I had plucked up the courage to go and have a very small operation on my eye and I had brought along a friend for moral support. Having successfully survived a serious operation at BENQ several years ago I was happy to trust them with my eye.
The surgeon insisted I have a heart test and blood test first to make sure I was fit enough for the op. So I queued with the others, sleeve rolled up, veins offered up for blood-letting by a young man sitting behind a desk processing everyone quickly and painlessly. After that I was whisked around the corner to the heart dept. where there were all manner of clamps fixed to my chest and ankle.
After a few minutes the readout came off the printer and was the focus of some concerned whispering between the two young nurses.
They took me thorugh to another senior nurse who explained that I had some sort of ‘skip’ in my heart beat which was abnormal but common. As a precaution though I should stay off coffee and spicy food. Great – so that’s 90% of my diet. I don’t think there much chance of me doing that in the long term.
So, back to the eye surgeon who said they only did operations on Tues and Thurs. Oh no! I had come on a Wednesday as that was the only day he had consultations. I asked him whether he couldn’t just slip me into his schedule later that day and he said ‘OK, come back at about 1:30 and I’ll do it then’. Now would that ever happen with the NHS?
So after a non-caffeine based drink at Costa Coffee I came back and went straight into the operation room ‘Does your friend want to come in too?’. She didn’t.
After 10 minutes it was all done, I paid my £20 for the operation and got a taxi home. That’s what I call good, cheap and quick service.
But what a mess it made of my eye – I am wearing dark glasses now so that I don’t scare the little children. But at least when I take my glasses off on the bus I get a seat!
The polution level is at ‘Severely Poluted’ today which I know will not do any good to my eye so I am fashioning a kind of patch to cover it. So I will be leaving the house with a face mask and an eye patch.
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