All life starts......................

...................At A + E at Glasgow Royal Infirmary!!


The reason i know this, is because Louise and I spent last sunday afternoon/evening there. Lou had been suffering from a sore head solidly for almost 4 days - she also had some neck stiffness and mild photo-phobia............. no prizes for guessing where this might have been going.


The pharmacist suggested going to the out of hours clinic, given that Lou works at Sick Kids and could have come across any manner of buggies and beasties that do the rounds at this time of year.


So off we went to out of hours. Triaged by the nurse, then a wait for a doc.
And wait. It seemed to be change of shift and a new doc came in - Lou didn't like the look of him and to be honest, neither did i. Guess who she saw?? You got it - him. His english wasn't brill and he couldn't understand WHY Lou had come along, even tho we explained about her job and the pharmacist advising it would be good to get checked.
So he made a phone call to A + E. We were to go up.


Took Peter home (had to take him with us since Matthew and Paul were out). Then headed to the hospital.


Actually - for a sunday afternoon at one of the main A+E departments in the city, it was fairly quiet!! We only saw the police frogmarch  one person in!!!! 
No footie matches on, so no fighting.


We booked in and were triaged again. THe doc at out of hours was a bit blazé. but the nurse was good when we explained where Lou worked.


So we had to go and wait - again. 


So our people watching started.
An insight to parts of life we never usually see!!


One man came to reception to ask about his wife. He thought she'd been brought in earlier - he had decided to go shopping then come find out how she was!!! (mmmm - normally the other way about - woman shop, man ill!!!)
Then the people who think the can walk thru the department to get to the other parts of the hospital - and they get miffed when they get told they have to walk back outta the door and go to the right place. Yes, the staff can access the hospital from the department, just not the general public!!


Then came a wee man in off the street - woolie bunnet on his heid and back pack over his shoulder. Eventually he was booked in and came to sit in front of us. He looked round to see who he could strike up a conversation with. 


At this point, Louise and i found a speck of dirt in a far corner very interesting!!!!


He managed to engage with the woman beside him. He complained of a sore chest, admitted he smoked and had inhalers. The woman commented that maybe he should chuck the ciggies and that might help.


Oh, ah canny be daeing with that, was the reply.
(so why are you here then, if you do nothing to help yourself???)


Then he complained of hunger - he was offered a toffee by this woman and she got the reply of "i've nae teeth to chew!".
She suggested crisps from the vending machine.
He needed something more substantial than crisps!


What, we wondered, did he expect in and A + E Department?? 5** fine dining and wines?!?!?!?!?!?


I always tell my kids that if they are well enough to be picky about food, they do not need to be near that kinda place. I was tempted to offer this choice nugget, but Lou's name was called.


Saved by the call of the assessment unit!!


So we went thru - bloods and ECG done, we were told to wait and a doc would eventually get to us.


So all that was left to do was people watch - again.


But what is it with people and them thinking that paper thin curtains are actually soundproofed??? They seem to think that the people around them are deaf and do not understand a work anyone else says.


Across and to the right, we had a patient, who was an American tourist. I'm sure visiting a hospital as a patient was not on his top ten "to do while in Scotland" list!! It was decided to take him up to the ward to see how he and his chest pain did overnight.


Across and to the left came in a woman on a trolley and her daughter. The woman get berating the daughter for making such a fuss. But, truly, the woman did need some kinda help. I heard the daughter mention things like anti depressants and how the mother had tried to commit suicide recently.


See what i mean - you could hear almost everything.


Louise and i chatted for a while and we could hear comments that other folk - like the woman who was asked if her sister had come in the ambulance with her. She said she thought so!!! (turned out the sis was still at home!!)


More and more we could hear the woman across from us giving an earful to the daughter. She said her neighbours would be shocked at an ambulance being at the house at 6am. The daughter pointed out it was the afternoon and they were not long in the building .


I really felt sorry for the girl - who it turned out had been caring for her mother 24/7 for some time. When the mother said that she was a "STUPID GIRL" i really wanted to go in and  shake her till she saw that her daughter was very loving, obviously concerned due to the fact that her mother wasn't well and that she should be glad that someone cared about her.


By that time, i was thinking that if this had been a relative of mine, i would have driven along the motorway and jettisoned her as we passed the hospital and then put my foot to the floor so i could escape FAST.


It was sad.


Eventually, we did get seen and the doc decided to keep Lou in. Not because she thought there was a danger of infection - more because she never suffers from headaches or migraines and they just wanted to make sure she was ok.


Monday morning i got a call - Consultant had done the ward round, said she'd done the right thing and said she could go home - it WAS just a bad sore head.


It was kinda scary and we waited sooo long to get to the ward. But at least we know she's ok.
Now we just have to deal with the sore back she has..........................




She's on her own there - and has an appointment with the GP this week.


Peter and i are on our way to Skye in the morning, and i can't wait!!