Diary 3rd April 1984, Previous Hospital Tests

Tuesday 3rd April

A Beautiful day. It was really sunny and quite warm.


Miss L was taking French CSE orals, but she had set us a picture essay to do, which I almost finished. We are now doing number bases in maths, which are so easy. I think my primary school training has worked well here, as we used to do bases a lot.

Saw two more films in English, connected with the book 1984. The 1st one was good but I didn’t understand the ending and the 2nd was pretty boring, except for the end.

Tennis was good fun, it’s lovely being able to play in the sunshine. R and I lost again and this is getting pretty bad. We will have to win next week.

Didn’t go to Act 1 drama club tonight as it was the last episode of Jewel in the Crown. It was rather a gruesome ending but good. Practised my French horn.

Hospital Tests

Before tomorrow’s entry, here are some exerts from a hospital visit I had 2nd-6th March 1984, for some background info. Don’t forget, these tests were 40 years ago and some things have changed.

Weather started cold and windy, then wet and warmer.

Friday 2nd March- Mr and Mrs M had to take me into hospital as mum was at work and dad had an interview, which was extremely kind of them. I had a 24hr urine collection, so fairly boring and nothing on the telly either. Mum came in the evening and we had fish and chips and watched Mash.

Saturday 3rd March-Didn’t get much sleep. The problem is they turn all the lights on at 6am and you then have to get up, as the nurses want to make the beds. I had a blood test, it didn’t hurt at all and they don’t bother me anymore. Dad came in and I went home at 12.30, after urine collection finished.

Sunday 4th Mar- I took my tablet I have to take every 6 hours,  which is apparently suppressing one of my glands. Still feel exhausted & I could do with another night at home, oh well, I’ll just have to survive. Arrived back at the hospital 9pm.

Monday 5th March- Had to start another 24hr urine collection in the morning and had a scan in the afternoon. It was called something like an ultra sonic. They squirted this foul jelly stuff all over my stomach. I could see my kidneys come up on the screen,  which was fun but she was actually looking at my adrenal glands.

Tues 6th March – Head scan today. I had to go to the National Hospital, Queen’s Square, as G.O.S’s scanner had broken down. First they had to give me an injection of very strong fluid, which would show up on the X-ray but that wasn’t too bad. I then had the scanning, which lasted an hour and I had to lie totally still. It was so difficult as I kept itching and in the end counted seconds. You move in and out of this dome and I must admit I felt a bit wobbly when it finished.