I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW- COVID DIARIES PART 3- PART 2

So I had waited 3 months since having an ECG and blood test in preparation for my cataract surgery with no news of a date. I was starting to think I had been forgotten.

Part of me was quite happy as I was simply dreading the thought of my eye being oprerated on. Everything i had read on the subject was encouraging, routine surgety these days with a minimal risk of complications apparently. However, it was nott routine for me I was frankly terrified.

I did not want to be blind though. I could see perfectly well out of the other eye but it occured to me if anything went wrong with that one, I literally would not be able to see at all. So I rang up just to make sure I was still on the list, and was assured everything was in order and I would be notified in due course.

Spain was really getting into the Covid vaccination programme, and I was happy to wait as I could see that this was more important than my eye. We were all so desperate to return to some kind of normality. I sat back and thought I may have to wait until the summer. Just as I was relaxing into this thought, a week later on the Tuesday the telephone rang and I knew instantly is was the health service as they always ring from one of those really long numbers.

Thursday- blood test in local Health Centre

Monday- Covid test in local Health Centre

Wednesday- Operation at Torrevieja hospital at 14:30

I was fine at first, I just accepted my fate. I knew I was lucky to be offerred this operation to recover the sight in my right eye. Many people in the world suffer this problem and are not blessed with the fantastic Health Service we have here in Spain.

My nerves increased slightly when Saturday arrived with a text informing me that my 1st Covid vaccination was planned for Thursday, the day following the operation, at 8.33 in the morning. I did not want to miss it but was not sure if I would be able to so soom after a medical intervention.

I enquired on the Monday when I went for my Covid test and was assured- no problem.

My nerves began to build as Wednesday approached, but I genuinely was fine until the morning actually arrived. I worked from 9:00 to 13:00 as normal, trying to keep busy to try to keep from overthinking. I told myself how lucky I was with both the op and the Covid jab, again something many people would love to have to feel safer. I think it was the fear of the unknown, and that it was my EYE. I seriously considered calling it off many times during that day.

Finally 1:45 rolled around and my friend Jane arrived to take me to the hospital. She was the perfect person, so calm but caring. My nerves were mounting. I made a tearful farewell to my dogs as if I would never see them again and off we went. By the time we were there and I was waiting to be called I was trembling with fear, but determined to go through with it and trying not to be a baby.

The last time I literally came so close to chickening out was as soon as I was called into the day surgery ward. I was taken to a curtained off area with some lockers and told to strip off to my panties, remove all my jewellry and put on two robes for surgery. This stopped me in my tracks for two reasons-

One ( I know seems ridiculous now) but I think this was the first time I realised it was an OPERATION I was going to have. I don´t know what I had imagined before then, something like sitting in a dentist chair while they did it, and I realised there and then it was going to be done in an OPERATING THEATRE

Two ( even more ridiculous) Earlier on visiting the loo I had realised I had my knickers on inside out. If you like me are from a working class Northern family your mum also might have had a superstition for everything as did mine. No umbrellas up in the house, laughing in the morning crying in the evening, drop a knife on the floor meant a gentleman calling.. The list is endless.

One of the many superstitions I was brought up on is that if you put anything on the wrong way round, ie t shirt inside out or , in my particular case that day, knickers, it would be bad luck to change them the right way around before the end of the day. Well the last thing I needed on the day of an eye operation was bad luck, so when I had realised earlier they were inside out I had not changed them. Now here I was being asked to strip off and all I could think was I had my knickers on inside out and how embarrassing. I knew this was the last chance I had to run as once I was in the theatre gowns it would not be possible to sneak out unobtrusively.

I am very proud to say that I held it together. I was flustered enough to emerge still wearing my sunglasses on the top of my head and was shaking so much I could not get my necklaces or earrings off, but the lovely nurse sorted all that out for me and thats when I did finally accept that I was going to go through with this. I did relax a little.

I was in chair 2 of a row of chairs similar to dentist chairs. In number 1 was an elderly Spanish guy who asked me “Te van a operar la vista también?” which I confirmed. Out of all the patients that came and went I was by far the youngest, and it was quite nice to be the youngest for a change 🙂

Apart from the guy I mentioned from chair one, and one other lady who were Spanish, all the other patients were foreign. British, German or Swedish. And apart from me, not one of these foreigners spoke Spanish. This led to some very entertaining scenes which helped with my nerves as they disappeared behind the curtains and reappeared in various states of undress, either not taking off enough clothes or taking off everything much to the nurses´dismay. It was like a Carry On film with the poor nurses struggling to male them understan, even though there was a picture on the wall in the cubicle showing you how you should dress.

Still, I bet none of them had their knickers on inside out.

Finally Juan from chair 1 was taken off to surgery in a wheelchair and I guessed I was next as I was in chair 2. He was brought back 30 minutes later and seemed cheerful enough, and it was my turn to be whisked away. Down the corridor up to the theatre, given oxygen and a mild sedative and somehow the right side of my face was frozen, but I can honestly say that I did not feel a thing.

During the operation, which took only 15 minutes from start to finish. was the first and only time that I did perhaps think that maybe it would be better if I did not understand Spanish. Torrevieja is a training hospital and the surgeon was explaining throughout to a presumed trainee what he was doing. Most of the time it was fine but there were two moments of concerm.

One when he said: “I am going to ….. (didn´t quite catch what) because if not I am worried that …. (again didn´t quite catch what) might happen”. Then again when the student said in what sounded like total astonishment “Ah really? Is that what you do? I never imagined that”, and the surgeon had to reassure him that whatever it was was correct.

It was a very surreal experience as I “watched” the cataract be doubled and removed, then the mew lens be inserted rather like an eclipse of the sun. And as I say, the whole operation took probably 15 minutes. Then I was sat up, back in the wheelchair and back to the reception area, where little old Juan from chair number one had already gone. A patch over my new bionic eye which I wan told to leave on til morning. .

I was offered a cafe con leche or zumo and some biscuits which was like music to my ears, as I had last eaten at 8 am and it was now after 4 pm. The “cafe con leche” tasted like nectar and the “galletas de Maria” like manna from heaven. I was allowed to get dressed and was moved to another chair as more people came in for the same operation.

I was feeling so relieved. I was trying to reassure the other people waiting as I´m sure they were as nervous as me. There was an elderly Swedish gentleman who was so happy to speak to someone in English he started asking me questions as if I was the doctor-

Him- Will I be able to take my usual medication tomorrow morning?

Me- Er, I don´t know

Him- How long will it be before I get my other eye done?

Me- Er, best to ask the doctor I don´t actually know funnily enough.

As I was waiting for my discharge papers another foreign woman came out of her bay naked twice, much to the mortification of the nurses. I wondered how often they are subjected to exposure of flesh from people who don´t understand instructions. The nurses didn´t speak much English but they shouted in unison “no, put it on!!!” in very practised English, so I´m guessing quite often. 🙂

By 6:30 I was home, 4 strong vodkas and some pasta later I was in bed.

I slept well and was up at 6 a.m to walk my dogs as I had my Covid jab the next morning. I gingerly removed my eyepatch reminded of Jack Nicholson and the Joker as I cautiously looked in the mirror. I had this awful fear that I wouldn´t be able to see or that my eye would be a mess. The total opposite, I could see almost perfectly and apart from what seemed to be a strange lens above the iris of my eye it just looked the same. I thought at first it was a contact lens or something that had been put there to protect where the surgery had been done, but when I went for my checkup later that day the doctor told me it was an air bubble that had been created as a protection and it would dissipate over time. So clever.

Off I went (again driven by my lovely friend Jane) to have my Covid jab. I was so relieved to have the eye operation over with I did not even feel ny jab , it was a walk in the park. I like people watching, and I was struck by how people react so differently to things. Some people just look away, take the jab and don´t make a fuss. Other people are so dramatic, screwing their eyes shut and wincing, coming out clutching their arm as if they have been shot. Haha.

I wanted to say “hey you think this is bad, I just had an EYE operation!!” Cocky now and proud of myself, as if I had never nearly not gone through with it. The next day I was back in class.

I am so grateful for the fantastic treatment I received and feel truly privileged and lucky to have been blessed with both a “new” eye and a vaccination against Covid 19. I want to finish this story by sending out love respect and prayers to all the people out there of all ages facing bravely much worse medical challenges and interventions. You are awesome and an inspiration to the rest of us who are not. Especially to one of my nieces who is facing one such challenge tomorrow.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you are a Spanish student yourself you may find the following links useful:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/elprincipecentre/
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Twitter: @PrincipeCentre
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WHAT HAPPENED TO UNCLE JIMMY?/ QUE PASÓ A TIO JAIME?

Anyone who has lived in Spain and had to deal with bureaucracy in any way shape or form will get this next story. If you haven´t, you may think it is exaggerated or couldn´t possibly be true. In Spain, we have to get used to what I can “the runaround”. Basically where you are told one thing by one person, something else by another. Rules are completely arbitrary and decisions are often made depending on a following wind and if there is an “r” in the month. Even official ones. If you are a person who likes organisation, order and to know exactly where you are, Spain is simply not the country for you. There is no communication between official departments, you basically have to throw yourself on their mercy, do all the legwork yourself, hope for the best, and if you are lucky you will get sorted.

Never make the cardinal mistake of getting angry or irritated, the shutter will come down and you will completely be blanked. Patience is everything if you want co operation and help from anyone who has a bit of power in their role. There is generally no point in asking to speak to anyone else either as they are often the only person there who can help, so you have to keep them on your side as much as you can.

Quite a few years ago a friend on mine asked me to go to help her communicate at Torrevieja hospital. Her and her dad were worried about her “uncle” Jimmy. He wasn´t her real uncle, he was a good life-long friend of her Dad, who was working away at the time and had asked her to try and find out what had happened to him.

Jimmy had disappeared.

Nearly a week earlier, Jimmy had become ill in the middle of the night at his home where he lived alone. Neighbours reported that they had called an ambulance which had spirited him away and he hadn´t been seen since. Presumably he had been taken to the hospital but he hadn´t contacted anyone since and he had left his mobile in the house so no one could call him either.

Jimmy was a guy in his very late sixties who had a touch of dementia or Alzheimers and didn´t speak any Spanish. He had no other family and they were concerned he wouldn´t have been able to communicate at the hospital. Also, the worst might have even happened as he had a bad heart, and he could be lying in the morgue with no one to claim his body!!

So that evening off we went to Torrevieja hospital.  YIn my experience you rarely get anyone on receptions, customer help desks etc that actually want to help. Unfortunately for us, the girl on reception that evening (Cristina- I will never forget her name), was one of the unhelpful types…

So I explained the situation to her, that Uncle Jimmy was very vulnerable due to his mental and physical state and we were trying to find him. I told her when he was probably admitted and that he may not have even been able to communicate his name. She had no record of anyone admitted of that name so I asked, had anyone been admitted that evening that they had listed as “desconocido” or unknown? He may even have died as it was a suspected heart attack he was taken away with.

Well you would think they would want to find out the identity of any unknown patient or corpse they had? Nooooo. Cristina refused to even look in the records and said we would have to get permission from the Guardia Civil (police) before she could give out any information. I was still calm at this point, and asked if maybe she could ring the Guardia and ask their permission to give us the information. No, she couldn´t do that. We had to go to the police station ourselves and come back with a written permission..

I feel I should point out at this point for those who don´t know that Torrevieja hopital is small. It is not like a big City where maybe there would be several “desconocidos” who had been brought in. Anyway in Spain you are supposed to carry ID at all times, so it would have been unusual for someone to be brought in without it. How many elderly foreign people with no family or Id would have been brought in that night anyway? One- Uncle Jimmy!! But she refused to help.

Off we went.. The Guardia we were assigned was very helpful, or at least pleasant. He predictably told us that what Cristina had told us was rubbish. We did not need written permission, she could tell us if anyone “unknown” was in the hospital, either dead or alive as obviously they would want to solve the mystery of who they were. He would not give us anything in writing or come back with us to the hospital.

However, he did kindly ring the hospital  and he definitely spoke to someone! I heard the conversation with my own ears, it was a woman he was speaking to. He explained the situation and said there was no reason we shouldn´t be given any information necessary to find out what had happened to hapless uncle Jimmy, who we were getting more and more worried about with every passing hour. He came off the phone and told us it was all sorted, we should go back to the hospital and they would look in the computer to see who had been brought in that night and if there were any “desconocidos” amongst them.

Reassured, we went back to the hospital to speak once more with the (not so) lovely Cristina. We walked in hopefully, but our hopes were soon dashed when I told her of our experience with the Guardia. She completely denied any knowledge of this phone call from him!! She all but accused us of lying, and said the situation was the same. No written permission no information.

I have to admit I was starting to get a little bit miffed by now (understatement). Two wasted hours and nothing achieved. I could see in the booth behind her there were several telephonists, so my guess is the Guardia had spoken to one of them not Cristina. I asked her would she mind asking them if they had taken the call if it wasn´t her? He had definitely spoken to someone!! She would not..

I know I had to get away from her as I would say something I regretted. As I mentioned, Torrevieja is a small hospital. I took my friend´s arm and said to the delightful Cristina we were going to find him ourselves. If she refused to simply check the admissions for the night he was whisked away on the computer we would check every room one by one.

Off we went. 15 minutes later we found Uncle Jimmy on the first floor tucking into his evening meal and seemingly none the worse for his experience. He was labelled “desconocido”, and he seemed to be quite happy in there, nice and warm in a private room being fed three times a day and looked after.

I left them together to get sorted and returned to my new best friend Cristina for a few choice words just to make me feel better. She did have the grace to look a little bit abashed, when she realised we had not been making the whole story up. I mean, really? what would have been the point of lying about the whole thing? What advantage could we possibly have gained?

That is really what I will never understand about the whole experience. I totally get the patient confidentiality issue. However when you have a patient who is obviously confused and can´t tell you who they are, then someone comes along worried about a family member who is confused and was taken off by an ambulance and disappeared on the same night this patient was admitted-?? Why would you treat them with such suspicion?

No lo entiendo!!!!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, if you are a Spanish student yourself you may find the following links useful:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/elprincipecentre/
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/elprincipecentre/
Twitter: @PrincipeCentre
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm38MRBMVXrV6JblhmQ7xOg