a bed for me to transfer to when we 
> arrived in the bay.  These delays would not have occurred if my 
> condition had been life-threatening or liable to deteriorate.  I was 
> safe and nothing adverse was likely to happen as a result of the delay.
>
> Tuesday morning the team duly came round, declared I needed surgery 
> but it wouldn't be that day but the next so the Nil by Mouth order was 
> lifted and water appeared on my table, followed closely by a doctor 
> who said there had been a change of plan so I would be operated on 
> that day so not to have anything to eat or drink.  An anaesthetist 
> appeared to tell me that he proposed using a spinal block if I agreed, 
> which I did. Having signed the necessary forms I was taken down to 
> theatre where three people checked that the forms they had related to 
> me and I confirmed my signature, the block was administered.  Tests 
> with a cold-water spray indicated that it had taken effect so after 
> the needles went in I felt nothing from my chest down for a couple of 
> hours.  The operation lasted 65 minutes, under the supervision of the 
> consultant but actually performed by two other members of the team. 
> About 30 minutes in recovery with no side-effects before I went back 
> upstairs to the ward and was able to eat and drink.
>
> Wednesday morning's round I was told I was fit to be discharged once 
> the physiotherapist had got me out of bed.  Before she got to me the 
> doctor came back again to say that the latest blood test indicated 
> dehydration as my kidmey function was not in the right range so it 
> would be another night in hospital.  The physio came and got me out of 
> bed and using a frame for a short walk. Early Thursday afternoon she 
> came back with her occupational therapist colleague and we went for 
> another walk, where I felt more comfortable and confident. The OT lady 
> said they would need to see me at home to check any extra kit I would 
> need and the timing meant that would need to be Friday after my 
> discharge.  A little later she was back again to say that if I could 
> give them access to my place she and a colleague could do it that 
> afternoon so another form was signed and the front door keys handed 
> over.  It made things easier for them that I am 10 minutes walk away 
> from the hospital. She got back as I was being taken down to the 
> discharge lounge.
>
> Another wait there, not as long as for another patient who was waiting 
> for her medication (I already had mine), the discharge letter was 
> printed out and I was wheeled out to the Patient Transport Service 
> vehicle for the short journey home where I arrived about 6 p.m. Supper 
> was pizza, one I had got on offer about a week ago, and I was glad to 
> collapse into bed at 10 for an undisturbed night's sleep.  Got out of 
> bed this morning, shuffled across to the bathroom for a proper 
> strip-wash and my first shace since Monday and back to the bedroom to 
> work out how to get dressed when you can't bend your right leg because 
> it's in a splint to immobilise the knee. I have discovered that the 
> computer tower offers a good support for that lag, withe padding at 
> the back of the splint providing some comfort.
>
> Roger