Tag: triage nurse

A Medicinal Infusion

Derrick infusing 1

All those loved ones who have been advising this stubborn old git to stick his head under a cloth over a bowl of eucalyptus oil laced steam will be pleased to learn that Jackie inflicted this particular torture on me this morning. Derrick infusing After ten minutes I emerged with streaming eyes and hopefully less blocked sinuses.  Her former New Zealand work colleague, Brent, introduced Jackie to the NZ quiz from their national newspaper.  She now continues to tackle it every day.  In order to make my time under the table-top tent seem a little shorter, she fired a couple of days worth at me from the other side of the room.  Despite gasping for breath as the oil-fired burner forced its way through my system, I managed to score 9/15 and 10/15.  This only shows I had quite a few successful guesses.  But it did help the passage of time, and maybe those in my head.

About five years ago now, when I was setting about the overgrown garden of my flat in Sutherland Place, I cut a small but gangly tree down to its bare bones.  An Eastern European builder working next door leaned over the dividing wall and asked if he could have some of the branches to make oil for a medicinal infusion.  It was of course a eucalyptus.  Tough, these builder types.

This afternoon it was the turn of my friends wishing me to take antibiotics to learn that their advice has been taken.  There is a very efficient method of introducing the triage nurse into patient care at the Lyndhurst surgery.  A phone call to reception brings a call from Brian who is able either to prescribe or decide you need to see a doctor. Today he prescribed Amoxicillin.  Reflecting my state of health, a weak, but determined, sun provided a feeble glimmer to the landscape as I walked via Emery Down to collect the chemist’s docket from the surgery.  Jackie met me at the pharmacy, where I collected the medication, and drove me home.

Private land

The SplashTrees in the forest still cling to their varicoloured leaves, and there remains, in the form of a primitive swing and a makeshift bridge, evidence at The Splash of this summer’s Study Centre activity.

This evening a plateful of food replaced the steaming bowl which had earlier sat on my placemat.  It contained roast beef, pre-cooked and marinaded in marvellously meaty gravy; Yorkshire pudding and a variety of vegetables; followed by lemon cheesecake and cream.  Water was the drink I chose to accompany the meal.

A Little Inconvenience

Has anyone had a modern lavatory seat fitted that does not soon become loose and start swivelling round to give an unstable perch?  I’m hard put to think of any.  One unfortunate consequence is the need for frequent brushing of the porcelain sides because you are not sitting in a position from which a direct descent into the middle of the waiting water is possible.

Loo seatHaving become tired of the inconvenience, I got down and tightened up the offending nut.  Now I was surprised that the loose one was on the right when the seat always swivelled to the left.  Jackie, being of a far more practical bent, said ‘of course’, when I marvelled at this.  When I thought about it, it was obvious, really.  How successful I have been remains to be seen, because the four winged nut was clearly meant to be hand-tightened.  Perhaps that is the problem.

After this, and later on today I printed another batch of card-sized photographs.  In between these sessions we needed another trip to our GP surgery.  Jackie has been feeling distinctly below par, and this morning correctly diagnosed her virus.  The Lyndhurst surgery offers an excellent and patient-friendly service.  Brian, the triage nurse had been helpful to me when I had an eye infection soon after we arrived here.  He makes an appointment to telephone the person in need, and keeps it.  I didn’t need to go in.  He prescribed medication and it was soon ready for collection in the local pharmacy.  Today he correctly determined that Jackie needed to see a doctor, and made an appointment for an hour later.  All the doctor had to do was confirm that Jackie has shingles.  We collected the prescribed medicine and went on to Hobbycraft in West End to buy more card blanks and little transparent bags for the individual masterpieces.

A drink was necessary for Jackie to start on her medication, so we visited Haskins garden centre next door to the craft shop, for a coffee.  Now, I am not an aficionado of mass coffee outlets, and after the Starbucks experiences of 30th July, am pretty wary of them.  Beverages at Haskins are provided by Costa, and I didn’t really want one anyway, but made the sacrifice to keep Jackie company. Costa coffee Knowing I wasn’t particularly thirsty she, who bought the drinks, ordered medium sized ones.  I chose Americano.  This was American in more than name.  If mine was medium, I’m very glad we didn’t have large ones.

I was only joking yesterday when I said Margery’s bread would never be eaten.  Margery's breadWe started it with our late lunch today.  It is delicious, having a chocolate brown colour, a firm texture, and a touch of sweetness.  I am not knowledgable enough to name it.  Maybe the description will help in  its identification.

It seemed to me that the appropriate meal this evening for someone suffering from shingles would be a curry cooked by someone else.  Accordingly, we drove to Ringwood to patronise the Curry Garden, where we enjoyed the usual high standard meal accompanied by Kingfisher beer.

Of course, had we eaten at home we would have had to clear the card-making debris from the dining table.  That was another good reason for eating out.  We have completed 22 new cards today, although they still await my inscription.  Far more have been printed ready for Jackie’s part in the process.