Medical matters

Just when I thought September was already full to capacity with medical appointments  Bear and Whale managed a double whammy.

Yesterday Bear went down with ‘flu symptoms. I’m not saying swine ‘flu because it wasn’t that bad. A temperature of 37.7 soon went down to 36.2 but the aches and pains persist and he doesn’t feel like getting out of bed. On the other hand, the nurse said he must eat, even if he is sick afterwards,  to counteract the insulin.  He’s only been sick once (yesterday) and now he is eating happily – but  he only wanted a few chips with his fish so he’s not back to normal by any means. The big problem is that he’s due for a cataract operation next week . . . . . .

Then it was Whale’s turn. I came back from my appointment with the physio  to find him in a panic because his catheter was leaking.  This is the second time in two weeks and it usually results in making his legs stiff so he can hardly move them – also a sign of an infection. I rang the locum but she absolutely refused to change a catheter (not that we have one handy at home).

I asked her if I should try ringing the out patients’ department where the nurses usually do it (every five weeks) because  it’s only these last two occasions when it was changed on the ward and then in casualty when there have been problems.

It may be a coincidence but when the home nurse used to change it  he was always having to go to hospital because of leaks and blockages. The hospital used a different make of catheter but our local chemist couldn’t get hold of them for us and the hospital refused to let us have any from their pharmacy so, eventually, the doctor decided he should have it changed at the hospital every five weeks. This means the cost of an ambulance (about 150 euros) plus an outpatient visit instead of  less than 10 euros if our home nurse did it. We don’t have to pay ourselves but it seems a waste of money for the SECU (roughly the equivalent of the NHS).

Anyway, the nurses at outpatients couldn’t fit him in so I had to dial 15  for medical emergencies after all. I explained the problem and an ambulance arrived within ten minutes. That’s what I call service!

Now, some of you may know that I’m very interested in alternative medicine and I  recently heard of  Hydrogen Peroxide as a  cure and preventative for many diseases. It can be good for boosting the immune system and relieving ‘flu symptoms so I thought it would be a worthwhile investment seeing as we’ve all decided to avoid the new vaccine like the plague!

The 35% Food Grade H2O2 has to be diluted with distilled water so we ordered a contraption that produces a gallon of distilled water in 4 hours. It took a bit of careful reading of instructions and washing of all the bits and pieces before I was able to assemble it and go into production.

Bear stood around offering criticism and advice which I could well do without but, eventually I got it working and yesterday we  started taking a few drops of hydrogen peroxide in 5 fluid ounces of distilled water as explained in the booklet.

I’ll let you know if it alleviates  Bear’s ‘flu symptoms and prevents the rest of us from catching the lurgy.