Hi Dad, where’s Mum?

Why does nobody ask Mum where Dad is?

So I mentioned something in my last post of the strange phenomenon in the paediatric health service which involves you losing your name and only being known as Dad (or Mum) from now on. Not Lydia’s Dad but just Dad – you must be Dad, are you Dad, nice to meet you Dad.

Well my wife has been at home for a few days with our other daughter and sorting things out back at HQ. One of the respiratory doctors we’ve waited ages to see decided he was going to come and see us Wednesday morning about an hour after we’d already decided that my wife needed to leave to go home.

So I say no problem but my wife won’t be around, to which I was told it would be better if we were all there. We have learned that we can’t always put or lives on hold for every body else’s schedule, particularly as we’ve been in the hospital almost 2 months and this doctor is here every day and hasn’t come before now. So I tell my wife to go home.

I meet with the doctor, my wife didn’t really need to be there and the doctor didn’t really ask about her so it went fine. However I began to question – Why doesn’t anybody ever tell Bethan that I need to be around? Our expertise and involvement with Lydia is very equal as the level of care she requires has dictated that we are both dedicated to it. So why am I considered a secondary substitute?

This trend has to change