• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Ageing & Growing Old

Are you growing older?

  • Yes, I am

    Votes: 82 61.7%
  • No, I'm getting younger

    Votes: 28 21.1%
  • Sorry, I don't understand the question

    Votes: 16 12.0%
  • I'm a Mod; I think adding silly polls to chat threads is pointless

    Votes: 7 5.3%

  • Total voters
    133
My very limited time in a hospital, I found the day crew OK, but the night crew was not up to what they should be.
You're not kidding! I had a necessary surgery 5 years ago and was in the hospital just overnite, which was more than enough for me. The night shift couldn't be bothered to do anything, and all I wanted was a few sips of water (I think they were having a nap!). The day staff was wonderful though, and the food was great!
 
The nursing staff on the whole have been brilliant. The issue has been some of the catering staff.

I know I shouldn't have, but I ended up having an argument with one of the catering people yesterday. They got my food completely wrong again, or should I say someone had manually scrawled out someone else's bed location and written mine in its place. But they wasn't the start of it.

When the food arrived I asked the caterer to put just the plate down on my table as there was not enough space for the tray. Completely ignoring me she forced the tray onto the edge of the table, nearly pushing iPad and cup of tea off the table. When I asked her to stop and just put the plate down she refused, pushed it further and told me she couldn't do that as she had nowhere to put the tray. Every day since being in here, the caterer has put just the plate there for me and put the tray back on the trolley.

It was then that I realised that the order was wrong. I went to speak to the caterer and there was a visitor there trying to get her attention, but was being completely ignored. Between me and the visitor we worked out that her dad had got my meal, but his was missing. We tried to get the caterers attention again, but she wouldn't engage with us. We ended up having to stand in her way to get her to talk to us. We explained the situation, showing the evidence. I asked why someone had changed the bed numbers on the orders to be told that wasn't her problem. She then turned around saying, let me hand out the other dinners then I'll come back and see what we've got left on the trolley for you. It's at that point I lost my temper and told her that no, she would sort it out now and that I would be having the food I'd ordered.

I then got made to get back in bed by the nice nurse who told me she'd sort it out for me. In the end the visitor passed me my correct meal and the nurse found her dads salad on the trolley.

I apologised to the nurse later in, who told me not to worry no harm done. She explained that there isn't a mealtime that goes by that isn't wrong.

It made me think about how much food waste there must be in hospitals with people being brought meals they didn't order or are inedible due to spending the last hour sat keeping warm in a steamer. One nurse advised to only ever go for things like stews and rice, as everything else is horrible.

I was supposed to be in here for my health, but have found the whole thing incredibly stressful.

Having the "serial killer" in the bed next to me hasn't helped. By God he gives off a creepy vibe. I think it's his demeanour and the slightly pervy way he speaks to the nurses. If I use "savile" as an adjective that may help explain the vibe.

Still not heard from Broadgreen, but I'm packed and ready to go.
When you have recovered somewhat, I'd be tempted to give some feedback to the hospital. The caterer is probably a third party contractor and may get a succession of complaints. Time to get rid of her methinks, you shouldn't have to put up with these characters who deliberately cop an attitude when you are unwell. The sad fact is that most will just let the matter go with the result that the behaviour will continue. Hope your health continues to improve!
 
Great news my angiogram shows no narrowing of any major arteries so I don’t need any stents. One artery is looking a little furry, but that can be cleared with a change in lifestyle and drugs.

they found the cause of my heart attack though. A tiny branch artery is completely blocked. The doctor showed me it on the X-ray. I have no idea how she spotted it. If I had been taken straight there on Thursday she says she may have been able to stent it, but because it has been over a week there is no point as that tiny part of my heart is no longer functioning.

What a thoroughly unpleasant and painful procedure though. Despite the local anaesthetic it still felt like she was trying to push a hosepipe into my wrist.

now to take it easy for a handful of weeks and get myself right.

tanks again for all the well wishes.
 
Doctors orders are

No driving for 7 days.
4 weeks off work.
No heavy lifting for a while.
Fine to have the odd drink, but no benders*)

*as long as I'm ok for the Virgin Wines tasting on 2nd July in Manchester.

Thanks again everyone, your thoughts have kept me sane.
 
Aww enjoy the wine tasting. I went to a wine tasting at Cairn'o more in Scotland. Sadly some people didn't want their wine. Luckily I was there to help them out. Unfortunately I drank probably 15 full sized samples. Jolly nice it was too. Never mix your drinks.
 
Doctors orders are

No driving for 7 days.
4 weeks off work.
No heavy lifting for a while.
Fine to have the odd drink, but no benders*)

*as long as I'm ok for the Virgin Wines tasting on 2nd July in Manchester.

Thanks again everyone, your thoughts have kept me sane.

Enjoy the break and the wines!
 
I've been following your recent rollercoaster, @Mr. Banooka and I'm glad it's come to a restful stop.
Me also. I'm glad all seems to be ok.

On the subject of hospital food, last year a neighbour of mine got beaten up in his own flat. He's a drug dealer, mainly skunk and tablets like diazepam. His girlfriend had stolen something from the dealer who supplies him. Probably the harder drugs as she is weird and her eyes are also weird. He got nastily beaten up as a result with baseball bats by two thugs. They wrecked his flat as well. Such is the life of a drug dealer. I've no sympathy. He knows that. He knows my view about drugs. I don't condone what he does by any means but as neighbour, brilliant. No problems at all. I've neighbours from hell above me who are according to the council and police 'law abiding' according to the rules.

He phoned me up after being in hospital for less than a week asking me to pick him up which I did. I didn't even know he was in hospital. He was in a terrible state. A broken arm in plaster. Fractured ribs. Damage to the soft tissue in his neck. The bruises on his face, chest and back were horrific. Blue, yellow, black and purple. He could hardly walk even with crutches. He told the hospital he fell down the stairs. It made me laugh as there are no stairs in our flats but as he said, the hospital never asked that question.

The reason he gave for discharging himself was the vile muck served up as food. He couldn't stand it any longer. All he wanted when he got home was beans on toast and a cup of not stewed tea and a good nights peaceful sleep. That says it all about the food served up in some hospitals where I'd expect the food to be of the highest quality.
 
Last edited:
Doctors orders are

No driving for 7 days.
4 weeks off work.
No heavy lifting for a while.
Fine to have the odd drink, but no benders*)

*as long as I'm ok for the Virgin Wines tasting on 2nd July in Manchester.

Thanks again everyone, your thoughts have kept me sane.
I didn't have such a bad experience as you when I went in last year, first for a campylobacter infection, and then kidney stones, but I played the ace I had up my sleeve. I take immunosuppressant drugs for a digestive problem and explained my fear of picking up something from other patients on the ward so each time I had a private room. That suited me extremely well, no other patients to snore, fart or cough and keep me awake. No one trying to engage me in idle chit chat, no serial killers…just pure solitary confinement, which suited me just fine!

Glad to see you are back home and on the road to recovery. Enjoy the wine tasting in July.
 
I have noticed TV ads have been targeting seniors about taking brain supplements because seniors are losing their memory so the ads claim.

It seems they are several and have all kinds of stuff like Vitamin B and E, omega-3s, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, jelly fish protein, and more.

I don’t think I am losing memory, but is all this stuff “ junk and garbage “ ?
 
I have noticed TV ads have been targeting seniors about taking brain supplements because seniors are losing their memory so the ads claim.

It seems they are several and have all kinds of stuff like Vitamin B and E, omega-3s, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, jelly fish protein, and more.

I don’t think I am losing memory, but is all this stuff “ junk and garbage “ ?
That's if they remember to take them.
 
I have noticed TV ads

I don’t think I am losing memory, but is all this stuff “ junk and garbage “ ?

Watching TV ads is very bad for your mental health @charliebrown. :)

There is a normal condition that most of us experience from time to time when mid sentence we can't remember the name for something. With all the talk of dementia these days it's easy to panic and think that said scenario is a warning sign. Of course the anxiety is likely to make you more prone to forgetting the words.

So there you have it ramp up dementia fears, ready made fertile ground to sell some conconcoction or other. Well you know how adverts work as well as I do I'm sure.

Even if those ingredients have been shown to be helpful there's bound to be somewhere you can get them cheaper.

I noticed that I feel a lot better for not watching adverts, even if I think I'm not paying attention they can still press my 'worry buttons' so best to pause and whizz through.
 
Watching TV ads is very bad for your mental health @charliebrown. :)
I couldn't agree with that more. I've never owned a tv my entire adult life and I am continuously shocked at how much tv a lot of people watch. Also, of what little tv I see in peoples homes when I'm working most of it is pointless drivel and all the time there is what I call 'flicker tv'. They continuously change cameras angles so quickly that I don't get chance to look at what is being shown. Surely that flicker flicker flicker isn't good for the brain and mind.
 
If I don’t login for a day or so, I forget what is happening.

Maybe this site should have a column of the most recent posts?
 
If I don’t login for a day or so, I forget what is happening.

Maybe this site should have a column of the most recent posts?
Click on What's new at the top of the screen. If you click on the little arrow, the first option in the menu that drops down is New posts.
NewPosts.png

Click on that to show a list of the most recent posts.
 
They continuously change cameras angles so quickly that I don't get chance to look at what is being shown. Surely that flicker flicker flicker isn't good for the brain and mind.
Oh I know I just can't bear to watch when they are doing that!

I record stuff that I think might be worth it for those moments when I feel like watching a bit of telly because more often than not I can go through the whole listings and there is just bu88er all on when I do.

Television is a plug in drug useful at times but also greatly abused.

In fact I was once prescribed it by my doctor when I said I didn't want to take anti-depressants. I'd lost a baby to SIDS (cot death) and was keeping things together during the day for the sake of my two young boys and deferring all the tearfull wretchedness for the evening. The GP thought it could easily become habit forming and persist long after the need and suggested watching a bit of 'rubbish on the box' to nudge myself out of it. Well we didn't have a telly so he advised getting one!

I processed this book when I was working at the library and meant to borrow it but it was in demand for a course so never did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

Seems about right!
 
Oh I know I just can't bear to watch when they are doing that!

I record stuff that I think might be worth it for those moments when I feel like watching a bit of telly because more often than not I can go through the whole listings and there is just bu88er all on when I do.

Television is a plug in drug useful at times but also greatly abused.

In fact I was once prescribed it by my doctor when I said I didn't want to take anti-depressants. I'd lost a baby to SIDS (cot death) and was keeping things together during the day for the sake of my two young boys and deferring all the tearfull wretchedness for the evening. The GP thought it could easily become habit forming and persist long after the need and suggested watching a bit of 'rubbish on the box' to nudge myself out of it. Well we didn't have a telly so he advised getting one!

I processed this book when I was working at the library and meant to borrow it but it was in demand for a course so never did.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

Seems about right!
Wow, I've never heard that before - tv prescribed in place of anti-depressants!
Sorry to hear about your loss, I've had many miscarriages but that it is nothing in comparison. You were lucky to have two other children though.
Youtube has all the great old mysteries, thrillers, comedies, just everything, and I find myself wandering over there if I want to watch something in particular.
 
Watching TV ads is very bad for your mental health @charliebrown. :)

There is a normal condition that most of us experience from time to time when mid sentence we can't remember the name for something. With all the talk of dementia these days it's easy to panic and think that said scenario is a warning sign. Of course the anxiety is likely to make you more prone to forgetting the words.

So there you have it ramp up dementia fears, ready made fertile ground to sell some conconcoction or other. Well you know how adverts work as well as I do I'm sure.

Even if those ingredients have been shown to be helpful there's bound to be somewhere you can get them cheaper.

I noticed that I feel a lot better for not watching adverts, even if I think I'm not paying attention they can still press my 'worry buttons' so best to pause and whizz through.
Amen.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss, I've had many miscarriages but that it is nothing in comparison. You were lucky to have two other children though.
Thanks and sorry to hear you've also suffered your own losses which are not 'nothing in comparison' each of yours were as devastating! (((Ronnie Jersey)))

We had adopted the two boys after having had 2 miscarriages at the end of the second trimester and 2 at the end of the first. It was such joy when our son was born fit and healthy albeit 3 weeks early but he died sudenly at 7 weeks old.

I'd started writing up about all the coincidences that occured around that event, some even years later. I'll have to find which thread it was on and finish it because they were my personal glimpse behind the veil of the 'other' much like what your stunning UFO experience did for you. Yes totally different scenarios but fuel for an open mind. :)
 
Thanks and sorry to hear you've also suffered your own losses which are not 'nothing in comparison' each of yours were as devastating! (((Ronnie Jersey)))

We had adopted the two boys after having had 2 miscarriages at the end of the second trimester and 2 at the end of the first. It was such joy when our son was born fit and healthy albeit 3 weeks early but he died sudenly at 7 weeks old.

I'd started writing up about all the coincidences that occured around that event, some even years later. I'll have to find which thread it was on and finish it because they were my personal glimpse behind the veil of the 'other' much like what your stunning UFO experience did for you. Yes totally different scenarios but fuel for an open mind. :)
I didn't even realize that I was miscarrying most of the time, they all happened early on. I went to a female GYN and she told me I would have to stay in bed for 9 months, that the problem was never getting pregnant, it was holding onto it. It's just genetics, my Aunt was the same way and miscarried until she followed that advice. But I had no family to take care of things for that length of time, and we were both working and busy, I just thought it would happen by itself.
It's ok because I have taken care of many animal babies! LOL
 
Thanks and sorry to hear you've also suffered your own losses which are not 'nothing in comparison' each of yours were as devastating! (((Ronnie Jersey)))

We had adopted the two boys after having had 2 miscarriages at the end of the second trimester and 2 at the end of the first. It was such joy when our son was born fit and healthy albeit 3 weeks early but he died sudenly at 7 weeks old.

I'd started writing up about all the coincidences that occured around that event, some even years later. I'll have to find which thread it was on and finish it because they were my personal glimpse behind the veil of the 'other' much like what your stunning UFO experience did for you. Yes totally different scenarios but fuel for an open mind. :)

I would love to read more about this, if it is not too painful for you. In retrospect, I think that some very difficult situations I was in were opportunities to experience peeks into the spirit world (I know this sounds batshit, but still....), especially when people I loved were dying. It is the most reasonable explanation that accounts for the actual experiences.
 
I didn't even realize that I was miscarrying most of the time, they all happened early on. I went to a female GYN and she told me I would have to stay in bed for 9 months, that the problem was never getting pregnant, it was holding onto it. It's just genetics, my Aunt was the same way and miscarried until she followed that advice. But I had no family to take care of things for that length of time, and we were both working and busy, I just thought it would happen by itself.
It's ok because I have taken care of many animal babies! LOL
They are a bu88er those damn genetics! Still it seems you have come to acceptance and have enjoyed (are enjoying) your animal babies. :)
 
Back
Top