Drama...

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So, as usual whenever David and I organise something really special just for the two of us, Sod and his Law does his best to scupper things.  

Having booked dinner months ago at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles for our anniversary treat, I was just about to put my make up on and already looking forward to my G&T in the very lovely Gleneagles bar beforehand, when Alan's support worker Christine came through to my makeshift dressing room in the dining room to tell me she couldn't see Alan's gastrostomy tube.  I looked at her for a mo, understanding what she had said, but not quite willing to face up to what it meant. 

 I got up and went through where Alan was sitting in his wheelchair, smiling away not a care in the world, lifted his t-shirt and sure enough, there was the little slit in his stomach where the feeding tube should be but no tube!

Long story short the little internal balloon the holds the tube in place had deflated and the tube was on the floor beside his wheelchair!   

There ensued a bit of a panic as if the tube comes out, the hole closes really quickly so unless you get another tube in within an hour the whole procedure has to be done again!  He hadn't long finished his dinner so we reckoned it had been out for half an hour at the most and set about doing the prep to put in a new tube.

Having never done this before it was a bit heart in mouth stuff  but thankfully we managed to get a new tube in (Alan was a star, just lay and giggled while we did it) but because it's less than 6 weeks since he had it fitted, he has to have a special X-ray to make sure it's in the right place.  

David cancelled the taxi to Gleneagles (held off from cancelling dinner as they charge £125 per person for a cancellation within 48 hours!) while I phoned the out of hours district nurse.  Got hold of her and she said she'd need to speak to the out of hours GP to see if Alan would be x-rayed tonight or if it could wait till tomorrow or Monday morning.

Alan was absolutely fine after the insertion so we decided to go ahead with dinner and had a mad rush to finish getting ready, drive up there at speed (thankfully it's close by) and arrived dead on our booked time of 8.30. 

Explained to the Maitre D we were waiting for a call and may have to leave again at short notice.  She was very sympathetic and couldn't do enough for us.  Call finally came just as our starters were being served, to say nothing would be done till tomorrow at the earliest so we could finally relax and enjoy our meal.   Phew!

And enjoy it we did.  Superb service, sublime food, a cosy, intimate atmosphere and staff who take absolute pleasure in discussing the food and making sure you have a a wonderful experience.  I was even introduced to Kirsty's Gin, which was delicious.

So, all's well that ends well.