Long story - emergency c-section 9 days ago (all OK!). Recovery going well(-ish). On Tuesday last week, I had a very sharp pain in my mid-chest and was struggling to breathe in. The pain lessened but remained (especially when reclining). Went out on Friday for a walk and was very breathless (I live in a very hilly area though). Went to doctor same day and she sent me straight to triage (thinking pulmonary embolism) where I sat for nine hours with my newborn. At 10pm, the doctors came to tell me that chest x-Ray was clear, stats and bloods all good but they would admit me just in case as I would have to be scanned at some point. They couldn’t tell me whether that night, the next day, Monday etc. I have a toddler at home (and newborn is ebf). I opted to go home instead with large dose of 12-hourly blood thinners (i.e. the treatment dose for PE).
Had a call the next day to tell me they would book me for a VQ imaging scan for Monday and that I would have to refrain from bf-ing for 12 hours after scan. Wasn’t thrilled as it took a lot of effort to establish bf and I wasn’t able to do so with my toddler so I’m very reluctant to jeopardise it. But fine, needs must.
Fast forward to today - I spent all morning calling just to be told at 4pm that the VQ hadn’t been booked and could I please just call the department directly. I did and they came back with a scan time of 10am tomorrow and then told me that I couldn’t bf for 20 hours (not 12 as previously told). I haven’t pumped enough milk for this and I don’t have the spare hands to be on the pump all night. At this point, the VQ people suggested a CT might be better so
as to not disrupt bf.
I went back to maternity triage to check my options. Midwife said that she saw no issue with CT, and that she could only
assume that it wasn’t that urgent anyway as, if they had any reason to suspect that PE was actually present, they would have done an emergency scan on Saturday (so this is likely a ‘just in case’ scan). Maternity consultant then called and said she would prefer a VQ as better to have the imaging done sooner rather than later (maybe book it in then!) and CT was increased radiation to my breast that could be avoided with a VQ (though the radiation from CT is hardly massive, just an increase on background radiation over the course of my lifetime).
To add - breathlessness is now completely gone (I assume it was just tiredness and lack of exercise) and pain in my chest also
gone unless I move my arm in a certain way (so assuming that’s muscular and the GP was just being cautious).
Against consultant advice then, I have asked to cancel the VQ and asked them to rebook me for a CR. AIBU?