On the last day of summer we were down at the lake. Although everything changes and nature is under extreme pressure, this patch is still a haven. Butterflies were gathering on the wild water mint and the wind was gently swaying the long grasses, full of purple loosestrife and meadowsweet. I was still keen to blog at that point, but shortly after that, I ended up in hospital and so parts of my life simply went on the long finger.
It was a glorious day looking back. We swam in the lake. We lay on a warm rug at the water’s edge. It was the first of the last, of those fading summer days.
The good news is that I am recovering. You can read about it here, if you can handle a tale of woe, first published in my column in the Waterford News and Star. Part One and Part Two. I’m writing up part three as we speak! It’s actually more of an ode to gratitude.
I have been thrown, as I’m sure you will all understand, because it’s exactly what happens. Something you cannot plan for something that crashes into your life, stops you in your tracks.
But I am getting back to some kind of normality. I had half written this blog with photographs of the lush lakeside. So here it is in a new form. Life goes on, and everything is going to be alright……..(with thanks to the Well Festival and especially Lynn Cahill for this beautiful poem)
Everything is Going to be All Right
How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.
Derek Mahon, from Selected Poems
Gosh, Catherine, I was so sorry to hear about your hospital experience. Like you say, everyone seems to have a horror story to tell about our health system these days. It’s hard to know what we can do about it. I’m glad you’re out and on the mend. Beautiful images, as always. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Collete! As you say everyone has a story!! In spite of everything they still fixed me and I’m back on the road. Hope you are thriving and enjoying your art as much as ever x
Beautiful photography as is your standard. Wow, what a horrific & unimaginable experience you had in hospital. I think I would have lost the foot entirely & wheeled myself out! Here’s to better days, normal days, peaceful days & days where you decide to do nothing.
Honestly Susan, I’m such an experienced camper that I went to work organising myself and keeping going!! I’ve put up with worse I suppose. But when you are ill and vulnerable it’s pretty scary!!! Thanks for your appreciation of the photography, it’s still very much my happy place x
Wow, Catherine! Although I have had similar experiences in a corridor within an emergency ward, waiting for diagnosis and medication to relieve the acute pain, it was only for about 5 hours…not 5 days! Being a USA citizen within a private/public medical system, one wonders if the universal care system proposed for our country will eventually lower standards with understaffing and facilities. I appreciate you writing about your experiences and respect that you can see through it all, recognizing the loveliness of those who do work in it…and how they also feel frustrated about the little that they can do. So glad that you were able to pull through it and share. It helps to recognize how fortunate we are; to awake each day and look forward to more life’s experiences. Get well!
Thanks Harvey! Beauty of it is that everyone works hard to try to make it better. We have suffered in Ireland because of the global financial crisis of about 10 years ago. Still massively in debt. Emergencies fare worse than scheduled procedures too, because of limits on hospital beds and staff. But honestly you would need your wits about you!!! Luckily still have the old brain ticking over, so far. Haha!
Life is like that, one minute yer flying, next yer on the ground… At least you keep moving, which at the end of the day is all any of us can do. Hard to know where to direct the anger I feel towards the health service though… Good people in a quagmire, which is kinda where our society is now too… Maybe community development will make a comeback
Thanks Andrew. None of us are getting any younger and it is very worrying that we will have to rely on that hospital in an emergency. You would really need your wits about you going on there. So long may the wits stay healthy at least!
Thank you, as always, for your glorious photos and all the sharing of life … I finally got my eye fixed yesterday and was very thankful for all the people who did their jobs in a marvelous way but so scared the whole time with worry of something going wrong and that not being covered. It’s a frighfull time to be getting older but we do have the energy to keep at it … sending much love and hugs to you.
O Susan I’m happy to hear that it went well. Yes it’s a scary thing to be in the zone when things begin to go wrong in our bodies. But there’s plenty of life in us yet!! Look after yourself my dear. Xx
Wow Catherine! War zone is indeed. I had no idea it was that difficult in hospitals in Ireland, especially since your in the EU.
Many thanks for sharing your experience and so glad that you came through it.
The summer lake photos are wonderful – nature going about her business.
Cheers! Paula
Hi Paula! I think since the crash in 2010 our health service has gone into a very serious decline. Especially if you turn up at the weekend to an Emergency Department, there will be too many patients and not enough staff. I was lucky in many ways, in that I was so sick I could not be totally ignored!!! But it is just not good enough…..Yes, nature goes on about her business which in the end is all any of us can do…..Thanks for being here!
I’ve been wondering what was going on with you but never dreamed of all you described in the Waterford News! I’d hoped that other countries had good healthcare and it was just the US that was screwed up. But what you describe sounds like something you would only dream of happening a hundred years ago! I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend. With perhaps a new issue to continue writing about? You did an amazing job describing the hospital in your articles – it brought me right there with you, even if I didn’t want to be there. Here too, we have another common interest – health care – along with the environmental concerns. I recently heard a doctor on a podcast saying that becoming a doctor used to be an honorable, desired position. Now, he sees students with so much worry about student loans and worn out by the hours they are working. Now, he would advise people interested in becoming a doctor to do something else with their desire to help people.
Yes it’s the same everywhere I suppose. Although in Ireland we have accessible health care, the system is under enormous pressure. I was there on the corridor with a deadline and basically was right in the situation as I wrote it, so thanks for feeling it with me! Luckily I am on the mend. Having said that, I think we are both aware of the upcoming zone for illnesses of the ageing. I could almost laugh out lout at that, because of course in my head I just don’t feel any older. But funnily, through the eyes of my medical team, (all looking like 35 and under) I think they saw “little old lady me” as opposed to the cool young thing of my imagination! Who would be a medical professional these days? Looks like a nightmare. Bless, them they are incredible people. I’m almost sorry I called the hospital a war zone as I’ve now seen For Sama about Aleppo. Check it out. Astonishing……..https://youtu.be/vsvBqtg2RM0
I just watched the trailer. I’ll have to see if I can find the full film to watch. It looks very powerful. The things that I see young women creating amaze me!
p.s. I can relate to the cool young thing running around in your head. She’d love meeting my alter ego. 🙂
I’m not sure if you can watch All4 there? It’s free and For Sama should be on there. Haha! Those two dames would rip the place up I’m sure!! Wish I knew how to liberate my alter ego? Old lady me is far too bossy and cautious. The old lady version of risk seems to come down to things like, two shots of espresso or a decaf instead