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2008 - July 2nd - Wednesday

JH was, of course, invited to go along to the gathering at the Rock Inn at Yelverton where Kathy and Ralph had arranged to meet a contingent of their friends from Cyprus, Bill and Ann, who were presently in England staying with relatives in Buckland Monachorum.

However, Ralph met JH at breakfast, and told JH that Kathy ‘could no longer stand it’ and needed to see a Doctor: Kathy had realised that she felt the impending signs of her recurrent infection on Monday morning, and of course JH was aware that Kathy had been really struggling to remain sociable – and had succeeded in spite of feeling so ill.  JH said that she would ring her Doctor’s Surgery immediately to make an appointment for Kathy to be seen as a temporary resident. 


 
 
JH did say that she was very doubtful if the Skinners and herself would make it for the 1.00pm rendezvous at the Rock Inn; furthermore, she really did not feel that she could ‘last out’ to eat a meal at an indeterminate time late in the afternoon; JH suggested that the Skinners let Bill and Ann know that we would almost certainly be late; furthermore JH suggested that we eat a bit of lunch in the Carmel Church Café behind the Surgery, rather than miss out on food for several hours. JH was rather concerned that Kathy – as she was again feeling so ill -  would ‘demand’ whatever she thought the Doctor should provide in the way of treatment rather than letting the Doctor do the prescribing.  Anyway, Kathy was offered an appointment with Dr Tutty at about 11.00am.

On arrival at the Surgery, Kathy asked the Receptionist for a pot in which to produce a sample of urine but, as she had felt it was essential to ‘go’ before setting out from HH, she was unable to produce another drop.  In the meanwhile, JH had gone up to the waiting room upstairs, and Dr Tutty spoke to JH – assuming that JH was the patient.  JH explained that she was, in fact, the lady who had donated an organ to Kathy, and she would go back downstairs to hurry Kathy up [JH was of the opinion that, really, it was neither ‘here nor there’ as to whether Kathy produced a specimen, as the identity of the offending bug could not be ascertained ‘in a moment’ but, obviously, as Kathy was feeling so ill yet again, she had to be allowed to do things her way].

Kathy told JH that the first thing that Dr Tutty had asked her was ‘what had she had transplanted?’; how silly, Kathy had not thought of mentioning that she had received her kidney from JH - who had not explained either!  Anyway, she came away with the much sort-after prescription; furthermore, she had been advised to return home the following day rather than on Friday 4th July as planned, so that her usual Clinicians could see her: of course this advice had to be taken, and so the Skinners planned to leave Plymouth after having spoken to the Reporter from the Herald on the phone at 10.00am, and having been photographed by the Herald’s Photographer who was expected to visit at 12.30pm.  Ralph took Kathy’s prescription to the Chemists at Ford Shops, and rested in the car with Kathy during the half-hour wait, and whilst JH ran a few errands herself.  Much to JH surprise, we were on our way to the Rock Inn by about 12.30pm - after Kathy had taken a dose of the antibiotic with a swig from her bottle of water - and actually walked in to the Inn at just on 1.00pm!

Introductions took place:- those present were Ann and Bill Bateman, who are usually resident in Cyprus but presently staying with Ann’s sister and brother-in-law, Jackie and Richard Mabey, who are resident in Buckland Monachorum; also present were Joan and Terry Marks, who are friends of Ann and Bill – having lived in Cyprus but now living back in Beacon Park in Plymouth: so the party comprised 9 persons altogether (with the Skinners and JH) and an amenable time was had by all - although JH’s trenchant insistence that she have a glass of tap water with her meal and that no member of the party should pay for a bottle of water for JH did, perhaps, surprise Jackie somewhat, but the latter soon ‘got the measure’ of JH’s ‘rebellion with a cause’!  Anyway, JH enjoyed her roast beef lunch - as did the rest of the diners enjoy their choices; furthermore, JH filled her doggy bag with some of Joan’s large helping of chips, and a fried egg – Joan being a wisp of a lady with, admittedly, a wisp of an appetite but also a very courageous lady who spent an awful lot of time at Derriford for the treatment of her obviously crippling rheumatoid disease.

JH was deliberately sat next to Joan - the reason being, that Joan’s sister Margaret and brother-in-law  Mike Mitchell {who live in West Park in Plymouth} have a daughter, Karen, who was shortly to donate a kidney to her long-term partner, Paul: the transplant was already scheduled to take place on the 15th or the 16th July, in other words, in a fortnight’s time.  Kathy had already mentioned to JH that she knew of this impending kidney donation, and had told Joan that she felt sure that JH would be happy to have a conversation with Joan – about being a kidney donor – so JH was very happy to talk Joan, and to talk to Margaret and Mike in the very near future [although JH was fully aware that all relatives of both donor and recipient would be offered, or had probably already been offered, the opportunity to have discussions with such persons as Sara Stacey, in the Transplant Unit at Derriford Hospital].
 
JH was most interested to hear that Richard was an artist of some repute; furthermore, he exhibited his paintings at the Garden House Café in Buckland Monachorum.  Upon receiving this information, JH suggested a visit to the Garden house with the Skinners: this suggestion was taken up by Kathy and Ralph who did enjoy a brief sortie to explore a few delightful corners of the garden in spite of its steeply sloping site.  JH, K and R were partaking of cups of tea, and pastries, when JH accosted one of the ladies seated at another table, whom JH had recognised as being Miss Benefield, a Teaching Domiciliary Midwife, during the 1960s – when JH had been a Pupil Midwife in Plymouth.  JH introduced K and R to Miss Benefield (now actually Mrs, but married name not known, and possibly even widowed by now) and explained about our ‘blood’ connection (in more ways than one).  And Miss Benefield did, of course, remember several of the other pupil midwives with whom she had worked.  This lovely summer day was getting better and better with the making of new acquaintances, and the renewal of old acquaintances.

About half an hour later, JH, K and R were down at Mount Batten, on the south side of the entrance to the Cattewater, the estuary of the River Plym, which runs into Plymouth Sound.  Ralph – as ever – found his way there in the car {in spite of JH’s misguided instructions about which lane to take, etc, etc} and parked on the slope by the entrance to Yacht Haven, Jenny’s place of work in her capacity as a Yacht Master.  Kathy phoned Jennie from her mobile, and JH and R were given instructions about how to reach the public toilets in YH, but as this entailed driving through the impressive security gates, and parking a large vehicle where others’ egress could be hampered, JH remembered that she had brought her RADAR key with her, and that there were PCs near the proximal end of the Mount Batten Breakwater.  After our comfort stop, we all sat looking North-Eastwards towards the Hoe, where JH was able to point out the top of the fountain in Tinside Lido, the Hoe, Smeaton’s Tower, and Plymouth Citadel - in all - a superb view on a superb evening.

In view of the fact that JH informed the Skinners that she intended to ‘leave them to their own devices’ and that they should go home without her, she ate Joan’s egg and chips for her tea.  JH explained: she had recollected that a talk ‘Mount Kailas: a Pilgrimage of Faiths’ was to be given by two Pilgrims, a Priest from Plymouth’s Anglican Church and a Buddhist Monk from Exeter, at the Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity; furthermore, JH felt sure that Ralph would probably manage to find the Hoe more easily if he did not have JH acting as a bad ‘front seat driver’ {having not driven round Plymouth for 10 years}.   So Ralph drove JH back to the Centre in St Judes – where he left JH ‘to her own devices’. 

The illustrated talk was most informative and thought-provoking with regards to an exploration, not only of some if the worlds most inhospitable Tibetan landscapes, but also, a personal ‘exploration’ of the challenges to the pilgrims.  In the break for tea and chat, JH asked to use the Centre’s phone, and telephoned Kathy [who was just munching some toast for tea] to ask her to phone the Rolfes – after finding their number in JH’s telephone directory - whom JH had arranged to visit with the Skinners on Thursday: Alan Rolfe has a scale-model train collection which would have been of interest to Ralph.  So Kathy let them know {after finishing munching} that she and Ralph were going home a day earlier.


 
 
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