100th post: A Tale of Two Hospitals

So I think it's pretty monumental that I am writing my 100th post to this blog today, especially since I never thought this would last two weeks. I only created the blog to keep up with John as he was blogging in Shanghai (and he hasn't posted since August. . .) so I had no idea that it would keep going. Of course, I had no idea at the time I started this that we would be relocating--I just wanted to post pictures from China. And of knitting. And the dogs.
But that's not really all that interesting. 100-posts strong and several years to go in Ireland. Hopefully the blog will endure.

So let me get to the topic at hand: our recent Cork City Hospital Tour. We have spent the last two days at two different hospitals here: one trip was planned; one was not.

First, for the interesting stuff. . . John has been dealing with a weird eye infection that is not pinkeye for the last week. Finally, he was in enough pain that he had me make an appointment with our awesome General Practitioner (GP), Katherine. Really, she's Dr. O'Farrell, but she insists that you call her by her first name. Honestly, folks, you just don't get this lack of pretension in the States! We LOVE her! So she looked in his eye and decided to send him to the. . . . (drumroll please). . .
EYE CASUALTY CLINIC.
Now just take a moment to let that phrase create a mental picture for you. I see a little eyeball like a wounded Civil War soldier with lots of bandages and limping on one crutch. Eye casualty? Seriously?
So this clinic is located within the Cork University Hospital, a sprawling complex heavily under construction on the west side of town. We ventured further west than we have since arriving--pretty monumental.
Our first order of business was parking--no small feat. As a side note, I want to get on my soapbox to state that making people pay hourly for parking at a hospital is CRIMINAL. That is all.
So we had to find the A&E (Accident and Emergency--our ER) department to check in for the eye clinic. Nothing too gruesome in there, as I always expect from an ER. And no people moaning in pain--that would have freaked me out.
We checked in and they created a medical file for John and we shuffled over to the EYE CASUALTY CLINIC, where we waited in a queue clearly marked that patients would be seen IN ORDER OF SEVERITY, not how long you have waited. Any men in construction garb with black eyes and a head x-ray in hand were scooted to the front. They called John in to the clinic about sixteen times to get his medical history and dilate his eyes. The funky eye just would not dilate, so he had one MONSTER pupil and one pinhole pupil. As he was in pain, I could not make fun of the situation. But it looked like something from a Simpson's episode when Homer ate some psychedelic mushrooms. . .
Finally, the doctor was able to look into the funky eye and sent us off for x-rays and blood work. His diagnosis: the front of John's eyeball was swollen and he didn't know why. But apparently, in 70% of these inflammation cases, they never know what caused it. But to be sure it was nothing more serious, they took a series of spinal, chest, and, um, butt x-rays. Again, I had to try hard not to laugh.
The final step was locating the blood lab and giving up some blood. By now we had travelled about a mile inside the hospital corridors looking for all the different clinics and labs. They took the blood and we were done. And so was John. Poor thing. All the bright lights in his funky eye caused a migraine (exposure to light causes the muscles in his eye to spasm and hurt). So we got him home and he rested.
He is A LOT better now. The doc gave him some eye drops that have made the funky eye look almost as good as new. We return to the hospital on Friday for a check-up.
From the time of the appointment with the GP until when we left the hospital: 3 1/2 hours.

Now let me tell you about MY visit to the hospital today.
My visit to St. Finbarr's Hospital, Clinic B, has been planned for over a month now. I got the appointment in the mail (doesn't that beat all!) before Christmas. Today I was to "meet" my OB and have my monthly appointment for the pregnancy.
Here's the short version: World's most boring pregnancy continues. Everything is fine.
But if you want the details of what it's like to see an OB in Ireland, read on. . .
So apparently, there are, like, two appointment times per day at the clinic. 9:45 and 14:00. I showed up at 9:30 because it was clearly stated in my letter that I "would not be welcome" inside the clinic until 15 minutes before the appointment. So when I showed up, imagine my surprise that the other THIRTY women who had their appointment at the SAME TIME were already there. . .sigh. Oh well. . I was #23.
I filled out some personal info in my file--which I will keep and bring to all appointments with my GP, OB, or midwife (now, there's something different, huh?!). And then I hunkered down to wait.
The waiting room was a very large space, but just big enough so that there was a seat for everyone and nothing more. At one end of the room a dietitian and several midwives were doing some pre-consultation work. Here's how it all went. . .
Since I was visiting for the first time--my "booking" appointment--I was on a little different track than the women who were much (and in some cases MUCH) further along. I sat for about 45 minutes before I was called up by the dietitian. She asked me some questions to analyze my diet (and I lied about my weekly McDonald's intake) but she assessed that my diet was "good" and sent me back to wait. I think seeing a dietitian is pretty cool and might help if implemented back home. . .but that's off the topic.
After speaking with her about my diet, I waited almost another hour and a half until the midwives called me up to take my blood pressure (good and low), check the iron in my blood (good and high), and test my urine sample (the one I had to bring with me--EEEWWW-- but it was normal), and take my medical history. This took about 10 minutes. Then I was sent back to the waiting room to wait. At this point (about 11:45 AM), the waiting room was really cleared out except for those of us who were not popping out.
About 30 minutes later I was called to wait in another queue around the corner to see one of the OBs. I did actually get a glimpse of my consultant--he's a short, young, and not bad-looking British guy who called all the women Mrs. "Surname". But he was only seeing high-risk cases and women who were about to have their babies in the waiting room (not literally).
At 12:45--3 hours after my appointment--I was called in to see an OB. Didn't catch her name, but that was okay. We listened to Baby's heartbeat--good and strong--and reviewed some medical stuff and she scheduled me to come back at 32 weeks (I'll see my GP and midwife at the visits between now and then). They are determined to find something unusual about my pregnancy--they scheduled me to take the gestational diabetes test in a few months. Eew. At least I don't have to pee in a test tube for that. . .
After I make my bookings for the test and next appointment I was free as a bird! And the waiting room was empty. It was ONE PM. So for 3 hours and 15 minutes I was hanging out in the same room essentially. Sigh. But the important thing is that everything is normal.
So John and I are both healthy individuals and I hope we see a whole lot less of the Cork hospital system in the upcoming months. . .at least only scheduled things.
If you are still reading this, I can't believe it. This post is as long as. . . waiting to see your OB!
More exciting stuff to come.