Brucato's Go Museum Hopping!: The NHS & Friends!

Saturday, 23 February, 2013

Hello!

Well…last night I wrote about getting hives – everywhere…so, decided to contact HTH Worldwide, our wonderful provider of travel insurance, about seeing a doctor; figured I could use some steroids. Got a hold of someone in PA who sent us the names of two hospitals that he thought could help us. We chose the one in Banbury, which is about 20+ miles north of here. Up about 7 and heading toward the hospital by 7:30 a.m.

Got to the hospital about 8:30 to find that it was actually a physiotherapy rehab center – not a “real” hospital at all, and they hadn’t a clue what to do with us. So, we decided to go back a few blocks to the “real” hospital that we’d seen. They were really lovely. I got into triage in about 10 minutes, and saw a very nice doctor about 10 minutes later. In fact, right after triage I had a big dose of prednisilone to take, as well as antihistamines; I felt better really quickly! The doctor was worried about anaphylaxis, which often occurs with hives and allergic reactions, but fortunately I was able to reassure him that I have never had this type of reaction, and was, of course, certainly on the lookout for it! So – a good strong course of meds. However – the hospital pharmacy doesn’t open until 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. So, over to the local Sainsbury’s where we did a little grocery shopping and Robert had a bite of breakfast (and I had more hot chocolate…) Back to the hospital at 10:30 a.m. to find that one of the pharmacists was doing rounds in the hospital, and the second had to have the first one check her work…so…probably got out of there about 11 a.m. – but with meds in hand. And by the way, NO ONE knew what to do when we asked about paying, so we’ve left contact information everywhere and hope to hear from them on Monday! In fact, the pharmacists decided that as the prescriptions weren’t expensive, we could just forget about it! Imagine that happening in an American hospital!!

Leo Sillis

Sandwich Cake

Out of the hospital for the final time, and headed to Philippa’s in Northampton. We got there about 11:30 a.m. and boy, has Leo changed in just a year! He is a proper little 2½ year old gentleman, that’s for sure! We had a really great day! Dan had a prior commitment in London, so unfortunately we weren’t able to see him, but Philippa’s lovely Mom, Marian, was there, and the five us had a really good time. First, we played with Leo, and then Phil put out lunch. It was AMAZING! Has anyone ever heard of a sandwich cake? Not only did it look lovely and was incredibly healthy, it tasted terrific! There was egg salad, some ham, some cucumber, some beet root, carrots and cherry tomatoes. I’m hoping the photo can convey how neat it was; I’m going to look for some recipes and give it a try! For dessert, we kept on that theme – with a sandwich dessert with bananas, strawberries, strawberry mousse, bread and maple syrup. Again, a real success!

After lunch, Leo had his nap, and the rest of us sat in the dining room and chatted; always good to catch up on all the news! Phil is due with baby #2 in April; she is absolutely glowing! It is obvious that marriage and motherhood are working out so well! Leo has so much energy, that I don’t know how she and Dan manage to keep up with him, but they have done a really great job in raising a real cutie!

Dessert

Once Leo was up, we went back into the lounge for some good play time. Leo sat with us for a time watching Leon the Lion Youtube cartoons – they were both hilarious and funny! Then Leo put some puzzles together. I’ve never seen a 2½ year old do jigsaw puzzles before, but he was amazingly good with them! He has amazing manual dexterity and is very much into rockets and building things with his Lego set; Robert predicts an engineering career in his future!

Leo and Philippa

Leo

We then decided to take a walk in a nearby forest preserve, which was great fun, even though very, very cold. From there, we headed to the Fox and Hounds, a local pub; really quite lovely! Phil had booked for us, which was fortunate, because by the time we left, the place was packed!

Robert had Tuscan bean soup for starters, followed up with plaice in a mushroom and shrimp sauce, with a root vegetable fritter. I had two starters – a small plate of asparagus topped by poached egg (there is a theme here, I think…) followed by mushrooms on brioche; both delicious. For “pudding” Robert had an apple & black current crumble, and I had another version of sticky toffee pudding…yum! Leo was amazing! He started off with a small bowl of olives, which he cleaned right up. Then he got the child’s “fish fingers” with chips – Leo is really amazing, eating with a full-sized knife and fork! He cuts up his food by himself, and eats really well! For his pudding, he got a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate ice cream, topped by a chocolate biscuit (cookie) which was his favorite! He has such a good appetite, and was SO good in the restaurant!

Leo and Philippa

Leo and Margaret

Back to their house, and quick good bye’s as it was already almost 8, and we had a fairly long drive.

Taking the direct (A & M roads) roads, we were able to get home in just over an hour – and considering that it was at night, and at some times snowing fairly hard, that was amazing! Just finishing up now, and then upstairs to bed!

More tomorrow!

xxxx