Support thread for those awaiting medical appts,tests and surgery

[ohyouBadBadkitten]

It seems that there is probably rather a lot of us who are impatiently waiting to see consultants, have tests or waiting for surgery. So a thread for you to vent in or post your 'hooray's'

me. Am waiting to see my cardiologist. been a bit of a catalogue of delays and getting lost in the system. I have a wonderfully supportive gp who has just calmed me down after me losing the plot a bit when I found I wasnt on the appt system.

How about you?

Sorry you didn't get what you needed off the call Breastmilk. Is there anyway you can phone the Receptionist and ask for a longer call? I don't know with your GP's but mine does this for me regular.

Hope you feel better soon LGoR.

I had my Staples out yesterday and had an Xray that seemed to show everything was fine. The twisting could be just the tubing settling down.

Good news backpack, though I expect it is always hard to trust things completely. How are you feeling?

Got my date for the echo. Fri 13th as dd has a cross-country clinic at the stables that day I can see possibilities for an interesting day! Also got a copy of the summary letter the consultant sent to my gp, which all seems ok.

Backpack I'm so glad your hospital appointment went well, it's certainly time for things to go right for you .

BM It does sound like you need a face to face chat about when and whether you will be well enough to return to work. Are you due to go back to the hospital soon, and is this to see your consultant or only for tests? If you are going to see a consultant, then he or she would be well placed to advise you on what improvements you can expect in the future, and about returning to work.

Certainly for my condition, I know I am better not working full time even though sometimes I do feel that I am not fulfilling my potential. I doubt that I would get through a ESA medical, even though a demanding job would exhaust me. I am extremely fortunate that I have not needed to jump through those hoops.

I was feeling OK until the loft hatch fell on my head :( I knew I should have waited for DP to get back from his driving lesson.

I will have a follow up in 6weeks, if all is ok (usually at the follow up if problems have not arrived before then things start to go wrong and the pressure is up again) I will not have to see the Surgeon only when I feel like I need to. The new tablets don't seem to be giving me side effects and this is the 3rd day I've been on them.

I had the response back from my old surgeon (lots of problems with him from when I was diagnosed 2years ago upto my op in July last year) it basically says he never saw me on the ward (I have video evidence of what he did to me) and my complaint is full of lies and he sent letters to me to for appointments and I never turned up but they have no proof of the letters that were "sent". I'm unsure what to do now. I have a brilliant surgeon now so I'm unsure to just let it go, All I wanted was an apology off the old Surgeon, I'll never get that.

Hope your echo goes well on the 13th Kitten.

Backpack - you silly! ( says she who dropped a screwdriver on her eye a couple of weeks after eye surgery!)
Have you been through PALs for your complaint? They can be a bit of arbitrator (sometimes)

PALs were the people who put the complaint through to the head of Neurosciences Obviously they are going to be on the Neurosurgeons side when I asked someone else to look at the complaint I was told no.

How did you manage to drop a screwdriver on your eye?

I guess the next step (if you wish to take it further) would be the ombudsman

I was fixing dds desk which had come adrift and had to lie on my back to get to the screws. Unfortunately it was a bit of a bugger and I dropped the screwdriver!

in hindsight, of course I would have turned the desk upside down

Well, I have done many silly and regrettable things in my life, but I have never thrown a loft hatch or a screwdriver at myself. So maybe I'm not that mental after all.

I think you're right, all of you, that I was expecting too much of the GP. But she's probably not the person to go to for advice here and really, I probably need to accept that there probably isn't anyone best placed to help on this... I see the consultant in about 6 weeks and I do need to do all this thinking somehow beforehand. But I guess the worst that can happen is that I lose my career and piss everyone around in the process, in life, worse things do happen. I have what I perceive to be the two most wonderful children on earth. And you can't put a price on that.

BackPack :( about the complaint. All I can say is... I've been through similar.

I most likely have done what you did Kitten. Then thought I could have turned the desk over.

I've decided to try the Ombudsmen as that surgeon can not get away with what he has done to me. I have video evidence what Future MIL, The private Ambulance crew (Paid by MIL to bring me home 4 hours after surgery) my now surgeon has all told me to go to Solicitors as it was not on what he did and said to me. I don't want to go to solicitors as it most likely ruin his carer, which will ruin his family (I have seen the effects of losing my job and the effects on my family) I can't do that to them. It will also effect the NHS and I surely don't want that as I have a brilliant Surgeon his looks could help :o and if it was not for my Surgeon I would still be in pain and losing more and more vision daily, it has stayed stable at the moment :o All I want is an apology off the old surgeon, but he wont give me it.

Hope your ok Breastmilk

I also forgot to add we have an appointment tomorrow with my GP about TTC and going back to work for either DP or I and when is the best time to.

We have wanted another baby for months we really want one before I lose my sight as then I will be getting a Hysterectomy so there is no chance I will fall pregnant. I really don't want DD to be an only child. Has anyone been pregnant and ended up having a GA? as the information I have found out is being pregnant can either make IH worse or it can cure you. I just don't know if its a risk to take, But hopefully 9am in the morning my GP can answer my questions.

Hope everyone is feeling ok.

backpack its better to move on and save the energy for living. Thats my view. There's too much anger in the world.

I dunno funnyperson, I think it depends on the individual, sometimes you have to do what is right for you and it sounds like backpack is being very sensible about this, thinking about the best course of action.

backpack, i hope the gp appt goes ok. i think you need to be quite open minded about the thoughts the gp will through up as they may not be what you hope for.

v. tired this am. partly cos dh arrived home a little before midnight, so we went to bed very late. He then set the alarm for 7:30am so he could start work at his usual time. unfortunately I couldnt get back to sleep.

Good luck BackPack with the GP. I think that wanting another child whilst you are still able to see him or her is a brave and utterly legitimate reason for wanting to TTC now. I decided not to seek any medical advice about whether we should be trying to TTC DS because I knew that we would, irrespective of the advice received. In response to your question, though... I almost had a GA whilst pregnant with DD, and from what I've heard anecdotally, it's not uncommon. Essentially, like most medications, it's safest in the second trimester.

Regarding the ombudsman question... even without knowing the full story (and given that you are probably are going to take this further, I'd suggest you do keep the full story off the internet here, lest they find this thread and use it as grounds to discredit you) I can see both why you might and mightn't want to take this further. Funnyperson is right that it would be very stressful... and I don't know about you but I find everything more stressful whilst TTC/pregnant, too. But equally, it's about justice for you. I've posted here in the past about withdrawing a complaint against Social Services (it seemed to be that I was being victimised for complaining - and even with 18 months of hindsight I do still think this was the case) and in retrospect I do now regret not going to the ombudsman for that. But equally, taking the case through the ombudman rather than through the courts won't necessarily protect against the surgeon losing his job... he may still be referred for a 'fitness to practice' hearing with the GMC (General Medical Council), and they will decide on whether or not what he has done to you makes him safe still to carry out similar surgery on other patients. But if you're going ahead, as you say, evidence is key... and you might want some legal advice as to whether your video footage (what? how?) would be accepted as such.

And in the meantime... stay away from DIY!!! Please. I'm sure your MIL would help. If it's that desperate, I'll send you my mother, who is a DIY wizard...

kitten Glad DH is home :) He sounds quite a workaholic! Hope you catch up on some rest today? Don't know about with you, but it's a bit cold here for the garden anyway...

It is far too cold for the garden BM! I'll do some watering of my new plants but the pond can wait..... Fortunately no hose pipe ban here. I've got a rather excellent book to read so this afternoon after a nap I shall settle into it.
I'm going to be a little bit brave and attempt a walk to the local shop this morning. If I'm going back to work in a bit over a week then i need to make sure I can do stuff like that quite easily and I think I'm ready to try.

How is everyone today (and lurkers, how are you?)

Good luck at the shop. Is there anything there with which you can reward yourself? It was the coffee wot done it for me on Monday... I'd promised myself an extra-large takeaway latte if I could get there.

I'm OK. Finally into and mostly managing the paperwork. Arbeit macht frei, and all. I really can't face makking another GP appointment. But given that I have enough paperwork for the next six weeks, and given that I have the flexibility from work to be able to carry on from home, I think I will officially go back next week, and just call myself 'working from home' for another few weeks, and then see what I can discuss with the consultant...

I would like a daim bar if they have any! Though they seem to be selling less and less there

It is great that you can work from home, just take it easy though wont you? Make sure it doesn't end up making you feel pressured to work when you should be resting.

Hi funnyperson, it's good to see you on this thread. Regarding cardiac rehab, you may find it difficult to access if you have cardiomyopathy, rather than coronary heart disease. Phase 3 rehab is usually reserved for people who have had a heart attack (MI), stents and open heart surgery (usually bypass and valves). It is often not offered to people with arrhythmias, pacemakers, cardiomyopathy or heart failure. This is not because these groups would not benefit from rehab, but more because of funding constraints.

The good news is that this is changing, and more programs are opening up to people with a wider range of heart conditions. In fact, in my area GPs are able to prescribe exercise to people with a variety of conditions, which include heart problems, musculoskeletal problems and even mental health problems. So, you may be eligible for a rehab program, but it is not automatic. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Backpack I hope your GP appointment went well today. My experience of high risk pregnancy is that doctors rarely give definitive answers, because they cannot. Please don't be too disappointed if you do not get a certain yes or no.

That was an utterly rubbish walk. Not too bad going, just a bit dizzy but coming back I went really faint and dizzy. Almost sat down in the middle of the pavement a few times and had to comcentrate on one step at a time. Stupid body.

kitten Sorry you had a rubbish walk... I've had plenty of those, too. A friend suggested I take a book out with me, in order to be able to tell concerned bypassers that yes, I'm fine, I just couldn't wait until I got home before finishing the chapter and just had to sit down right now on the pavement to read.... well, the suggestion made me smile.

Did you find a daim bar?

maybe I should try that.
No daim bars :( in fact they only had about 3 sorts of chocolate and even more empty shelves. Bit worrying really, hope they aren't going to close. Fortunately I had an emergency cream egg stashed at home. So I've had that!

Sorry you had a rubbish walk Kitten, We had a shop similar to that one but now there is New management (even though nothing has changed) and the shelves are always full but overpriced now

Hope everyone else is doing OK.

My appointment with the GP was OK,He cant see a problem with TTC but it could be easier if we know if any of my illnesses are Hereditary, he has referred me on to someone who can tell me.

If any illness that I have is hereditary how will I live with it if DD or any other children I have gets it? I can't watch any of my children going through what I have.

It wasn't what I wanted to hear but least he has actually said there is a chance it is hereditary every other DR has passed my question by.

Did your gp have any idea on how long it would take to see the new person backpack? At least your gp was honest.