Rodents, medical bribery and an excellent dentist

Rodents have been a serious issue of late. Rowan is partly to blame. She catches them, then those that are not eaten or killed are let go. Of course, the moment they are released, they dive into the depths of my caravan, making them impossible to get to. I have never had this problem before. I can only assume that previously, when Arian was with us, she must’ve caught the rodents that Rowan let go of. Now, of course, she isn’t here to combat the problem. I have had all the seating up. I have found where they were sleeping and another place that was their toilet area. Not good! It took a lot of work clearing and cleaning. They have ruined all of my spare blankets and throws. They had also turned my excess herbs into a huge bed. I keep the excess herbs that I cannot fit into jars under one of the seats. By the time I had cleared the mess, I had had to dispose of nearly all of the herbs that I had been storing. A few I managed to save some of and a couple were left undisturbed. I have plugged every crevice that can be used for escape/access. There were two small Brown Rats who had fled and a Field Mouse who had managed to retreat to behind my kitchen, where it was impossible to get to. As dismantling the kitchen is not an option, I had to rely on catching the mouse. I finally caught the little blighter as it attempted to get into the terracotta ‘fridge. Luckily, I heard the scratching. I carefully moved a few things and cornered it. On grabbing it, it bit me; just a little nip. Then, out the door it went. I used Comfrey to treat the bite.

I thought that that was it. Then, I heard and eventually saw a tiny little Harvest Mouse. It was a daring little fellow. It caught my eye a couple of times as it zipped across the caravan floor. Finally though, Rowan caught it and had it for elevenses. Later, Rowan directed me to another small Field Mouse. It had managed to get away and hide, but died of its injuries by the time I had dug it out. “At last.” I thought. But no! As I was sorting through what I was going to have for dinner, I heard a clunk. I opened the oven door to investigate. Another bloody mouse! Rowan eventually caught it. A short while later, I found another two in the oven. I managed to catch one and expelled it. Rowan caught the other. At this point, I began to consider that perhaps Rowan is not entirely to blame. After all, that’s a lot of rodents. She surely hasn’t released that many! To support that reasoning, I discovered that the truck has also had a rodent invasion. It also appears that one or two are getting into the roof, eating their way through the polystyrene insulation. How they are getting up there, I don’t know. They would have to go via the outside gas compartment at the front of my caravan, then climb.

Having cut off every route to any kind of food, the rodents were forced to take their chances in the open. One evening, they went for it. Rowan had a whale of a time. I lost count as to how many she caught. Since then, it’s been very quiet. I still get the ones in the roof, though.

As you may remember, I’ve been having all sorts of problems with Churchwood Medical Practice. It took several telephone calls and an e-mail to get my medical records transferred to Sidley Medical Practice. Even then, I have received two letters stating that I am not in their catchment area. I haven’t been in their catchment area since leaving Hastings a year and a half ago! I also still receive unwarranted text messages from them, despite pleading with them dozens of times to remove me from their mailing list. My present GP now has my records, so hopefully, it should be at an end and I can now receive the correct medical attention.

With all the stress that I’ve been under recently, I have had quite a few bouts of chest pain. I spoke to the GP about it and asked for some scans, just to be on the safe side. “No problem.” says the doctor. Then, “Ah. You haven’t been having the drugs that were originally prescribed.”

“No, I haven’t had them for years. I have continued with herbal medicines.” I explained.

The doctor then explained that, although he does not have a problem with the fact that I take my own medication, the hospital administrators will refuse me the scans. So, in a nutshell, I was being bribed into accepting pharmaceutical drugs in order to get potentially life-saving treatment! All highly illegal, let alone, unlawful. But, having no money and therefore, no justice, I reluctantly accepted a prescription for the drugs. I was prescribed three months worth of drugs in the hope that I would get the scans before needing a repeat prescription. It was also explained to me that I would have to wait two weeks before he could put me forward for the scans. The alternative is to wait until I actually have a heart attack! I would then have to be seen, if I survived!

To be honest, I am actually fuming! More so for the waste of money. Not for my sake, but the taxpayer, who foots the bill. As I am over 60, I do not pay the extortionate cost of the drugs. I spoke to the pharmacist about it. There is no getting around the con. It was suggested that the best thing to do was to accept the drugs and return them in due course, rather than simply put them in the bin. The fact that Big Pharma is holding the medical profession to ransom is one of the greatest crimes in history. Health is a human right!

Dentaid is a charity dental organisation. They have a mobile dental clinic that parks outside the Seaview building, I think, fortnightly, on Thursdays. As you may remember, Seaview are a great set of people who care for the homeless in the Hastings and Rother area.* At this point, I should say that things have improved immensely since my first visit to their building. You may remember the insult that I was subjected to. Nothing like that now. Everyone is really friendly and helpful. Cutlery, the issue that caused the insult, is now no longer restricted. They also have a clothes store now. One just helps oneself to whatever one needs. All free. There appears to be some restoration work due to be carried out, too.

Anyway, I have been aware of a couple of teeth that have rotted down and clearly needed looking at. Mick and Linda arranged an appointment for me and gave me a lift. In no time, I was in the dentist chair. The dentist was brilliant. She examined my teeth and agreed that two needed to be removed. Ten minutes later, I was one tooth fewer and arranging an appointment for the second tooth to be extracted. I was amazed at the proficiency of the dentist, let alone the almost painless procedure. I can honestly say that I have never been treated by a dentist so expertly.

*see entry Charity with conditions

Photo courtesy of www.dentaid.org