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2007 - December 1st - Saturday

At 12.00md, Ralph phoned JH to tell her that Kathy had fallen down the stairs at home a week ago, and ended up in hospital where she is at present. 

Apparently, Kathy got up out of bed to go to the toilet on Friday 21st November (she is still having ongoing problems with urinary infections), and fell down the stairs; she did not quite reach the bottom but badly bashed her back just below the right(?) collar bone; after a struggle she managed to ‘disentangle’ her arms and legs; Ralph called an ambulance and Kathy was conveyed to Southend Hospital; she was kept in for a number of hours but – much to Ralph’s surprise, and Kathy’s of course – no X-rays were taken.  It was apparent that, as Kathy was still mobile, although very uncomfortable, that no major damage had been done, but it was thought that she could have broken a rib or two. 


 

Kathy went home.  However, she started to vomit, and so was not retaining any of her oral drugs, including her paracetamol, so Ralph called and ambulance and she was taken into hospital again in the middle of the week: she was admitted via the A&E Department, then to the acute medical ward and then finally Blenheim Ward - the Renal Ward (in Southend Hospital).  She has had another – about the third – MRI of her back. 

As the Surgeon who did her back surgery 20 years ago no longer does backs, she is now care of Mr Kasim(?) who looked at her new MRI – although he seems not to have had the information about all Kathy’s recent investigations to do with her back pain, which she has suffered since her kidney transplant.  In any event, in Mr Kasim’s opinion, not only is there evidence of an arthritic problem to do with her spinal column, there does seem to be something showing on the recent MRI which suggests a problem at a vertebra ‘higher up’ {? higher than the previous fusion): Kathy has been offered treatment with injections – which JH assumes is some sort of course of epidural injections.  Kathy is still languishing in Hospital and Ralph anticipates visiting her in a couple of hours.  In any event the good news is that Kathy’s urinary infection seems to have disappeared.

JH asked how Ralph was, himself.  Ralph is shortly to have an investigation into the problem with his knee (? Right).  Although JH was aware that Ralph had various musculoskeletal problems, Ralph explained further: about two years ago, Ralph had come home from wherever, he put his key in the door of the house, and somehow managed to stand awkwardly on the shallow concrete step by his door; there was a loud cracking noise which came from his knee – Ralph said that, if anyone had been walking past his house, they would have heard the crack! 

Since then he has had various consultations with regards to his persistent knee problem: he was going to have an MRI scan of the knee but, on telling the clinicians that he had a bit of metal in his arm, they said that they could not do an MRI.  JH asked ‘what piece of metal?’ - Ralph again explained:  about 30 years ago, when he had been doing something with a jack, chisel, lorry wheel, and/or whatever, he had managed to inject a spit into his arm, said spit came off a chisel; it was explained to JH that this piece of metal is only a few millimetres big and sort of rounded, and sort of lodged rather near to a couple of arteries in Ralph’s arm, so the magnetism used in an MRI might have dislodged this piece of metal - rather dangerously.  Although Ralph had had a ‘fountain’ of blood issuing from the puncture wound when the accident happened with the chisel, and he had been conveyed to hospital, the final decision was taken to leave this foreign body where it was, and has now resided for 30 years.

Oh Dear!  In any event, Ralph is to have an Arthroscopy of his knee performed very shortly.

JH asked Ralph to tell Kathy that, as JH had not ‘touched down’ with Diana Prince, the Health Reporter at the Herald – whom Kathy had emailed some weeks ago to ask said lady to be in touch with JH about her donation – that JH thought that the moment had now passed to ask the local press to do an article about us with regards to encouraging others to donate a kidney.  Ralph said that Kathy had not heard from the Reporter from the Echo, their local newspaper; Kathy had told JH that this lady had been on holiday.  JH suggested to Ralph that, perhaps, JH and Kathy could forget about submitting the photos of us in our nighties in the RLH, but eventually take some more photos of us both ‘up and running’ – well, hopefully – some time next year, and then submit these photos to the Herald and Echo before National Transplant Week, which is usually allocated dates in July.

Ralph said that Kathy has her mobile with her in hospital, but JH said she would postpone phoning Kathy until the middle of the week, as JH had just had this long conversation with Ralph – which he was going to report back to Kathy.  JH did say that the Skinners seemed to be a couple of life’s suckers, ie, those people to whom every seems to happen, but JH is optimistic that they will ‘hang on there’ and not succumb to being suckers!  Ralph said that they had managed to finally fill in the form to claim invalidity(?) benefit – on his account – but that SS were still a month adrift in the amount of monies that Ralph has a claim to, in accordance with the medical certificates which he has submitted.


 



 
 
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