The Lisbon Treaty

....and we voted 'no'. I use the term 'we' lightly as I didn't actually vote. I couldn't understand what the bloomin' heck the thing was about so rather than vote for the sake of voting (and risk picking the 'wrong' choice by accident) I didn't vote. Actually I did intend to vote late yesterday evening, but I was too late by the time I had my mind made up.

And it would seem with the 40 percent turnout that I was not alone!

I would catagorise the grouping of votes in the following way:

The group who understood the Treaty and voted 'Yes'.
The group who understood the Treaty and voted 'No'.
The group who didn't understand the Treaty so voted 'No' so that nothing changed and felt they should vote for the sake of voting.

In the first two groupings I would say there was a higher 'yes' support but that the 'no' group picked up a LOT of votes from the misunderstood.

See, I can talk politics too from time to time....

Now if I could just understand what it was all about I would be oh so much the wiser.

The REAL Clinic-y Winic-y *wince*- part 1 !!!

This morning I was very good and got up nice and early and aimed to be in the hospital by about 9.30am. I had to have bloods taken as they couldn't get blood on Wednesday, do lung function tests and then have my Second Belly Button looked at via fistulagram (thing where they inject dye to see if there's some sort of permanent opening somewhere) which was at 11am. All in all, a simple plan which would see me out by lunch.

I drove, traffic was light and I ticked my first goal off of 'be on time' with glee.

Then I went to the blood testing department. There was a queue, so naturally I went up to the top, explained that I had been here on Wednesday and was instructed to come back today and I'd be fast passed up to the front. Or that's how I naively understood it to be. Then the secretary snapped at me and said "Yeah well luv, y'er still gonna have ta queue loike, ya can't be skippin' everyone else yano". Cow. And that made me nearly cry because I was feeling emotional for some reason.

*** I think that if the clinic cannot provide a blood taking service (which fortunately is rare, I'm told-unfortunately for me, I'm the rare one!) then one immuno-suppresseeee shouldn't have to wait in a public room where people with Goodness knows what are all waiting. As far as I understand it, the transplant clinic nurses do try their hardest to get the blood taking department to ensure transplant patients are fast passed, but unless they are dragged down (away from their work) each and every time to explain this it doesn't happen. The blood taking place should have a sign up in their systems or something, or even a sign around me which says 'SKIP ME UP'....or something. It's not that difficult, and I don't believe it's me being "Queen Bee", I think it's a reasonable request. *COMMUNICATION* ***

So blah, got the bloods done first time which was fantastic! (Tick number two) And then I went to lung function lab and my lungs are breathing 98%!!!!!!!!!! Whooop! So all's great!!! THEN I saw the dietitian about my poor sore tummy and it seems there may be problems along the lines of something deep inside is getting blocked and sending my system out of whack. (A type of DIOS for any medical peoples) I've never had this before so my understanding is a bit vague at best so don't take my word there.

And then I arrived in radiology for my fistulagram at the ripe time of 11am. Where I waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually I asked if I was sitting in the right area- I was. And at 12.30 I asked a nurse if there was a delay or what time I could expect to be seen at because my appointment was for 11am. "Yeah well they're only a guideline time, they're only a guideline" she said. I told her that yes, I understood that (d'uh) but it was now 12.30pm! I mean were they a guideline time or a guideline day?! After she snapped at me, I wanted to cry again. Badly. Because I'm an emotional ninken-poop today.

After that got around that I was WAITING, people came and talked to me and said it could be another 40minutes. (Again, with the wanting to cry) So I went off and bought a silly book, credit and came back. As I began reading my book, the nurse and radiographer took pity on me and came and sat and talked to me- While. I. was. reading. my. book. that. I. had. just. bought. because. I. was. waiting!!! So the €10 book went into the bag and I politely engaged them in chat. They were looking for the doctor to perform the test and were actually really nice. I think they felt bad for me really. The corridors become achingly quiet as it became clear I was the last one left. The staff were all leaving to go on their lunch, which is where the doctor went too. The nurse and radiographer stayed with me and talked and finally at 2pm word came that I would be seen soon.

And the next bit added to that bit is soooo long, I'll post it tomorrow...

But basically my final rant: We pay for our health service, both in our taxes, and some of us privately. It is a health SERVICE. So why do they always have the attitude that they are doing us a favour? Eh nope, we are customers and I really feel people should start treating us like that. Even on the most basic level of encountering patients and not snapping- especially if we are emotional ones!!!

If I turned up to a restaurant for 7pm and didn't get served until 1opm, would I go back? Eh no. Would I stay? Eh no. Forced to stay would I pay? If I could get out of it, eh no. But sadly there is only ONE health service that so many of us have no option but to use. So stop treating us like crap scraped off the bottom of your shoe. You are providing us a service not doing us a favour.

Can you tell my emotional state has turned to fury upon reflection?? And it's great to have a Dad who teaches you to stand up when things are not right.

Rant About Ranters and NonFact Readers

So in Ireland there are three children's hospitals: Tallaght Hospital, Temple Street Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin (commonly called Crumlin Hospital).

I can't remember exactly when, I'm guessing about two years ago, it was decided that ONE hospital with everything in it should be built for the children, and ideally it should be located on the grounds of an adult hospital site. Bascially so that the country's expertised was housed in one building etc. To me it makes sense.

A report was undertaken and it looked at several hospitals around the world in order to make a list of what the new hospital should have and what it should be like if that makes sense. Then the report do-ers looked at a few different sites to relocate the new hospital: A greenfield site was one, Tallaght I think was another. So skip the light fandango and The Mater Hospital (incidentally where I attend now) site was chosen. This is located in the north inner city - loads of traffic, hard to get to from the country etc, etc.

There was hoo-haww because it happens to be in Bertie Ahearn's (Taiseach/Primeminsiter)constituency and he "coulda rigged it!".

My opinion: It should be built where RTE is located - a mere minutes away from Vincent's Hospital. It's a PERFECT site, just beside the dual carraige way (easy access) and yet it's its own site. Of course trying to get journalists to move out of RTE just wouldn't happen so it wasn't evenm considered.

ANYWAYS, browsing bebo today I come across a page entitled "SAVE OUR LADY'S CHILDRENS HOSPITAL IN CRUMLIN" which is run by a mother of five who feels "The loss of this Hospital to the local people and patients far and wide would be a great blow". I think from the gist of the site that "the loss of this Hospital to the local people" is probably the main concern. There is a great deal of bias on the site and when people come in who don't read facts and are so easily swayed by hype it gets annoying. For example some of the support comments read:

"Cant believe they want to shut down a childrens hospital -You have all the support from us mums" and "hope our stupid Government dont close de hospital down." - They're not shutting down a hospital full stop, they are relocating it. Big difference.

Most of the other comments speak of their own experiences with Crumlin but nearly ALL of them want to save Crumlin for emotinal reasons. "They saved my life" etc.

What people don't realise is that it is paramount that they rebuild the hospital. A simple 'lick of paint' or 'get it done up' won't do. Like Vincent's there are no ensuite rooms. Even in the Oncology ward which includes the Bone Marrow Transplant unit (where people are SERIOUSLY unwell - we're talking no immune systems at all) they don't have the facilities. Chemotherapy for Irish children is housed in a porta-cabin!!

The point of this ramble is one I privately...or who are kidding, PUBLICLY rant about all the time. People and moaners who sit back in their chairs, read absolutely nothing of FACT and then shout their opinion from the highest building. Everybody blames Mary Harney our health minister for what's wrong with the health service. Was she the one who mucked it up years ago? No she has been health minister for four years. Where do you begin untangelling a spider web? Are people so naive that they believe things can be fixed overnight? I'm not getting into a politics rant as goodness knows I could be here all evening.

Cruicially and this backs up my last point is that nearly ALL the comments on that page say "think of the children". Yes, we should. And that is why a new hospital is needed.