PartIII
On Saturday my Dad left a message on the answer phone;
"hello, just me, just phoning to give you an update on what's happening with us. Give us a ring when you get a mo'"
2 things struck me about this 1, I didn't know anything was happening with them and 2, the complete lack of "phoning to see how you are , how the boys are, how wifey's pregnancy is going".
I phoned on Sunday to be told that my step mother (the wheeled Behemoth)has been up the hospital with a grotesquely swollen foot which, I found out after an epic story, is a DVT. They spent 5 hours in Oldchurch A&E ,after being sent there by the community nurse for a scan, alternately being told that she didn't / did need a scan. When the staff decided she should have a scan they were told it was too late and they should come back tomorrow (last Thursday). After the scan they were told it definitely is a DVT and my stepmum would have to be on wharferin for the rest of her life.
During the visit for the scan they were told by the nurse that the 2 previous clots she had (1996 and 2003, due to being in a wheelchair) were classed as "life threatening" and "near fatal" as the 2nd one had started to move. Neither my dad or stepmum had been told this before.
Now given that they were sent to hospital by a nurse who knows the history and who also phoned the hospital to say they were coming and the hospital had the notes detailing the previous clots, I think it is disgraceful that the scan clinic turned them away first and told them to go to A&E and then the Triage nurse assessed her as "low risk" hence the 5 hours in A&E with a potentially fatal DVT!
Now that the wheeled one is on Wharferin she is a lot less likely to have another clot.
I'm ashamed to say that when dad said "near fatal" the first thought in my head was that dad's life would be so much easier without her. I don't mean that I wish her dead because I don't, I'm not that kind of person. I just feel sorry for the way my dad's life has gone, my mother died when I was 7 (although for many years I thought I was 5 when she died) then when I was 12 dad married the wheeled one (although she fully functional at the time) Big Bruv and I have never really liked her, it's not a "you can't replace our mother" kind of thing it's just because she's not very likeable.
Anyway I never really feel comfortable talking about my real mum ( I might post more on this another time)so I'm out of here.