[No posts for weeks, then two within 24 hours!]

Yesterday

• I knew for certain at breakfast that something was wrong with my left eye (I had had some warning signals in the week before).
• At about 10 am I rang the my local health centre and asked if I could see a doctor –ideally that day. They said, would it be alright if a doctor phoned me?
• At about 12 midday a doctor phoned, listened and asked if I could come to the health centre for 2.15 pm.
• At about 3.30 pm I left the health centre with an outpatient letter for the local hospital  and an appointment for 6.30 pm in the emergency eye clinic.
• At about 7 pm I saw a nurse for several tests and eye drops.
• At about 8.15 pm I saw an opthalmic doctor. He had been on call since 7 am that day and there were more people waiting in the clinic
• He listened patiently, examined my eyes with extraordinary thoroughness, going the extra mile to fetch lenses not immediately to hand.

I walked out of that hospital at about 9 pm knowing that I did not have a detached retina (serious, but repairable if caught quickly), but only a vitreous detachment, needing no treatment. This can occasionally turn into a detached retina, but I know what to look for and what to do now.

Our National Health Service is fast, efficient, kind and free at the point of demand – total cost of day £3.50 hospital car parking and a little patience. I slept well last night.

Thank you NHS!

This is a screenshot of a cartoon which one of you posted a while ago. I love it.