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2007 - May 14th - Monday

JH slept very well and got up – in a leisurely fashion but before Tina who likes to lay in, so she says – and had some cereal and toast from the supplies in the kitchen for breakfast; JH settled down at the kitchen table to do some personal clerical work such as writing in her diary or some such; David arrived to brew up his coffee; JH did ask David if he thought that a full-sized oven would be a useful contribution to make to JHH but David said that, as the usage of the toaster, and/or the sandwich toaster, was already a cause for having to pay for several emergency call-outs of the Fire Brigade, he did not think this was a good idea1.


 

In any event, JH made a donation (for which a written acknowledgement was sent by post later) to the Marie Celeste Samaritan Society, in respect of her stay in JHH.  David’s history – before he became a warden at JHH – was as a Nurse, with lots of experience in acute nursing such as in A&E Departments; JH asked him if he knew Alistair Read, the Secretary of the Society of Recorder Players, who is a retired A&E Nurse, but David did not – probably the latter is much younger. 

JH took her belongings and wheelie with her (this time!); David – whom JH had told that her sister was on her way from Germany to meet her sister (JH) and the Skinners in the Good Samaritan – told JH that she would be welcome to bring Ann over to JHH for a cup of tea, and JH said that she would do so, if there was time available.

JH made her way over to the Renal Outpatients for her appointment with the Independent Assessor at 11.30am.  Kathy and Ralph were already in the waiting room; JH immediately noticed that Kathy was dozing – it was quite apparent that she was still not feeling ‘up to much’ and had had to make a real effort to ‘rally to the call’ and come to the appointment. 

We had all arrived in plenty of time and, almost on the dot, Ray came along with Dr Ruth Curson, the Independent Assessor, and introduced her; Dr Curson explained that she would see JH, and then Kathy, individually, and then both of us together; Kathy asked – because her memory is bad sometimes - if Ralph could come in as well, to which Dr Curson replied that she would need to see Kathy briefly alone but that all three of us could be seen together finally.

JH was the first person to be interviewed: JH handed Dr Curson the copy of her birth certificate – together with the original which (Dr Curson observed) looked like the same one as had been photocopied(!) – and her OOD Passport.  JH was interviewed for about 25 minutes: although Dr Curson had had access to a considerable collection of documentary evidence, supplied by JH, with regard to JH’s identity and her emotional relationship with Kathy, Dr Curson obviously wished to ascertain the complete story - from the (water) horse’s mouth so to speak - which lead to JH offering to donate a kidney to Kathy. 

JH explained that:– she had carried a Donor Card for many years, and was on the appropriate opting-in register – for which she also carried a Card; she had recently (in September 2005) turned out her purse, and reread her Cards; she thought that her kidneys (or anything else for that matter) would not be much use to anyone, dead or alive, when she reached the age of 65; over the years, it had, indeed, passed through her mind that it would be more sensible to give a kidney to someone sooner rather than later; she had a ‘Living Will’ which stated quite clearly that ‘anything’ could be taken, if it was of any use, should she decease ‘unexpectedly’. 

Dr Curson particularly noted that JH had not known Kathy very long (we met in July 1998).  JH told Dr Curson the Skinners and JH had ‘got to know each other better’ over the intervening eighteen+ months, ie, since JH had offered Kathy a kidney: JH told her that she had really found the Skinners good company and not overwhelming, when they met at the RLH on 8th February 2007 for their appointments with the Surgeon [and when the weather was less hot than in July 2006 when they met for their first appointment at the RLH]. 

JH had concerns about the Skinners being ‘beholden’ to JH which was, of course, how it would be – but all of us realised that the Skinners could never ‘recompense’ JH; JH explained that the Skinners had offered the use of their apartment in Cyprus to JH [which she didn’t wish to use – having no wanderlust at all], and they had said that they would like to reimburse JH for some of the expenses she had incurred, such as when traipsing up and down from Plymouth on the train {but which reimbursement JH did not need}.
 
Also, JH explained that she had been rather overwhelmed by Kathy ringing up about the results of JH’s initial screening (carried out at Derriford) almost before JH had had the screening done – but then, again, that’s how it would be: JH had said to Kathy that we were, at the outset, perhaps ‘tripping over ourselves’ in our endeavours to communicate with everyone but, then, letters had ‘gone astray’ and communications between everyone had at times been ‘obstructed’; however, Kathy and I are very familiar with the NHS from two very different points of view!  JH also told Dr Curson about JH’s delightful visit to the Skinners’ holiday apartment in Croyde Bay (on 17 September 2006) – when JH said that they had ‘deliberately’ taken the opportunity (or certainly JH had) to ‘get to know each other’ better.

Dr Curson asked JH to explain her understanding of the risks of the operation – about which, of course, JH proved herself to be fully informed.  Dr Curson was also interested to know as to who would be looking after JH, postoperatively: JH explained that she had already asked a friend to come to London and escort her back to her (JH’s) home, where said friend would stay with her as long as necessary in the convalescent period; JH did inform Dr Curson that JH does not travel very well by car and, therefore, would wish to travel home on the train; Dr Curson, herself, observed that ‘they’ would probably prefer JH to go home by car, but that it could be considered a more inconvenient hazard for JH to be taken ill when bombing along a motorway in a car, than when sitting in a train!

Incidentally, Dr Curson explained that she had a history of working in the gynaecological field, in particular in the field of infertility: she used to interview potential sperm donors; she had worked with John Friend, the Gynaecologist in Plymouth who had clipped JH’s tubes for her fertility control {rather than the reverse}!

Kathy only had a brief conversation on her own with Dr Curson, and then we were seen together: the leading question to Kathy (in my presence) was '. . . did you ask Jeanette to donate a kidney to you?' to which Kathy replied to the effect that I had offered; thereafter Dr C exclaimed 'Good, you both have given the same story!'.  Ralph joined us and there was a brief conversation about the interview, and Dr Curson explained that she would be writing her report which she would submit to the Human Tissue Authority for their approval, and that Ray Trevitt should receive an acknowledgement with regards to the HTA’s approval by Friday 18th May.

The Skinners and JH then repaired to the Good Samaritan at about 12.30pm.  JH had been daring enough to have a gin and tonic – in copycat mode with Kathy – which JH really enjoyed; JH had a packet of nuts to mop up the alcohol; the Skinners had a bowl of chips to pick at, before ordering a meal. {They had stopped to eat breakfast, about 9.30ish, on the way to the Hospital.}

Much to JH’s surprise, at about 1.15pm JH espied big sister (BS) through the pub window; JH’s first impression of the sight of her BS – whom she had not seen since scattering Auntie Gert’s ashes some weeks after AG’s death in October 1998 – was that she was very thin but wiry, and lugging around an enormous wheeled suitcase (in other words, she has a totally different build, and metabolic rate, to her little sister).  The Skinners and JH were just deliberating about what to have for lunch so, after Ralph had bought Ann a cup of tea (gasp, gasp), he ordered ham salad for JH (because they had no beef), Cumberland sausages and mash for himself, lasagne and salad for Kathy, and a baked potato with tuna for Ann. 

Ann explained that, much to her surprise, her plane had arrived at London City Airport at 12.10pm, which was 20min earlier than expected; the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) had been extended to nearer the Airport – from which she had been conveyed in a minibus to the DLR; however, she had had to pay a surcharge on the travel card sent by JH (and which she had retrieved from the post office’s coffers without difficulty that morning) because she was in an outer zone. 

Ann exclaimed at the size of her baked-potato lunch; Kathy gave JH her chips (which she told the waiter she did not want because she had already had some, but which the waiter said were included in the meal) who put them in a doggy bag; furthermore, Kathy could only eat a few mouthfuls of her meal so – at BS’s instigation (of course) she asked the waiter for a doggy bag, so the waiter took her meal away and placed it on a paper plate covered in cling film.  As Ann had arrived much earlier than expected, Kathy and Ralph were able to leave for home much earlier, so that Kathy could have a rest before going to her dialysis that evening; Ann was most worried when she noticed that Ralph had paid for her meal, and started to peer in her purse, and at the English coins therein; Ralph took no notice of her protestations, but accepted her thanks, and JH just said, ‘Put your purse away.’. 

Thereafter Ann and JH were able to leave the pub with plenty of time to spare in order to travel on the underground to Paddington to catch the 1604 train.   We decided to catch the Hammersmith & City Line all the way to Paddington, although the Underground Station for this Line is right at the west end of Paddington Main Line Station: we did not think it worth changing trains at Edgware Road to avoid this trek (to the Main Line platforms).

The underground train stopped in the tunnel somewhere near Edgware Road; we had heard and announcement at Whitechapel Station, and on the train intercom system in the train, that there were delays on the Underground; when we were having a prosaic conversation about standing still, a lady opposite said that she had been delayed over 20 minutes now and, furthermore, she had a train ticket which restricted her to travelling only on the 15.03 train departing from Paddington – to Exeter; {this lady did rush to try to catch this train but, subsequently, AE/BS met the lady in Paddington (whilst JH was in the accessible loo on Platform 1) so said lady had obviously missed the earlier train}.  Big sister, ie, Ann Elflein, made no difficulty in lugging her case up the steps into the main station (no handy volunteer porter for her) – the egress down the other side being much easier - down a ramp.

We had about ¾ hour to spare, so Ann sat on one of the seats by the departures display screens, and JH sat on her wheelie’s chair (and drank a mug of tea); as soon as the platform number was displayed on the Departure Information, we rapidly made our way to the train, and walked down the platform some distance to find the standard class accommodation; Ann chose a seat at a table – facing the spot where she had placed her case; facing her BS - JH was able to get BS’s attention - and so went though the suggestions JH had made with regards to the activities planned to take place during BS’s stay in Plymouth; [JH regrets not having printed out the long email which she had sent to BS – enlisting plans already made, and suggested plans - as the Elfleins still cannot print off their emails, and BS had a poor recollection of a long English text].  When the Ticket Inspector (TI) came round, JH mentioned to him that we had met a lady in the Underground, who had ‘genuinely’ been delayed in catching the earlier train – which she was scheduled to catch to Exeter: JH wished to ‘put in a good word’ on this lady’s behalf: subsequently, the TI came back with the lady’s thanks to us, for speaking up for her!

JH and AE/BS arrived on time at 19.23 hours at Plymouth: JH stopped off at the Ticket Office, in order to purchase her tickets for travelling to Maidenhead on Friday 18th May, with Ann, (and back to Plymouth on Wednesday 23rd May).  We caught a No 16B bus, from which we alighted AT THE TOP OF the hill ‘above’ JH’s house, and reached No 64 at about 20.15.  {During Ann’s stay in Plymouth, JH decided to return from Maidenhead on the Tuesday 22nd May, after the get-together on Ray Mill Island: JH rang Mrs Pickering at the Lawn GH to inform her.}

1By the time of JH's FU visit 5 year's later both toasters had been banished: the only item left for cooking purposes was the microwave oven!

 
 
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