I woke with my streaming cold to a thick-ish blanket of snow out here on the fringes of London. "Sod it" I thought, and went back to sleep with another paracetamol (I'd kill for Night Nurse right now, but it's verboten in pregnancy). I woke again late-morning, and realised I had an hour to shower, feed the cats, clear the car of snow, eat breakfast, and get to the hospital. Eek.
Well I made it to the hospital despite driving snow, soggy roads, and a street-cleaning vehicle playing silly-buggers by the side of the road. I didn't crash the car, despite paying more attention to the pretty trees laden with snow than the road, I must admit. I even managed to get a parking spot, which is unheard of (it took me 1/2 an hour to park last time I was here). And I was early, so I got out my appointment letter to check how much time I had to go and crash through the trees and take poor-quality photos with my phone.
I was at the wrong bl**dy hospital. My local hospital has a 'deal' with another, not-so-local-and-very-grubby-you-wouldn't-go-there-unless-paid hospital - oooh, 1/2 an hour in the opposite direction. Whoops. And I had no idea how to get there, as both times I've been there I have been too ill to notice. It seems like a daft mistake (and it was), but at the top of all the letters you get, they put the name of the second (grotty) hospital first, as that is the name of the Primary Care Trust; I'd read the letter but assumed it was just the letterhead, and not the name of the hospital, and as I am a patient at hospital A, I didn't think they'd send me all the way to hospital B. OOps. Silly me...
Well I got to my appointment 10 minutes late (having parked in Tesco's carpark as it is a) empty and b) free), and they were running 1/2 an hour late anyway. Appointment went well, took only 5 minutes - and after an hour of driving around in the snow! A bit of an anticlimax really, especially having waited 30 years for this appointment (I kid you not!). It didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know or suspect, but it's good to have it confirmed.
Have celebrated getting safely home with a strong mug of ginger, honey and lemon; wow, I really know how to live it up..
I really need to recoup my brain cells, it isn't just due to the pregnancy I know, I just need more sleep...
Posted by jen at February 25, 2005 03:54 PM