16Nov07 – Back to Reality

Lucy is still not very well and so we booked an appointment at the doctors this afternoon. Before the appointment Lucy had a coughing fit which rally upset her. You could tell that she felt panicked by all the coughing and this upset her even more. By the time we got to see the doctor she was inconsolable which made it quite difficult for the doctor to listen to her chest properly. She began to talk about referring Lucy to the hospital which we thought unnecessary but she was obviously influenced by how upset Lucy was at the time. In the end she changed Lucy’s antibiotics to cefalaxin which has worked in the past when Lucy has had chest problems and hopefully it will work again. It is still to early to start the therapy exercises and we will probably wait another few days until Lucy has fully recovered.
After a long week in the south of England it was nice to go to my local pub tonight, talk rubbish, play darts and unwind. There is a group of guys who normally turn up on a Friday night for some man therapy and escapism. As it was Children in Need night tonight we were playing darts for money and all the winnings were going to Children in Need. It came to the end of the night and the landlord asked if we were having another game. The next thing that happened took me completely by surprise and spoilt the whole evening. There was a guy who is not normally part of the Friday night group and he said when asked to put his money into the pot for the next game, “Why not, its for the spackers anyway”. I am afraid I could not hold my tongue and told him how offensive that sounded and that actually my daughter is “one of them”. Rather than back down and apologise he brushed it off saying it was just a generalisation. I had to tell him that it was a very offensive generalisation but realised that there was no point taking it any further because idiots like that have their own opinions and there is no point trying to change them. By this time the atmosphere had completely changed and I just felt uncomfortable and isolated. It saddens me to know that there are people out there that feel comfortable using language like this in the company of others. Maybe they think it is “big” or that they will get a laugh by saying it, but it took all my energy not to punch him in the mouth. Knowing what kind of person xxxx xxxxxxx is, it would have made no difference at all to his point of view, but maybe I should have done it anyway because it would have made me feel a whole lot better. I could hear Dawn saying to me, “Don’t try to change the world one person at a time”, and she is right. People like this will always be part of our lives and we just have to rise above it in the knowledge that they are missing out on the amazing experiences that are now part of our every day life. They will never know the joy of having somebody like Lucy in their lives and in a way I pity their narrow minded, self centred view on life.