Well, there's bad news and good news...
Nov. 27th, 2013 02:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pride_of_erinThe bad news is, the goddamn hospital keeps pushing back my father's prostate surgery date. Because, you know, it's not like cancer is a time-sensitive disease that needs to be treated ASAP or anything. They pushed back his date three times, but the most recent was the worst because that time he actually went to the hospital and waited around for three hours, before they finally casually informed him that the surgery wouldn't be taking place because there were no beds left. So infuriating! Apparently this a common thing - there was another poor guy there, even older than Dad, who'd been left waiting seven hours for prostate surgery before they told him to just go home.
So anyway, that was the last straw for my eldest sister, who contacted our local MP (member of parliament), told him the situation, and basically said, 'this is a fucking disgrace, you have to do something about it'. Anyway, she must have bugged them enough because - as a complete shock to us - Dad got a phone call the other day from the hospital. And not just from an admin flunky either, from an actual doctor, which never happens.
Which brings me to the good news - after fearing he'd have to wait until January or even February, he now has his surgery date set for 19th of December, and it's unlikely it will be cancelled again, because apparently the state Health Minister launched an inquiry into the matter, so the hospital is probably falling all over itself not to look bad now. Likely, they also want to avoid what would have been our MP's next step, which would have been plastering Dad's story (and similar stories) all over prime-time current affairs shows.
So, yay! for Dad finally getting his surgery, but boo! that it took going to these kinds of lengths to make it happen. And thanks to our MP for actually listening to my sister and getting the wheels turning.
Which means that Christmas will be a tiny, low-key affair in our house this year, as Dad will likely be sore and cranky less than a week after his op, but I'm more than willing to sacrifice Christmas (me! Xmas's biggest fangirl) for my Dad's health.
So anyway, that was the last straw for my eldest sister, who contacted our local MP (member of parliament), told him the situation, and basically said, 'this is a fucking disgrace, you have to do something about it'. Anyway, she must have bugged them enough because - as a complete shock to us - Dad got a phone call the other day from the hospital. And not just from an admin flunky either, from an actual doctor, which never happens.
Which brings me to the good news - after fearing he'd have to wait until January or even February, he now has his surgery date set for 19th of December, and it's unlikely it will be cancelled again, because apparently the state Health Minister launched an inquiry into the matter, so the hospital is probably falling all over itself not to look bad now. Likely, they also want to avoid what would have been our MP's next step, which would have been plastering Dad's story (and similar stories) all over prime-time current affairs shows.
So, yay! for Dad finally getting his surgery, but boo! that it took going to these kinds of lengths to make it happen. And thanks to our MP for actually listening to my sister and getting the wheels turning.
Which means that Christmas will be a tiny, low-key affair in our house this year, as Dad will likely be sore and cranky less than a week after his op, but I'm more than willing to sacrifice Christmas (me! Xmas's biggest fangirl) for my Dad's health.
