Sent by email to my friend Frank on 21.04.2023 at 06:34:12.
Good morning Frank:
I remember, after one of our London gig attendance sessions, & while we were journeying home & awaiting a late-night train at Finsbury Park Railway Station, I mentioned to you an experience that I had during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time you suggested that rather than word-of-mouth, I make a written account for you.
To divulge this information to you, I write from memory (although I took many notes at the time).
Around the month of October 2020, & at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had the most awful toothache (I was also having difficulty with one’s vision, considering a recently diagnosed double cataract, & so I had also stopped driving for safety reasons).
At this time I was busy with difficult anthropological matters in the Stevenage, Baldock & Letchworth communities.
The tooth, an upper molar had become infected & also mildly loose in one’s gum & had caused an intense degree of pain.
Having researched the matter of dental treatment on the NHS official online web page, & also having read the NHS online advice, early one morning I walked to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage (no appointments were offered at the time) & I passed through their rigorous checks & triage only to be informed by their nurse that the Lister Hospital had no dental services.
Previous to this I had made a number of enquiries to local dental practices, only to be given the information that their practices were not taking on patients.
I walked back to one’s flat & decided that I would attempt a self-extraction using string tied to the offending molar & the force of a heavy, slamming door.
This attempt failed & the pain was like no other that I have experienced before or since.
To add to the matter, the string I had tied to my molar had tightened to a degree where the string had formed a tight, irremovable knot.
Given these circumstances, the best I could do was to apply scissors & cut the string as close as possible to the knot.
I then looked online & received information that a dental service was apparently available at the QE2 hospital in Welwyn Garden City, & so I decided to walk to their hospital for treatment.
I left my home at ~7 PM & arrived at the QE2 at ~11 PM.
I identified with my passport at their desk, only to be informed that again there were no dental services at their hospital.
However, I was informed that a doctor would apparently be willing to offer his consultation.
The doctor could not remove the molar. He didn’t consider that this work was within his remit.
He would, however, remove the string, which he did, causing a massive degree of pain.
(No pain relief was offered to this party).
I thanked the doctor & his nursing assistants & walked back to the taxi rank in Welwyn Garden City, still in a position of huge discomfort.
I got a taxi cab to Stevenage railway station & walked back to my flat from there.
On the walk back to one’s flat, along Fairlands Way, I stopped at the Lonsdale Road SHELL garage to attempt to procure a small amount of tap water, having run out of water in one’s flask & also having gained a serious thirst from the long & arduous travelling.
I was denied water at the Lonsdale Road SHELL garage.
(The cashier was apparently unable to meet this simple request).
I got home well into the early hours of the following day & slept most uncomfortably.
About two weeks later, I extracted the molar by wiggling the tooth until it became loose.
To alleviate the intense pain I used off-the-shelf, generic paracetamol & to lessen the infection I used a regular TCP preparation & also salt water mouthwashes.
Regards
Mr Sean P. Ransom
(Aka, Hillfire Dol)
NHS #436 534 8701.
*NOTE;
This email was also sent to a Mental Health NHS Worker, a Hertfordshire County Council Money Advice Employee & a Mental Health Solicitor.
This email is being published to highlight the unconscionable terms (past & present) with respect to the NHS, concerning this party’s treatment.