How can she be left like this? Take her back to A&E?

[Fearsheisdying]

Posting for traffic has honestly I'm terrified something is seriously wrong with my Mum and don't know what to do so please be nice.

Last week she started with some pain that she says feels like it's right at the very bottom of her ribs and radiating round the sides. She was in agony, basically screaming with pain so I took her to A&E on the advice of 111. All obs and ECG were normal but the blood tests were abnormal. They were going to do a CT scan but then decided as her obs were ok and they didn't think there was a bleed as no fall/injury, they were not going to do a CT scan there but would refer it to the GP to arrange BUT because of the blood test results and recent weightloss, they wanted it done urgently under the "2 week rule" and from his grave tone, I highly suspect he thinks it's cancer and serious. They couldn't/wouldn't give her anymore painkillers because of the painkillers she's on for severe arthritis but these are not touching the pain.

Fast forward to today, she has been in absolute agony since Thursday and seems worse today and can barely move. She's exhausted and crying/screaming in pain. My sister called 999 today but they said as not life threatening they won't send an ambulance but had to speak to GP within an hour. GP receptionist tried to say no appointments so we couldn't speak to GP but after I explained the issue (and she could hear my Mum crying out in pain) she finally agreed to pass a message to the GP so currently waiting to see if GP will call back today or not. Mum says if I take her back to A&E we'll be sat for hours again and nothing will be done but I can't just sit here and watch her in so much pain and do nothing.

What do I do?! Do I make her let me take her to A&E? Do we wait to see if the GP will call? Just feel so helpless

Hope she is ok and it gets sorted. It could be kidney stones, I had it in 2016 and it was the worst pain I have ever felt, I have a high pain threshold , but it was so bad I was delirious with the pain and called an ambulance(luckily they came and took me to the hospital, it was 7 years ago)! I was rolling around trying to stop the pain.

Yes, the relevant word is emergency.

She was assessed and sent home so she wasn’t having a life threatening emergency. Now she has a 2 week wait (minimum) which if she is in severe pain is too long.

If affordable, a third option would be an urgent assessment carried out privately.

If she returns to A&E and they send her away again.

You are incredibly invested in her not going to A&E I wonder why that is.

No, I’m not, so get a grip with your conspiracy theories.

She was assessed and sent home so she wasn’t having a life threatening emergency. Now she has a 2 week wait (minimum) which if she is in severe pain is too long.

She needs reassessing. The pain is worse. Things can change, just because it wasn't life threatening on Thursday doesn't mean it isn't now. The two week wait referral clearly hasn't been done yet, it hasn't been done by the GP or the A&E Doctor. And even if it had been done, the pain is worse, she needs reassessing.

Your poor mum sounds horrific she can't be like this for 2 weeks waiting for a scan. Just take her in the car to a&e

That’s literally the job of A&E.
The patient should never be discharged if they are in the situation that the OP has described. It is literally the job of A&E to send her for emergency scans and then direct her to the correct consultant there and then and get admitted to get the correct treatment she needs- and not : here is some pain killers then wait for God’s mercy …probably 2-3 week till the doc sends a referral then wait for the hospital to fit you in etc .
All what they are doing now is like kicking the can down the road and making her medical condition possibly worse and more complicated.
what a waste of GP and nhs resources. Appalling.

The money's at the top and they won't let it go. That's capitalism for you. NHS is finished. We are going backwards not forwards.

This is absolutely shocking. Get back to the hospital for sure. Your mum well may be suffering other side effects by now such as dehydration

And by reassessing I mean someone laying eyes on her, checking her obs and bloods and a medic deciding on the best course of action.
It might be her obs are fine, her bloods are exactly the same and they tell her to take the oromorph more frequently or in a higher dose to deal with the pain, whilst she waits for someone to do a 2WW referral or they might decide she needs further input.

OP please go back to A&E and be insistent on those scans.
For the love of god I cannot believe they would send her home! 😵‍💫
Don’t leave until they’ve ascertained what’s wrong with her and had tests done. Tell them that she’s gotten worse and ensure that if they refuse again it is noted that you’ve requested x,y,z and they refused and take a copy of that home.

I do hope you aren't a health care professional.

No-one is saying that everyone needs to go to A &E; however OP's mother's does need to go. Anything could be going on in her abdomen. Plus she's in intractable pain, despite having multiple analgesics on board.

We are at A&E - oramorph didn't touch it. The nurse who triaged asked what the Dr did last week and seemed pretty horrified that she was sent home like this. She's told me this time to be firm and told me not to take her home until further tests done.

A PP said about the Dr probably saw cancer markers in her bloods - can they see that? What are the markers?

I'm glad you got her there I hope they get her sorted

So glad you went to A&E and have at least been seen by a nurse. Good luck and hope your Mum gets some pain relief soon

It could be gall bladder some people referred pain my poor friend took 4 years for diagnosis as it presented like gynae issues.

Hope you get seen properly very soon

Glad you're back in A&E. Sadly, persistence is key in the NHS at the moment; if you can't advocate for yourself or don't have anyone to advocate for you, you don't stand a chance. Good luck, I hope your mum gets sorted as soon as possible and gets out of the awful pain she's been in.

I hope that your mum has her pain under control asap. Sending best wishes at this difficult time

Pleased you are there. Hopefully they can get her pain under control, and find out what is going on

Not all cancers can be picked up in routine blood tests.
So it depends what tests the blood had.

Maybe you should ask for them to be done, if you can.

Sounds like a good decision OP.

I don't know about markers for cancer but there would be elevated results indicating the body is fighting something, that the immune system is triggered. Which it would be anyway given her condition.

I think cancer is a jump to go from no symptoms to sudden onset acute pain but as ever you need tests and probably a scan.

Hope you are seen soon.

There is no reason a CT can’t be requested direct from the emergency dept. They don’t need a 2ww referral in this situation. There should be at least one consultant on duty until midnight and definitely one on the end of the phone. If she isn’t admitted o/n to at least control unremitting acute pain (obvs may not be a bed)
I would definitely be asking questions if this isn’t being automatically done.
Smile, question & persist🦾x

Your poor mum. I hope you get some answers and that they can make her more comfortable.

I'm glad you're back at A&E - you've done the right thing.
There are many different illnesses that can cause this kind of pain so try not to think the worst, the doctors will get to the bottom of it.
Saying a prayer for your mum tonight.