2012 is getting off to a slightly shaky start in our family. One of us was hospitalised a week or so back with chest pains, as yet undiagnosed ( my ex who is a very good friend) and now my eldest daughter's partner has been in an accident leaving him with fractured ribs and a punctured lung. The same hospital as that briefly visited by my ex, to no satisfactory effect, has not performed well this time either. Not reassuring! A junior doctor would have let Iain out with an unnoticed pneumothorax had not Iain's brother, a consultant at that hospital, come in to check on Iain. Chloe was all set to complain, suspecting that more was wrong than the Junior Doc. had seen. She probably knows more about the human body than the Him, or at least as much with more experience behind her, but they may well not have listened to her.

I remember the first time I was in hospital after a miscarriage, I had complete faith in everyone. The second time, with appendicitis, I felt the same. It was a lot easier on the nerves! Little by little my confidence has been eroded, especially in the nurses. Our other nearest hospital has recently had cases of C. Difficile.

Apart from that gloom, the sun is shining brightly and there is still no snow - although I'm almost afraid to write that for fear of nemesis.

Later:

Oh good grief! Now I've heard that a friend who holidays in India has had a stroke on the homeward journey. Same age as me. Very strong person. She's in a coma in a London hospital.

Sorry folks. No more gloom. I think Karin's stroke is a lesson to make the most of life whilst we have it.