Mum’s Diary
Went to work about ¼ to 9. Mr A there till ¼ to 11. V. Nice. Saw Dr Pryor at 1:50. To see Alan Green & have blood tests but not to go in for cortisone tests he thinks. V depressed. Children (R particularly) argued in am while opening my cards. Had slide case from P, earrings from R, writing paper & env. from A, bubble bath from E. £5 & indoor gardening set from mum. Rang her at night & said she’d give me £40 towards car bills £72 + £42 – had promised me £100 or more – presumably have to take that out of £200 given me in Scotland. V depressed in evening. Rang Peggy in aft – nice but didn’t help. 1 Lentizol & 1 Mogadon at night. FR rang in aft.
Roger’s/My Diary
Mum’s birthday today, she got a slide case, some writing paper and some bubble bath. Spent most of this lunch-time working. Played football in P.E. I think we won. This evening didn’t feel much like working so I didn’t. Tricia went to Youth Club
Notes
Mum Worked for Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens
During this period, mum worked as part-time medical secretary for the private practice of two surgeons, Mr Ashken and Mr Stephens, see Chapter 121. This practice was based at 41 Newmarket Road. She worked all day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and half day on Fridays. On this occasion, as it was a Wednesday, she worked all day. She noted that she went to work at about 8.45 am. Mr Ashken (Mr A) was there until 10,45 am. Mum considered this very nice.
Hypercalcaemia Follow-up
Mum had had surgery for a kidney stone at the beginning of August, see Chapter 116. She had been found to have high levels of calcium in her blood (hypercalcaemia) and she had been referred to Dr Pryor to try to establish the cause of this. He saw her at 1.50 pm. By this point, I think she had been found to have high levels of parathyroid hormone and this was why she was to be seen by surgeon Alan Green. She was also to have other blood tests but Dr Pryor did not think she would need cortisone tests.
Jack Pryor
Jack Sidney Pryor was born on 4 July 1933 and he died on 21 December 1988. He was a consultant physician, with a special interest in renal diseases, at the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, Norwich. Born in London, he received his medical training at Charing Cross Hospital, where he was later to return as a senior medical registrar for a period of three years from 1966. In 1969 he was appointed senior lecturer in medicine at Charing Cross Hospital.
Then, in 1970 he was appointed head of the department of experimental therapeutics at Sandoz in Basle, Switzerland, and was responsible for designing studies in the early stages of the development of new drugs. In May 1971, he was appointed consultant physician in renal diseases at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, a post he held until his sudden death in December 1988. In 1958, Jack Pryor married Bridget Egan, a nursing sister at the Brompton Hospital. They had one son, Robert.
Mr Alan Green
I found Alan Green’s obituary in the EDP. In 2015, he died at the age of 87. Norman Alan Green was born on 2 July 1927 in Leicester. He studied at St Bartholomew’s. He married nurse Doreen Wright in 1951. They had four children. He spent three years in Norwich from 1954. He won a Fulbright scholarship in 1958 and went to Boston Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Then, he returned to Norwich in 1961 and established the city’s first urology service in 1966.
He retired in 1990. After retiring, he wrote obituaries for professional journals. He was a founder member and then President of the British Association of Clinical Anatomists and an external examiner for the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in England and Edinburgh. He was a musician playing piano to a high standard. I found other biographies on the Royal College of Surgeons of England website and on the Travelling Surgical Society website.
Depressed
For many years, mum struggled with depression. and, at times, she took medication for this, see Chapter 116. On this occasion, she took one tablet of long-acting amitriptyline (Lentizol) at night. She also took one tablet of nitrazepam (Mogadon) to help her sleep. Mum noted during the day and in the evening that she was very depressed. While she does not say so explicitly, I expect her ongoing health struggles were contributing to her feelings of depression as probably were money concerns and problems with the car.
Mum’s Birthday
Mum had been born on 15 September 1934, see Chapter 22, so this was her 42nd birthday, Sadly, the first thing she noted was that we children argued in the morning (am) while she was opening her cards. R refers to me (Roger) and I regret to say that she identified me as the main culprit! My relationship with mum was very difficult at this point not least because my parents had separated in 1973 and mum thought I sided with my dad on things, see Chapter 114.
Also, I think she found me difficult and argumentative in general. It is fair to say that I was perhaps more willing to stand up to her than my siblings although they did all have clashes with her at one time or another. As far as I was concerned, I thought she picked on me and blamed me for things where either I was not at fault or was jointly at fault with others. This is a case in point as I doubt I was arguing with myself! Interestingly, I did not mention any arguments at all that day. I suspect this was because they were nothing out of the ordinary as far as I was concerned and I considered they did not merit mentioning.
Both mum and I noted the presents she received including a slide case from Tricia (P for Patricia), earrings from me, writing paper and envelopes (env) from Alan (A) and bubble bath from Liz (E for Elizabeth). She also got £5 and an indoor gardening set from grandma, see Chapter 122.
Money from Grandma
Mum phoned grandma at night to discuss money. Mum had a car at this point, a Simca that she and dad had bought in February 1972 before they split up, see Chapter 110. However, it had had problems with the exhaust and, I assume the cost of repairing it was the bill she was referring to, see Chapter 127. This was a cost of £72 plus £42, that is a total of £114. Grandma told mu that she would give her £40 towards this. However, mum was disappointed as she thought grandma had said she had promised her £100 or more.
Mum noted that she would have to “take that” out of the £200 she had been given in Scotland. I presume that by “that” she was referring to the balance of £92 of the car repair bill not covered by grandma. At the end of July, mum, Liz and Alan had been on holiday in Dunoon in Scotland. That was when mum was taken ill with her kidney stone, see Chapter 116. . She and my siblings had come home by train and plane as the car had broken down in Glasgow and was relayed home by the AA. I am not sure exactly the £200 was or who gave it to her. It seems that it might have been money she still had.
Peggy
Mum noted that she rang Peggy in the afternoon (aft). She said it was nice but “didn’t help“. I am not quite sure who Peggy was. There was a Peggy who was one of the staff at mum’s previous place of work for the GPs Dr Downes and Dr Day. Based on her CV, see Chapter 105, mum had worked there as a part-time receptionist from 1974 to 1975. However, I am not sure why mum would have phoned her or what help she would have expected from her.
It may not have been her. In December 1976, mum referred to a Peggy (Preston). The fact that mum added Preston implies that mum perhaps knew at least two Peggys. I am not sure if Preston was referring to a surname or the place. If the latter, it could have been someone mum met on a Christian Guild holiday, see Chapter 122. Also, in February 1967, mum stayed with Rev and Mrs Leach in Preston, see Chapter 88, and it is possible this was someone she met then but this seems unlikely as there is no record of her keeping in touch in the interim. It could have been another Peggy entirely, perhaps a secretary for Dr Pryor or Mr Green.
Rev Dowson
FR refers to Rev F R Dowson. Frederick Rodham Dowson entered the Methodist ministry in 1936. He was born in Haxby, York on 5 August 1912 and he died in Selsey on 4 September 2011, aged 99. I believe he was superintendent Minister for the Park Lane Circuit from 1968 to 1974. He and mum were close and they spoke and corresponded frequently, see Chapter 114. On this occasion, Rev Dowson rang her in the afternoon (aft).
Lunch-time Working
I was at school and noted that I spent most of lunch-time working. I assume this referred to homework. Quite often, I did some of this at school, see Chapter 118, often in the library. That evening, I noted that I did not feel much like working so I didn’t!
A Note on Lunch-time
Based on my family’s working class background in Nottinghamshire, we had tended to refer to our meals as dinner and tea. However, given that we had moved to Norwich in 1960, and possibly because we were becoming more middle class, some of that usage was changing and family members sometimes, and perhaps increasingly, referred to a midday meal as lunch, see Chapter 92 although we continued to refer to an afternoon or early evening meal as tea. On this occasion, I referred to “lunch-time“.
Football in PE
I noted that we played football in PE, see Chapter 118, and I thought we had won. That is not like me. I would have thought I would have known the score especially if we won!
Youth Club
Tricia refers to my older sister (Patricia). She went to youth club which was affiliated to St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church, see Chapter 124.