Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Medical matters - mostly indirectly.
A medical day of sorts.
There was a missed appointment by Bill - just a blood pressure check up. I thought the appointment was early, and so it proved to be when he looked at the time in the diary before he set off. Whoops - missed it.
Our very elderly neighbour has now been told that she has cancer. I knew this weeks ago - but felt it best to keep quiet for the time being.
She had a large scabby growth removed from her nose, which required a skin graft, using skin taken from near the ear.
She is waiting for a letter from a different specialist - she thinks its another skin specialist. She had the results of the biopsy on Monday and feels sure that the letter will arrive tomorrow. I warned her that almost certainly it would be longer.
This afternoon I described 2 medical books.....novels set amongst nurses in a hospital in WW2.
The book was published in 1941.
This is almost the same time that my mother would have been a probationer nurse at Pembury Hospital.
This is Mum, aged 18.
I was never sure if the dress she is wearing in that photo was part of uniform or just a dress.
Too late to ask now.
Just as it is too late to ask her about other things at Pembury Hospital.
Recently a woman, approaching her 100th birthday had been a nurse at Pembury. Friends took her to see the new buildings and she reminisced about the old days.
There was a missed appointment by Bill - just a blood pressure check up. I thought the appointment was early, and so it proved to be when he looked at the time in the diary before he set off. Whoops - missed it.
Our very elderly neighbour has now been told that she has cancer. I knew this weeks ago - but felt it best to keep quiet for the time being.
She had a large scabby growth removed from her nose, which required a skin graft, using skin taken from near the ear.
She is waiting for a letter from a different specialist - she thinks its another skin specialist. She had the results of the biopsy on Monday and feels sure that the letter will arrive tomorrow. I warned her that almost certainly it would be longer.
This afternoon I described 2 medical books.....novels set amongst nurses in a hospital in WW2.
The book was published in 1941.
This is almost the same time that my mother would have been a probationer nurse at Pembury Hospital.
This is Mum, aged 18.
I was never sure if the dress she is wearing in that photo was part of uniform or just a dress.
Too late to ask now.
Just as it is too late to ask her about other things at Pembury Hospital.
Recently a woman, approaching her 100th birthday had been a nurse at Pembury. Friends took her to see the new buildings and she reminisced about the old days.
'Hospitals were expected to be more self-sufficient in those days and Pembury had a piggery in one part of the grounds. Many of the patients were also given a daily ration of beer." Ellen Noakes.
Did Mum know Ellen, I wonder?
Ellen would have been her senior by about 14 years - so when Mum was 18, Ellen was in her early 30s; almost old to a young one.
Did Mum remember the piggery?
In recent months I have read much about Mum's times at Pembury - mostly how awful it felt to be separated from my Dad!
All the letters they wrote to each other were saved and I read them all and sorted them into chronological order.
Here I am in September, surrounded by their letters.
I described and listed 12 odds and ends on EBay today - there were 2 Bunty Brown books.
I wonder if they will sell.
