five minutes of fame

Picture the scene,

I am in my bathroom grouting the tiles I put up oh such a long time ago, when the phone rings. Who can it be I ask myself my husband and children call me on the Mobile and I have no friends so who could be calling?.

Grout covered hands I pick up the phone, low and behold it is Cordelia, I do not know a Cordelia, I think to myself whilst saying a very cheery "Hello" (how false).

It turns out she is from GMTV, and we spoke a few years ago when I was on the show with Lynne Faulds Wood talking about bowel cancer and my trusty book "A NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER " if you STILL haven't got a copy, shame on you.


She wanted to know if I was free for filming the following morning, or that evening to do a piece on wrong diagnosis, in A &E Departments.

Hmm, I thought, this one is tricky as yes I was wrongly diagnosed for 17 years, and in many times at A & E but not at my current A & E whom I very much owe much of my survival too.

Anyhow, Whilst on the phone the postman was careering up the drive with arm fulls of post which he had been unable to deliver due to the strike, some of which needed signing for so I ended the call leaving it that she would call me in five minutes to confirm either today or tomorrow for filming.

It didn't even take me the time it takes to get to the front door to start having second thought, more in fact like the time it took to replace the receiver.

I know my situation is a blue print case of misdiagnosis, but not down to A &E these guys work so so hard to try to stabilise things, some times when I went in I couldn't even speak through sheer pain, and they managed to deal with things professionally and as quick as humanly possible; considering all of the many channels they need to go through just to prescribe an aspirin let alone huge amounts of Morphine which I needed constantly.

They are overworked and underpaid, and a service we can do without. I have seen this from both sides of the card.

My son and I waited for 5 hours to be seen when he fractured his arm, I waited ten minutes when I was rushed in on several occasions, its all about prioritising, and a difficult difficult task that is. Especially when you have the elderly coming in in droves who are only there because mainly they are lonely, or haven't been eating properly, which in turn leaves the children with breakages waiting ,as a break is easier to determine than that of loneliness - or if there actually IS really a root problem underlying all else.

Our A & E is facing closure which in turn is devastating, I know for one I would not have made it any further afield at my worst times and also know that those times could so easily come again, and a&E will be my first port of call for assistance but if it is not there, then where and what do I do?.

Wrong or poor diagnosis is a frightening thing and having experienced this first hand, I know if I had been diagnosed properly all those years ago I would not have suffered like I have, but then again I wouldn't have helped all of those I have by writing about Bowel cancer, so always a double edged sword.

I am not angry or bitter about my diagnosis being missed, due to age I didn't fit the criteria of bowel cancer so it wasn't even thought of. And my case was so severe that my surgeon was amazed during the many operations he performed on me; I am a total contradiction to everything he had read and learned which must be a huge amount, but at the end of the day all that reading he did helped me, as he saved my life from one of the most aggressive silent killers known to man.

Some of us are put on this planet for self gain, self promotion, others the quiet ones to help others for self gain. I like to think of myself as one of the quiet ones along with my surgeon and the armada of nurses and A &E who helped me to get through my cancer, no limelight just respect which is reflected on both sides.

So I was not the right person to criticize A & E and my son was a bit coughy with a chesty cough so I called to say I couldn't commit, and my relief was comforting after making the call.

My son asked me the other day what I was good at ( as in there eyes I believe its not much), I thought about it a bit, anagrams I am fairly good at and I can tile a good floor, ut I believe my forte is or well are(apart from my flashes of brilliance at writing of course) contentment, I am happy with my lot and rarely wish for anything more ( apart from complete isolation from the outside world - should live in a field - animals are far more gentler creatures), and surviving, as I do this without thinking day to day, each day a different challenge never two the same. But the one thing I am not good at is fame, I don't like attention nor talking about myself, writing about myself yes ( a lot can be put into the imagination through word, but I sound a bit like Dick Van Dike from Mary Poppins when I open me gob!, true thing guvner)so the GMTV sofa this time around wasn't beckoning me forth.

So after all the mornings excitement I have a Son who drinks nothing but milk with a cough, and a wall with dried on waterproof grout to clean, oh and I need to call my mother in law back, after picking up the rest of the gang, and then doing the dinner, OH and the chest of drawers needs painting, mirrors need hanging........

The life of a celeb - you just can't beat it!