Obstinate and opinionated? Me?? Just a pussycat

Okay, well I confess to being opinionated. Obstinate? Perhaps-I don't think I would have survived this long if I didn't have more than a little bit of bloody-mindedness in my nature. That is more from necessity than anything else, though.

I remember being beaten and bullied while I was growing up. I was beaten at home, and bullied (severely) at school-so I can both sympathize and resonate with kids who are bullied today, and I'm not surprised that the rate of suicide among bullied schoolchildren is so high in this country. I grew up being afraid to ever say anything-so introverted that I found it difficult to hold a conversation for fear that I was going to be attacked in some way. That is a very unpleasant way to go through childhood, I can tell you.

Sadly, I married a man who was very bullying and emotionally abusive-and it took years before I finally stood up to him and walked out. So I can also identify with abused women, too. And when this whole gentamicin toxicity event took place, I realized that I was going to have to toughen up if I wanted to survive-and if I wanted to get through this. I did get through it-for two years, I got through it, and I refused to give in.

Anyone who has been following this blog knows the situation with Homes for Haringey-I refused to quit there, too. And-I learned that a woman who asserts herself is called a bitch (and a lot of other unflattering and untrue descriptive words, too)-yet a man who asserts himself is called strong and assertive. Long live the double standard (yeah, right??).

I'm now waiting for my solicitor to return from her holidays; she will be back in the office at the end of August. She wrote last week that Barts (now known as Barts Trust, I think-it should be Barts never trust) has denied all liability for my claim. No big surprise there, since Barts has a long record of being sued for negligence. So I am prepared to go to court-and do whatever it takes to win this case. In this country, people talk a lot about injustice, but do precious little to do anything to create change. Not I-I will stand up for my rights, I will not quit, and the longer Barts drags its feet, the more expensive this will cost them.

I will win. They are messing with the wrong person. Long live strong women! (perhaps I am more of a tiger than a pussycat. Time will tell!)