Best Of

Finally got a bed at 6am, 20 hours after arrival. It’s a trolley bed, but it’s quite comfortable and has been pushed into an ED consulting room rather than a corridor. I was finally able to breathe relatively comfortably, lying on my right hand side, and get my first sleep since I woke at 5am yesterday

Between midnight and 6 I was in another consulting room, with two armchairs and a screen between them. In the other chair was mad Irish 88yo Mary. They had a nurse sat with her, and Mary talked very loudly to her for the whole six hours, about five feet from me. I really was struggling to cope..

I’m still in quite a lot of pain, but I’m a lot more relaxed now. I haven’t seen a doctor for about fifteen hours, and he was quite junior. I’m hoping to see a consultant today who can tell me what’s actually wrong with me

Have I missed it, or does it look like the European support for Ukraine is weakening?

I've seen Tusk has been reported insisting that Ukraine shouldn't be pressured into ceding territory, but there doesn't seem to have been the same chorus of support for that position from other European leaders as previously.

I haven't seen any change from Macron, Starmer, Merz or Carney and in NATO terms beyond Trump they are the only real ones who count

The Scandis and Baltics are also fairly significant, and if anything are more committed, not less.

They are but in military terms nowhere near as big as the UK and France or even Germany and Canada and Poland

I dont think that true.

Finland's army mobilises to 280 000 with an additional reserve of 850 000 reservists. It also has more artillery than any other army in Western Europe.

You don't mess with Finland. They are prepared.

I’m back in hospital

On my second day back at work on Thursday I got a pain in my ribs, but not on the side that I broke them three months ago. I managed the pain with ibuprofen and paracetamol, and managed to get through all four days ending yesterday. I imagined the pain was just a bad side strain

This morning the pain was ten times worse. My painkillers made no difference and breathing more than the shortest shallowest breath was agony. I called my Dad who drove me straight to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. The ECG, X-ray and CT scan seemed to indicate that the pain was just a bad strain, not heart or lung problems, and they were set to give me loads of morphine and send me home to take a week off

Then the blood test results came in. Apparently some inflammation measure and my white blood cell count were both worryingly high. So they’ve insisted I stay overnight so they can pump me full of antibiotics, because it might be sepsis

Unfortunately fourteen hours into my visit they still haven’t found a bed for me

Ugh. Good luck. You’ve been having a rough old year

I’m back in hospital

On my second day back at work on Thursday I got a pain in my ribs, but not on the side that I broke them three months ago. I managed the pain with ibuprofen and paracetamol, and managed to get through all four days ending yesterday. I imagined the pain was just a bad side strain

This morning the pain was ten times worse. My painkillers made no difference and breathing more than the shortest shallowest breath was agony. I called my Dad who drove me straight to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. The ECG, X-ray and CT scan seemed to indicate that the pain was just a bad strain, not heart or lung problems, and they were set to give me loads of morphine and send me home to take a week off

Then the blood test results came in. Apparently some inflammation measure and my white blood cell count were both worryingly high. So they’ve insisted I stay overnight so they can pump me full of antibiotics, because it might be sepsis

Unfortunately fourteen hours into my visit they still haven’t found a bed for me

I’m back in hospital

On my second day back at work on Thursday I got a pain in my ribs, but not on the side that I broke them three months ago. I managed the pain with ibuprofen and paracetamol, and managed to get through all four days ending yesterday. I imagined the pain was just a bad side strain

This morning the pain was ten times worse. My painkillers made no difference and breathing more than the shortest shallowest breath was agony. I called my Dad who drove me straight to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. The ECG, X-ray and CT scan seemed to indicate that the pain was just a bad strain, not heart or lung problems, and they were set to give me loads of morphine and send me home to take a week off

Then the blood test results came in. Apparently some inflammation measure and my white blood cell count were both worryingly high. So they’ve insisted I stay overnight so they can pump me full of antibiotics, because it might be sepsis

Unfortunately fourteen hours into my visit they still haven’t found a bed for me

That sucks: I hope they find you a bed, and I hope they are able to sort out whatever is causing you problems.

I’m back in hospital

On my second day back at work on Thursday I got a pain in my ribs, but not on the side that I broke them three months ago. I managed the pain with ibuprofen and paracetamol, and managed to get through all four days ending yesterday. I imagined the pain was just a bad side strain

This morning the pain was ten times worse. My painkillers made no difference and breathing more than the shortest shallowest breath was agony. I called my Dad who drove me straight to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. The ECG, X-ray and CT scan seemed to indicate that the pain was just a bad strain, not heart or lung problems, and they were set to give me loads of morphine and send me home to take a week off

Then the blood test results came in. Apparently some inflammation measure and my white blood cell count were both worryingly high. So they’ve insisted I stay overnight so they can pump me full of antibiotics, because it might be sepsis

Unfortunately fourteen hours into my visit they still haven’t found a bed for me

Get well soon.