Happy Easter to all of you.
This holiday weekend makes us reflect on religion, family and the world at large.
Yesterday, we watched an amazing programme by David Attenborough, which was a ‘call to arms’ to the world to slow down climate change. The risk of global warming within the next 30 years seems inevitable unless we change our own carbon footprints as well as those of major industries. A small rise in temperature may completely change coastal communities as well as drowning historical sites and London itself will be under threat as water levels rise.
We have seen the odd swings in local temperatures with huge surges in rainfall which overwhelm local drains. Wallington in Surrey, saw flash floods that caused chaos within a few hours.
London is under a greater threat and this is becoming increasingly visible.
There are a row of large lions’ heads, cast in bronze, that line the side of Victoria Embankment. They were sculpted by Timothy Butler for Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s Victorian sewage works programme in 1868-70. These are important as they allow a visual guide to the risk of flooding in London. The old rhyme states: “When the lions drink, London will sink. When it’s up to their manes, we’ll go down the drains.” The mouth of each lion holds a mooring ring and the rhyme suggests that if the lions drink the water from the Thames, London will flood. Although the lions have never been submerged to date, certainly high tides now seem to lap the heads regularly.
This makes us all consider how we #ChangeTheNorm.
The world is changing around us. We are all living longer and expecting more from life. I want my children to enjoy their lives and look forward to their children achieving and living happily and successfully. Stratton and Scott suggest that an individual aged 20 now has a 90% chance of living to 103 in the Western World. Someone who is 7, is likely to live to 107!
Authority is being turned on its head. It is humbling that 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg is leading the charge to ‘wake up the adults’ to what is threatening their future. “We had everything we could ever wish for… now we probably don’t even have a future anymore.” She also says the planet’s future “was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money”.
So what do we need to do to?
Small changes will make a difference. It is easy to order on Amazon and get a delivery today. It is convenient but does it really matter. Why can’t it wait until tomorrow? Or next month? I think back to the time when we were little. Asian food was not sold in North Wales and we would wait til the monthly trip to Manchester to buy the groceries from the Indian shops there. Now all the food from the world is available in my local superstore. Previously we would enjoy the fruits of the season and now we enjoy them all year round. But do we? How many times does fruit over ripen in the fruit basket and then get thrown out.
We all need to consider what we want from life. We have become impatient. We will watch an entire box set or chomp through a box of chocolates because there are no more boundaries on life. Rules that existed previously have been over written.
Perhaps now is time to rewrite the rules. There will have to be an exchange of values as we no longer live in an altruistic world. If we suggested that you stop buying online, it would never happen. What would be valuable is to attribute a carbon footprint cost to everything we buy.
You may have a choice to buy strawberries. Choice should no longer just be based on cost. One carton maybe slightly more expensive but is produced locally whilst the other has been flown across the world. An understanding of the carbon footprint might alter your choice and start to change the way that we live and eat.
Are we able to repair items and make them last longer rather than throw them out and buy new? Do we really need that new phone just because it is the new release? Should Amazon offer a discount if you agree to a bulk delivery once per month rather than the delivery of an item under £5?
We all have to #ChangeTheNorm for many reasons.
I reflect back on the last few years with regard to my health.
I developed a loss of balance and tiredness nearly three years ago and struggled to understand why. I still remember the fear of the diagnosis of an acoustic neuroma and the desperation to stop being a patient and live my normal life. I remember the amazing team that looked after me in the John Radcliffe in Oxford. Mr Richard Kerr was my NeuroSurgeon and operated on me for 12 hours. The night in ITU is unforgettable and I have never felt so vulnerable and weak as in those first five days. Headaches, nausea, dizziness and sheer frustration began and have never completely resolved but are so much better than at the start.
In truth, I went back to work too early (yes, everyone was right!) and it took me eight months post-surgery to be anywhere near normal but the NHS was a great employer and my friends, family and colleagues at work supported my journey.
I have recently undergone another post-operative MRI. This proves that there is no increase in size of the small remnant of the acoustic neuroma. Hurrah!!! No more scans for another 6 months.
Everyone was pleasantly surprised at the pace of my recovery and outwardly there is now little evidence of the surgery. Even the hair that was shaved has completely obscured my scar and I am now more comfortable putting my hair in a bun!
The improvements that I noticed post operatively that allowed me to return to normal have now all slowed down. I have gone from hearing perfectly to unilateral deafness. Voices become less distinct when there is a lot of background noise. My brain does not switch off and my sleep is frequently interrupted. I now must make notes to ensure that I do not forget anything as my short-term memory works very differently. My balance has improved but is noticeably different when I am tired. I no longer feel that I am invincible and am more aware of my health and the need for a work life balance.
I love being back at work and being lucky enough to have had such little post-surgical complications. This carries with it a guilt for all those who had a much tougher post-operative journey. I still manage my long lists and the education and training of junior surgical colleagues. Both as a Surgeon and as a Clinical Director, the patient experience is invaluable. It infuses everything I do and on most days.
But the most important lessons are being learnt now. I will never go back to my ‘normal’ but I have had to develop a new norm. Those that know me are slowly forgetting my recent journey and I must remind them that I am deaf in one ear as they whisper to me or talk quietly in a meeting. I get tired and must pace myself and so have had to say no!
I am also learning that the world is not forgiving of disabilities. In a shop recently, a woman faced me angrily and told me she had been asking me to move out of her way, in a busy shop full of Christmas shoppers. She pushed past and walked away before I could tell her that she had been talking to my deaf side! I cannot pinpoint noise and feel like I need to wear a sign that explains that I am deaf on one side.
I have learnt to be grateful for the one life that we have, in which we must live, love and share happy times with family and friends. I have a new life, different to the one I had two years ago but one that I intend to live to the full. I want this for my children and their children too.
So Happy Easter to you. In the next few days, let us all consider what we can do to #ChangeTheNorm and make this planet, our wonderful planet, continue to be a place where we can live long and prosper.
Stella Vig 