16. A Tearful farewell from the Radiology Team

Friday 16th November

 

Night in her office

Today’s blog will be a short one after yesterdays ... I promise! I hope you weren’t as worn out reading it as I was writing it.

 

I woke today feeling better than when I had gone to bed but was by no means back to normal so I made a coffee and took it back to bed. I decided I would miss Chapel today as I didn’t fancy the idea of having an uncontrollable coughing fit in the middle of a bible reading or prayers. Also, I still had all my packing to do for the safari weekend as I had not been in any fit state to think about that on Thursday night. I got together everything I thought I would need, and put it into my haversack (a real bargain that I had bought from Tesco the week before I left for £1.19 and then threw into my case as an afterthought.)

 

The Radiology team were leaving early on Saturday morning for the flight back to Manchester and I had promised Tracey that I would call in and see the transformed department before they went. We had briefly looked in on Monday during our introductory tour of the hospital, but the painters were there and the department was in a bit of turmoil. The 3 year Radiology Programme is nearing completion and from what I have learned this week, I can see it has been a real success. Walking towards the department just after 9am, I bumped into some of our group who told me that Tracey had spoken in Chapel about how the partnership between our two hospitals has helped Kisiizi hospital, their staff and their patients. Apparently it was very moving, a real tear jerking experience. Typical, the one morning I decide not to go to Chapel and I miss it. However I am offered a guided tour of the newly refurbished department by Brenda, the main radiographer here who recently visited Chester as part of the Programme to further develop her skills. I was extremely impressed looking at the before and after photos and learning about all the extra equipment the department has acquired by various means which enables them to X ray and scan a much larger number of patients every week. I am shown the small, neat wooden chair that the joiners have built for young children to sit on when they are being X rayed, and I learn that their film processing is now happens at the push of a button as opposed to being done the old fashioned way using chemicals and buckets to develop the images. When I read the poster that Tracey has produced showing the pathway they have followed and the huge strides forward that have been made since 2008, I can see why the Countess Radiology team are justifiably so proud of all they have achieved here. Whilst I am there, the heavens open and it is the one time I have come out without my waterproof or brolly. I stay around for a further 10 minutes until the rain has subsided and then pop back to the Isolation and Children’s wards to measure the beds I couldn’t access the other day.

 

On the way back to Rose Cottage I call into Night’s office to pay for the roof I ‘sponsored’ yesterday. I also give her 30,000 shillings (£7.50) and tell her to buy the dress she was looking at in the shop next to the hotel. It is a small gift from me to thank her for all the hard work she does. She seems very pleased.

 

We are being picked up by our driver Richard at 1pm so I decide to use my spare hour to have a final attempt to send my document back to the fundraising office. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts I have a brainwave ... I will take my computer to the IT Dept and see whether they can do anything. I say Department, but it’s actually just a desk covered by a flowery tablecloth in an office that is shared with Night. Edson does a lot of fiddling around (I hope he has not removed my anti-virus protection) and after about 10 minutes I am into Hotmail. But I still can’t attach the file. He doesn’t really know what the problem is so puts my Wednesday blog on to a memory stick, downloads it to his computer and then emails it back to me. It is now 1pm – and I am running late for Richard, our driver, who is taking us on our 4 hour journey to Queen Elizabeth Safari Park for the weekend. I hurry back to Rose Cottage in the hope that by the time I get the email with my blog will have arrived from Edson and I can forward it for posting. No such luck and everybody is waiting in the vehicle so I have to grab my bags and go.

 

I won’t describe the journey as I have promised a shorter blog today – I will save that for Sunday’s blog as we will be returning by the same route. We’d not been travelling for long (but too long to be able to turn back) when somebody said, “I hope we don’t get stopped by Police on the way like the group who visited four months ago, did.” Apparently they all had to get out of the vehicles whilst it was searched, (for what I don’t know). “At least we can show them our passports Sarah said”. PASSPORTS??!!! Who said anything about bringing a passport – I didn’t have mine with me. A wave of panic swept over me which was not completely removed by everybody’s assurance that it would be ok, or at least if it wasn’t they would come and visit me in prison.

 

We stopped on the way to Queen Elizabeth at a Hot Springs – a natural phenomenon where Ugandans come to bathe hoping to benefit from the healing properties of the water. I put my hand in to test the temperature of the water, but withdrew it almost immediately stifling the urge to let out a blasphemous scream....it was 87 degrees and on closer inspection could see it bubbling. I had been deceived by dozens of people sitting in the water and relaxing , so had assumed it would be warm, but not boiling hot obviously. How was I to know? We didn’t stay too long, but had enough time to get some photos and all agreed it was had been an interesting place to stop and stretch our legs. Taking my semi scalded hand with me, I got back into the vehicle for the next leg of our journey.

 

We had several photo stops during the remainder of the journey to capture the beautiful scenery all around us, and as we got near the edge of the National Park everybody seemed pretty relaxed and looking forward to a couple of days away from the hospital to chill out.

 

About half an hour after our last stop we arrived at the gatehouse, one of two entrances to the Park where we had to purchase our Park passes. Haley was paying in US dollars, the rest of us in shillings. Her price seemed really expensive to ours and just as the rest of us were unwittingly about to get away with a half price entry she had a ‘blonde moment’ querying why it was so much cheaper in shillings than dollars. The attendant suddenly realised that he had only charged us for a one day instead of a two day pass so we all had to get our money out and pay the same amount again. Haley was most apologetic but we all agreed we would have felt very uncomfortable knowing we had got in on the cheap, and I suggested that the attendant would probably have been in real trouble at the end of the day when the figures didn’t balance. He may even have been fed to the lions as his punishment!

 

The barrier lifted and we were now inside the park. We are officially ‘On Safari’. Richard tells us we are in the elephant area and we agree that the first person to spot an elephant buys the first round of drinks that night. That pleasure fell to Tom who quickly spotted a fairly large female followed by a couple more and a baby one. We drive the 22kms though the Park to Mweya Lodge, which will be our base for the next two days, and arrive in the nick of time at 6.50pm. The sign on the hotel entrance barrier clearly states ‘No admission after 7pm’. That was lucky! Our first impressions do not disappoint us as we enter the reception area, where we are greeted by a young lady elegantly dressed in a navy and lime green printed top and skirt, holding a silver tray with neatly folded chilled flannels to refresh us. Another silver tray follows with by glasses of chilled mango juice which tastes heavenly after our long journey. We were given our registration forms and the receptionist looked doubtful when I say I have no passport. Do you have a driving license she asks? I didn’t have that either. I suggest a credit card but she asks if I have at least the Passport Number if I don’t have the actual passport with me. Well I don’t know about you, but this is not a piece of information I readily have available. I will store it in my phone from now on in case of similar emergencies in the future. My mind flashes to our house in Heswall and I desperately try to remember where I have filed a photocopy that I can ask Peter to find. I suggest to the receptionist that I can call home to England to ask my husband to look for it but she tells me not to worry, she will sort it. Not sure what she meant by that but I was allowed to stay, which was a relief.

 

We check in to our rooms, and after some confusion in which Sarah and I are initially shown to a double room, we meet for a drink in the bar before enjoying a delicious 3 course meal in a lovely, but exceptionally warm, restaurant As I sit there with my glass of white wine I can’t help thinking about the families I met yesterday and wonder what their day and evening has been like. It’s hard to imagine a more stark contrast between two lifestyles. An hour or so later as I get into my comfortable bed, I think about the freshly laundered sheets, the warm blankets, the fully equipped bathroom and even the mosquito nets, and appreciate them all in a way I had probably not done before. We lead such full and busy lives it is so easy to take the simplest things for granted.