Discovering Paphos Hospital

When Mum was staying over Christmas it occurred to us that, God forbid anything happened and she needed to go to Polis Hospital, we had no idea exactly what medication she was taking and if we did we wouldn't know which drug was for what, so we had organised that I would accompany her on her next check-up with the heart specialist and (a) get to grips with the system at Paphos General and (b) unravel the mystery of the drugs!!!

So I got down to Mums in good time and dropped her at the door and went off to find a parking space which ended up being somewhere near Mesoghi!  To say it was busy was an understatement - I was just glad that it was a fine, bright and warm day so that my extended walk from the back of the hospital down to the front and the checking in desk was dry.

The check-in part of the hospital is a bit grim - it is dark for a start and there are a number of booths where overworked and probably underpaid staff have to check in the great unwashed and although there is a barrier system which is supposed to coral the populous in an orderly fashion the Cypriots are unfamiliar with that concept so there are a number of chancers who loiter at the exit in the hopes of pushing in, to be fair it is probably not just Cypriots but they do seem to be the main offenders.

Mum had an appointment for 11.15 and was number 8 on the list but Dr Ariadne was apparently doing her rounds on the wards and didn't actually turn up to do her appointments until about 11.35 which was a bit of a bugger but as it happened the seven in front of Mum were dealt with rather quickly.

We had the misfortune to be preceded by a couple who are, in my opinion. my worst nightmare - well not the man but the woman at any rate.  The man was clearly a very poorly individual and a bit of a strange colour which was worrying and all he wanted to do was sit down and I think he might have been Cypriot or part-Cypriot as he spoke the lingo like a native.  His wife was a Brit and looked remarkably like Cruella Deville with her two tone hair, stick thin body and talons for nails.  She was clearly unhappy about the delay  and insisted that her poor husband get up and shuffle back out for a coffee - he didn't stand a chance of staying put so had to go even though he looked like he might expire en route.  She moaned all the time about anything and everything and made sure everyone else heard about it.

We were glad when she and her husband were seen because that not only allowed the waiting room to descend into a quiet calm but meant we would be seen next.

So without divulging too much about my mum's medical history all I can say is that for a woman approaching 84 she is in pretty fine fetal and obviously the care and medication she is receiving and has received is keeping her various ailments and issues under control.  So you can't ask much more than that really.

We returned home with enough time to grab a bit of pate on toast before going out again.  Freddo is non the worse for his extended stay at the vets over Christmas although I think we all agree it was probably a bit too long so next year we will have to see whether he can have two shorter stays even if it means John has to take him to the vets and pick him back up.   Because he is an indoor cat of unknown age the vet was keen that he lost some weight when he had a check up before Christmas and he wanted him to get more exercise - it has taken time but clearly the new cat biscuits are helping with the weight and Freddo has re-learned the ability to play courtesy of a cheap old empty cardboard box and a variety of cat balls.

This afternoon Mum and I made a trip to Angel Guardians to face the difficult task of choosing the headstone and surround for Dad's grave which will ultimately also be the final resting place for Mum, John and I.  We have at least set the ball in motion and once started it will take about six weeks to complete.  I now know that my Aunty Joyce and Uncle David took me up on the suggestion that they come and visit for Mum's birthday in May rather than wait until October.  They thought it was a good idea and she rang today when I got back from Mum's to tell me that they had booked their flights and would be here before, during and after Mum's 84th.  I shall be letting her know on Friday and I know she will be so pleased and will give her something really nice to look forward to.

A couple of months back I bought a traditional bread mould from Yola in Konia and recently she was advertising this traditional stoneware bed warmer.  I am not sure that I will ever use it to warm Mum's bed or ours for that matter but I thought it would make a fabulous and quirky door stop as it was just the right colour for the conservatory.

John had had a very busy day and was struggling to try and complete one of his jobs before I got home.  He wanted to put the two lights we had taken down from the kitchen and add them to the matching one we had in the conservatory.  I have been moaning for ages that the light in there isn't good enough.  This was not an easy job to do because poor John has splits in his thumbs which are sore and he had to balance on a ladder and then balance the light somewhere whilst he tried to get the cabling done.  He managed it in the end and I am so happy with the end result.

I am glad that we are doing jobs around the house, I can almost feel Dad looking on nodding his approval.  He always seemed to love coming up here even though he moaned that it was too cold.