I'm feeling quite gung-ho and positive today. In part, this is because I've been doing more looking-into hip resurfacing and have found a brilliant website run by people who've had it done, which includes articles written by surgeons who - oh joy - don't talk down to *ordinary people* and who evaluate their part in an operation not doing so well as it should have. I wish clever people would appreciate that we know well that saying what they could have done better (and have learned from that, so now do) increases confidence in them. It's made me appreciate that I've got a lot of responsibility in choosing who should do the operation (if it's suitable for me) to increase my chance of having a superb and long-lasting result.
My instincts go that way, in fact. I'm more interested in failures than successes - that is, you'll be told about the successes but you have to ask about the failures - and I want to know why they happen, if they're bad luck, surgeon error or patient misfortune or irresponsibility. To me, no surgeon who can't admit he ('he' includes she in my book, as in I'm part of mankind) got it wrong isn't going to be frank with me or learn. Not that I'd want a long list of failure... oh goodness, you know exactly what I mean and I'm not labouring the point any more.
It reinforces my wish to have it done privately and not push for the NHS though (not criticising the NHS, it's bloody good on the whole, look at the care Honey is getting for a start). It's a complex and precise operation, more than a total hip replacement, and I want as much control as I can get. I'm happy to stick with my £1400 car and my old-fashioned house and second-hand everything. I haven't got insurance - in view of my startlingly splendid health, that would have been a bit of a waste of money over the years - but we've always put money aside. In fact, unless I was literally on the breadline I would always live on less money than I had.
Ro is notably frugal in this way. He mentioned a few weeks ago that he's quite surprised, really, how little he spends on food. Since he's virtually vegetarian (he does eat meat, but not supermarket meat and butchers are rarely open outside office hours) and his landladies grow loads of vegetables which he's welcome to help himself to (he helps with watering, weeding and picking in return), it's not that remarkable.
Other reasons for feeling cheerful include having been approached with a view to someone putting a reasonable-sized collection of china in our sales next year. The Sage had decided to go with the usual two auctions rather than the three he had this year, but this could well tip the balance in favour of a third. And someone has made an enquiry about a couple of pieces she's got - we've asked for a photo - if it's what we think it might be, it's good news indeed. Well, if she wants to sell them, that is!
Other reasons? Oh, just general well-being, you know how it is. I'll come down to earth next week, when I'll be really busy again.
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6 comments:
Glad to hear you're in good spirits. And hope you find the information you need to get things right with your hip.
Good luck and warm thoughts. I'm having a pretty good day myself so far.
Oh good - you've had a pretty crappy time recently and you deserve something excellent.
He includes she in my book as well.
Unfortunately, the official standard for academic writing (and in many journals the only permitted option) is that you have to say "she" when you mean the generic. Which to me is more sexist than the old standard, quite frankly.
My Mum had a titanium hip put in, on the NHS. Her surgeon was fab, and incidentally the same man that did the private ops.She paid for a private room at the general hosp, which made a difference.
I've always had a problem with private health care (coming from a medical family, insider knowledge!). The private hospitals don't have medical staff on duty overnight, and if there is an emergency you are taken to the NHS hosp! and quite often the equipment is not up to scratch, the same surgeons do the job as on the NHS. Infact the only thing worth paying for is time, ie how quickly you get it done.
But hey it's your money!
It would be impossibly inaccurate for me to say 'she' in those circumstances, but of course I have no objection to 'he or she'. I believe quite strongly in equality and to insist on 'she' displays a pathetic feeling of inferiority on the part of certain females.
I tend to agree with you Sarah, having seen my mother have a new hip privately and then, when it dislocated (result of a fall initially, not bad workmanship) she went to the Norfolk and Norwich. The same surgeon attended her and his attitude was shamefully different when she was an NHS patient. Repeatedly.
In my case, it's having the surgeon of my choice I'm interested in. It seems that the top specialist only does private practice. Also, I'm busy - I want to pick my time. Also, I may well not be offered it on the National Health.
Point taken!
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