Posted on January 12th, 2010 at 2:54 pm by 
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I could sit here and write about Celeb Big Brother, Dancing on Ice, Glee, 30Rock, amusing anecdotes about Twitter or the latest ‘freeze jokes’ text to text… but I am sitting here with a heavy heart…
Many years ago we lived in a very quiet little estate…most of the residents were retired, however one of the younger neighbours became good friends of the family. Mum would either be in their house or her friend would be in ours…. as kids we thought of them as part of our family.
She has had several health prob’s over the years… breast cancer twice, a brain tumour and kidney problems but she is a fighter, her husband, who did all the driving, was diagnosed with emphysema… he to is a fighter and they just got on with things….they are both now in their late 70′s.
Over the years his lungs got worse and in the end, (November last year) he was given a scan… too late it appears… as he now has full blown lung cancer… if that is not bad enough.. he is still waiting for an appointment to see the consultant.. ‘a chest specalist’… “we will give you a call” said the nurse.. NOTHING HAPPENS!!Â
They wait, his wife rings up every other day and is told that ”he can’t get a biopsy right now because he needs to see someone different first!!! so now it’s an internal transfer, why did she have to ring up to find that out? why on earth didn’t someone tell them! she heard nothing and had to ring again a week later “sorry but we have lost your husbands file, we will ring you”, several days went by still nothing! she calls again…they have now decided he needs to see yet another ”different consultant…blood this time” but wait a mo… he still hasn’t seen ANYONE AT ALL.. and this particular consultant has “a very long waiting list”… and so it goes on and on… meanwhile this wonderful man is in a decline… mentally and physically.
And of course so is his wife… what on earth is happening in the NHS, I am not knocking it in a general way I know that on the whole they are trying to do the very best … but this ‘best’ is crap… as a couple, my friends have paid their taxes and NI for many years so surely now, when they need help they should expect to get the best… they are on a small pension and can’t pay for private medical care so rely on the NHS.
For me they are like a second set of parents, they are really good and hard working  people and it’s heartbreaking to see what is happening, when she needed radiotherapy for her second lot of breast cancer last year, she was on a waiting list for 5 months before they could even start it…during that time her appointments were cancelled three times… imagine the fear, day in day out of waiting that long, not knowing if anything bad was happening inside you again…. the ‘what ifs’  that run through your mind…
Imagine their fear again now, with the struggle for each breath as a constant reminder that NO ONE is helping them… they have become a ‘file’ another ‘number’ to be fitted in..
Today they are still waiting to hear from someone…. anyone!
