Cardiac Arrest

Time to get on my soap box and make a political point I feel very strongly about....

Now you Americans out there won't have the first idea of the concept of not enough money for health care, but if you live in the UK it is an all too familiar story. The cuts we are having to endure in order for our Government to be able to fund the desecration if Iraq and anywhere else that takes their fancy are massive...so massive I can't list them, but the Trust I work for has to save £30,000,000 this year after saving £22,000,000 last year. Do you get the picture? (And this is just one London Hospital........)

One of the services that has gone is outreach. This is where experienced Intensive Care nurses prowl the wards, checking up on sick patients and ex ICU patients to ensure they are getting the level of care they need. I swear blind, that when the service was up and running cardiac arrests on the wards fell massively as problems were being picked up early, and were dealt with. I was one of the nurses that worked on this service for a while, and believe me, even the doctors need to be told when the patient needs extra fluid and more!

Now, the patients are being left at the mercy of junior doctors, inexperienced nurses and a service that is SO stretched it can barely cope. I haven't attended an arrest for months... could even be more than a year and there were 2 in 2 weeks and I've noticed that generally there are more and more. One of the patients had been deteriorating gradually overnight, and to be fair on the nurses they had been calling the doctors regularly. But they never came, and the nurses just didn't know what to do. She died. Ditto a woman a week later. Sent out from ICU too early as they are desperate for the beds...died horribly.

Now those of you who have witnessed a cardiac arrest know how violent and gruesome they are. Nothing like what they put on the telly, or even James Bond!! Can you imagine the feeling of someones sternum cracking when you compress their chest ?...oh yes..it happens. The blood, shit and vomit that is always there, and nine times out of ten, you are sliding in it. The next of kin screaming in your ear and some poor little nurse trying to calm them down. The body convulses when you shock it with the defibrillator, and sometimes, the patient/corpse thumps you when their arms fly up. They should be avoided at all costs, for everyones sake.

We need to get our priorities sorted out in this country...if it means we have to go over to the American system to sort it , then so be it. I would rather know that if I'm sick the staff that are there are able to cope.

And we need to sort out nurse training , but that's another story........

Number 4

I want to marry number 4. Friday night was unbelievable...I love this guy...amazing.

Here's hoping......

Mother Jones(aka Nurse Ratched)

I love you, I love your blog, I love your comments and mostly, I've had a 'thing' about Nurse Ratched for years and no one else knew who the fuck I was going on about, so we must have some weird part of our psyche in common.
Stay friends....

Numbers 3,4 and 5.

Number 3.... very sweet, not good looking but no Quasimodo (although he was French!), paid for the food, but turned up in the wrong place. Those of you in the South UK will know last Friday night was pissing down very hard and not the sort of night to be spent hanging around tube stations. Anyway, thanks to the life saving invention of the mobile 'phone we found one another and had a very pleasanteveningthankyouvery much. I agreed to see him again, as he was nice, and he's e-mailed a bit but no mention of getting together again.

Number 4...oh God, oh wow, like...this guy ROCKS! We met for a walk and I drove us out to Esher woods. The sun was shining, it was heavenly, he held my arm on the steep bits (I was dressed for pulling, not walking, ok?) and the conversation flowed. Nice looking, tres intelligent, slim, correct age, laughed when I confessed I'd lied about mine (thank God, always a bad moment ) and altogether great. No kids either and doesn't want any......HOOO-FUCKING-RAY!!!!
We went for lunch, but couldn't get in anywhere. We finally got a table at 3pm but we were mellow on wine and the conversation was still flowing and we finally left at 6pm. Went back to mine (Oh..here we go, you are thinking. Well...no!)I said 'Would you like to come back to for a bit? The only thing is, I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea from that?'. He was cool, stayed cool and I took him to the station an hour later. A nice kiss in the car park and goodbye. He texted me 2 minutes later to say he had had a lovely time, particulary the kiss!
I got an e-mail today, saying he thought I was very attractive, fancied me and would like to see me again, with a list of options of to when he was free. Also, how much he had wanted to snog me in my kitchen!!!!!Needless to say, Friday night is now unavailable boys and you will have to join the queue.

Number 5 is for brunch tomorrow. Now, I'm quite keen on this one too....we haven't met yet, but there's something about him. However, I get the feeling he could be a bit of a player, and will definately try and get into my pants, so I'm going to be very careful. Having said that, I quite like a feisty sexy guy, so it could be fun. I'll just stay in the car park like last time!

Number 6 is still in Italy, but he called me Friday night when I was on the way home from my date with number 3. He's still keen and I'll definately see him, even if it's just so I have something to write about on here. (New readers, check out the post before this for details on number 6...nickname is Horse, by the way!).He's very sweet....I think he could be easily hurt and I don't want to do that, as I know only too well how it feels.But too good an opportunity to miss, one must admit.....

Watch this space........

Shake that stick...

I have accumulated more dates than you can shake a stick at!!

I'm now having to cross out days in my diary to allocate time for my girlfriends. The text thing on my 'phone doesn't stop jingling and I can't keep up with the e-mails! Hurray!!!!!!! How life changes. Next time I'm about to slash my wrists and jump under a train, I'll scroll back to this post and remind myself there are SO more many fish in that great big sea and my mother was right.

I had two last Friday(1 &2)...nice guys but not worth mentioning apart from that.(Sorry boys..but you would say the same, you ruthless things you).Tonight I'm up in London having dinner with a French man(number 3)...another one, not the last bastard. Sunday a walk and pub lunch with man 4, and Tuesday brunch with number 5. Number 6 is going abroad but is very keen to get together when back, and number 7 is going to call again when he's a bit more sorted out.(Just moved, no land line etc..etc...).4,5,and 6 are my faves at the moment, but that could change. I will report back on all dates once I have something interesting to tell. So if you don't hear from me, you will know they've been crap so far.

As a little teaser though, number 6 is only 28 (!!!!!) and apparently has a 12 inch cock! I have been in touch with this guy before, (but haven't seen it, just had to put that in....) and while we were talking I texted him as a joke. Turns out his ex girlfriend has his old 'phone. She's now going psychotic and calling me telling me not hurt him and details about his anatomy, that quite frankly, after my last oversexed debacle, I'm not too interested in. (Yet..) According to her, she's the only woman who's ever been able to take him. Well, good for you Duckie, you must have c**t like a bucket.

So, this all could turn out to be rather interesting. Only this time...I'm gonna be the one in control.

Rememberance Day.

I had a refresher today of what it really means to be British and why so many other nationalities in the world would also love to be British....they pretend to hate us but really they're bloody jealous. (Apart from the French..they have a national identity that's just as strong and they relish their Frenchness...that's why I love 'em so much).

I took the kids to the cenotaph in London and we saw the Queen (God bless her) and a few hangers on (Charles, Camilla, Andrew, Duke of Ed) but mostly 8'000 veterans marching. Some of them were pushed and were SO old, and it's bringing a lump to my throat just thinking about it.No other culture makes it's police wear giant tits on their heads or have soldiers marching with dead bears on their heads, or would clap , non-stop for an hour while 8'ooo people marched past.

Imagine thousands of people just standing there and you can hear a pin drop. I know lots of you will have experienced this: but it is such an amazing experience. Whatever our individual beliefs, thoughts, wishes, desires...for two minutes we were totally united with a common cause. And I'm going to hang on to that moment for a long time.

Two Nuns

Two Nuns were driving along when the devil landed on the bonnet.
'What shall we do?' asked the first nun.
'Quick' said the second. 'Show him your cross!'.
Get off the car , you cunt', she shouted.

Could it be the weather?....

I can only conclude that the warm weather this weekend has released the arthritis seizing up the typing fingers of the male population, because I've had SO many e-mails I can't keep up with them. I'm suddenly the woman to be with all over again.

No dates arranged as yet, I'm being cautious and if any of them mention how sexy I am and how they think we would lots of fun together, I don't reply. (Or reply with a blunt.'What is your agenda mate, 'cos I've had enough of players'. They obviously ARE players, 'cos I then don't hear from again. Which is ok.)

I was supposed to see Mr. Incredible this weekend, but he changed his mind as his therapist has told him that casual encounters are bad for him. I replied that if we saw one another more than once or twice every time , it wouldn't be a casual encounter and what his therapist needed was a good fuck. It's always him that stops it....so it's not my fault it's always fizzling out. Prat. We were supposed to be going for a walk and pub lunch...nice on a sunny Sunday and a proper date. Sex might not have even happened (Who are we kidding). But the point is, it's him that makes it casual.(But if that's what it is, then I think he's right, as last week did me no good at all, and I really don't want to go back there again).

So....my ego is reassembling itself again, but I'm not totally there yet and I'm being VERY careful.

I have also resisted the urge to call the cameraman although I think about him a lot. I wonder if he's thinking about me at all.........

Not really ungrateful

I've been moaning a lot lately and I would just like to say, I have my health, my kids, my house, my legs, my looks, my brain, my family, my friends, I live in a democracy where we still have freedom to speak and a great job.

I do appreciate it all, honestly.

A young guy was squished on his bike outside the hospital today (I suppose if you're going to do it, it's a good a place as any) and he's either now dead, or still on Intensive Care fighting not to be. Whatever happens, this guys in for a rough ride (I worked 18 years on Intensive Care, so I'm well versed in squished people) and so if you read this, don't think of me ,think of him.

If you are religious , please say a prayer. If not, then project kind thoughts to the vicinity of South London.

Time to put things back into perspective........

Frankenstein.

This new dating website is totally crap. Last night I e-mailed 8 guys, with just a 'Hello...like your profile, it would be lovely to hear from you' and I've had NOTHING back.

One guy ,who resembles Frankensteins Monster has added me to his favourites. He hasn't even got the balls to send an e-mail.

When I joined the other one I was innundated....and still go through good patches. I joined a sex contact site for a month (thought it might be a little more honest....the guys on there just are straight to the point....they want a shag full stop. None of this ' I want a relationship' bullshit, then they just shag you and leave you high and dry, ) and was inundated, and that had a picture of me in nothing but a thong! (I have to say here, I didn't meet anyone from there in the end...it was too clinical for me. And I DO want a relationship of some description.)

So what's going wrong this time?

God...have you taken a contract out on me? Could I suggest now and again you take a day off......??