Friday 7 August 2009

Rocking Chairs, Sensitive Men and Hospital Horror Stories

Sorry I haven't been blogging. Life has been catching up with me ... Mud Mama's visit, a doctor's appointment and now I am starting to paint again. I am working on four things right now ... a wooden bowl, a small hinged-top box, and two partly finished chairs.

Claire and Tom just gave me another beautiful rocking chair to play with. Tom had repaired it and prepared it as far as putting on the first coat of white acrylic enamel. It has lovely spindles and a very classic design. I think this one will be a keeper rather than a seller. But that will allow me to paint my least favourite rocker and put it up for sale. I think rocking chairs are very special.

And the other big news is that I just had a date with my first new age sensitive man ... and found the experience terrifying. I am used to strong silent types ... men who use language to get things done or to discuss ideas, not for telling me how they feel about me. My first instinct was to run the proverbial mile in the opposite direction. Second thoughts are becoming a little less drastic.

You all know my feelings about the Hull and Gatineau Hospitals ... well yesterday I heard a horror story about CHEO. My own GP took her daughter in there repeatedly for what she knew were attacks of appendicitis, and was told over and over again that it was nothing. They wanted to give her some therapy for pain control (starting early to tell her that her pain was all in her head). Meanwhile the kid lost 8 pounds off a small athletic frame and missed 40 days of school. Finally my doctor's colleague got in touch with a friend at St. Justine's in Montreal who told her to bring the little girl in immediately. She did and they diagnosed it as appendicitis and removed the damned thing. My doctor says she has lost all faith in CHEO. That's an even worse position to be in than mine. CHEO is the only children's hospital in the area.

4 comments:

Erin Kuhns said...

...Not to mention that it was a DOCTOR that CHEO wasn't listening to! Frightening!

(Fortunately, I've had great experiences with CHEO...let's hope this one was an anomaly.)

Oma said...

That's what my doctor said ... if this was happening to her, imagine how very vulnerable an ordinary parent would be ... she had medical knowledge and contacts that most parents do not have.

She is a very soft spoken gentle woman ... a Muslim educated in Canada ... I wonder if that had anything to do with it ... the fact that she wasn't pushy.

Oma said...

Forgot to mention ... an anomaly if it had been one visit to ER perhaps ... but several???

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