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?

Whinge alert.
So tired I could cry.
Didn't get much sleep last night, too many unrelated anxieties and painful joints. Dh left at 6am to go to a mttg. The day has been a catalog of small nuisances which meant I've not had time to rest.

I'm chairing a meeting tonight out of the house at 8pm Dh was supposed to be back by 9pm so dd was to get herself ready for dh to say goodnight. He told me about his meeting 2 days ago.

Dh has just texted. He's not going to be home until 10pm if he manages to get his connection which he thinks he won't. I bloody wish he had actually looked at the timetable rather than just guessing. Too late for me to cancel the meeting but I'm not at all happy at dd going to sleep without us. If dh misses the connection it will be 11:30 when he is home. Really struggling not to swear.

He's bloody away for most of next week too and dd has an awful lot going on that will require a lot of walking for us both hoiking around heavy stuff. And I've got a special night as well that he is going to miss.

I know that so many people have to cope by themselves and they have it really really hard. I'm lucky to have dh but at the moment it seems so bloody unfair. I've only been on my feet properly for about a week and it is f-ing full tilt already.

Right need to do dishes and get myself ready for poxy meeting. Dd keeps reassuring me she will be fine.

thinking of you BM x

giraffes hi and welcome. How are you doing now? I was quite shocked by a lot of the troll-hunting behaviour on your thread last night. Nobody has done that one here.

kitten I would be annoyed, too. My DH's commute, though much shorter, involves a similar level of reliance on public transport. And certainly, you must be exhausted. On top of everything else, you've got a job that's immensely physically demanding.

BackPack are you there? Are you still in hospital... or home now? Is anything further forward?

Welcome giraffes :) this is a good place for unloading.

Can I say though for going off at the deep end like that meeting wasn't at all poxy - was very constructive and was nice to see friends there, dd seems to have done a fine job of looking after herself. And tomorrow is a new day.

Breastmilk :( Your children will need you when they are adults and in relationships. They will constantly need their Mum.
I know you don't like hospitals have you spoke to your GP about it? I suffer Anxiety in hospital away from my home town. So my GP has put it on my records that I have Anxiety and need medication to help me when I am in hospital. Since then most DR's are accommodating for me.
I'm thinking of you :) .

Giraffes HI and welcome :)

Mad that seems ridiculous and seems horrible :(

Thanks all. BM hope you feeling ok. Hope everyone has a settled evening.

This is what happened to me, sorry it long, been cathartic to write it all. (have brittle asthma)

Had been looking after kids at work out the house, walked in at 5pm where house had been painted from 10am onwards, as soon as I walked in the door I felt my chest tighten and got short of breath. Boss who a dr home soon after. I was upstairs with kids. She went down,, got me steroids and antihostamine and told me to take 2 of them.

Phoned dr, was told he wpuld phone me back up ended up ginjg straight in. Walked in and receptionist knows me. Got told to sit and was taken in to a room and straight on a neb. Had constant ventolin nebs while there. He was in and out room sorting out stuff. (letters for hosp etc) Told me I had to go to hosp, I was wanting to go in a taxoi and he said ambulance to take me, I thought me meant just to transfer. Which is when I posted and thought it would be ages. But turned out it was a blue light job. Ambulances were on divert to the royal but he phoned my asthma consultant and asked to override that so i could be in his hosp (western - well gartnevel but they dont take emergency cases you get admitted by going through western, plus western has an hdu and icu so like to keep you there)

Had atrovent and ventolin in ambulance - atrovent was fantastic. Then oxygen as well. So by ime I go to hosp was over worse of it. Still sob on exersion - walk to toilet/doing peak flow etc.

What was scary was how fast it came on, one min was fine, thinking abotu dinner, contemplating gym after work. next min exposed to fumes and couldnt brethe.

Prob wasnt best idea to post, I hadnt imagined ambulance coming that fast so assumed id have time to expand adn then had no signal for net, but would let me text. Also I actually only remember bits of it, some of t is a haze, I wasn;t really thinking. Was scary.

Home now and on steroids (40mg pred) monteloukas, cetrezine, seretide and ventolin nebs. Saw respiritory nurse and resp dr in hosp. And hve follow up to my clinic in a few weeks. To dial 999 if worsens. But am ok at home now.

Funnily enough I have my period justy now...every single time I have had an emergency asthma admission I have had my period, or have just been at most 4 days from it starting, they are looking in to a hormonal link.

Once again thanks for all the kind wishes

Giraffes that seems really scary, I'm pleased you are better now. I will admit I know nothing about Asthma Future SIL has asthma and the DR's think DD has it .

It seems like a scary illness I can't imagine having it :( I have read your posts about being in hospital and I really hope you are out of hospital for a long time :) Hope your feeling better now.

I'm just waiting for NHS direct to call me back as my vision has gone double. I was told when the Dr's drained the fluid it could make my shunt fail. I had the choice of either not be able to move with the ball of fluid at my spine area or the DR\ to attempt to drain the fluid.

I chose the attempt to drain the fluid.

So I just need to wait for this call back. DP has also phoned the duty neurosurgeon (who is my Neurosurgeon tonight) for advice what to do . I know he was no good in the past few weeks but as he knows the problem he might help :)

I'm hoping its just temporary and I'll be back to normal in the morning but DP will not take no chances with my vision.

Good luck hope it all works out.

A OOH DR is coming to check on me they can check the shunt is working by pressing behind me ear and feeling the little "bubble" rise or not. If it rises it means it's working. If no bubble =not working.

Don't know why I cant test the bubble. I could tell them over the phone if it works.

I'm sure NHS likes wasting money.

it is going to be withing the next 6 hours do I stay up or not? I've never had an OOH come to me this time of the morning.

It sounds like everyone has had an eventful few days since I was last on here.

OYBBK - hope you are feeling better now, we all need a moan sometimes don't we.

Giraffe - sounds like you had a scare, glad you are more settled now.

Backpack - hope the OOH Dr has been and you are ok

How's Reenypip doing? Let us know if your lurking?

If you're lurking of course pedantic

Feeling so dreadful. Chest pains same as before, back pains unbearable. I delivered a vaginal breech on entonox and DS on a single paracetamol tablet; this feels worse than both. But the pain nevertheless feels preferable to the anxiety of phoning NHS Direct or the GP, so it's probably not that bad as I think it is. And I've been listening to all the Falklands reminiscences on Radio 4 and feeling fortunate my DH was not on the HMS Sheffield and watching DD build emails out of gween lego...

backpack, did they come?

oh breastmilk :( can they not change your meds?

Potentially, yes... I could probably have better and/or stronger painkillers than I've been buying OTC. But that would require me to ask someone, which seems where I'm stuck at the moment. And I keep thinking really, that if the pain is insufficiently painful to compel me to phone a doctor then it cannot be that bad.

How are you doing today?

do you have a nice gp?

Am ok, still breathless if walk about/move a sofe or something. Or talk lots Coughing a bit too but am ok in general

I do however feel quite vulnerable and shaken up. Arranged to meet a friend for coffee later.

Breastmilk, I think you should try and see your GP.

The stress of A&E at midnight is dreadful for everyone, but your GP surgery should not be too bad. What tests did you have at A&E? I'm guessing ECG and chest X-Ray. Did they do an echo?

Giraffes, don't move the sofa!

More to the point, why does the sofa need so urgently to be moved? If I wasn't so out of service myself, I would offer to come and move it for you.

I think you're both right about the GP. She is a good doctor and a very kind and thoughtful woman with an Olympic gold medal in locating lost hospital results... but finds it easiest to help me when I'm less stressed, which is to say that except in urgent scenarios, I'm best waiting until I'm a wee bit calmer. What I particularly like about her is her forthcomingness in admitting when she cannot help me, and her willingness to share my approach that doing nothing is often better than doing something potentially unhelpful... without her, I think I would have ended up sectioned and had many haphazard hospital admissions and probably a lot of scattershot and inconclusive investigations which would have made it difficult for me to produce DD and DS. But that said... I just don't know what anyone within the medical system could do to help me with the fear. I've been offered mental health referrals but I think I have sufficient past experience to suspect that it wouldn't be able to address how I'm feeling.. and the GP does seem to agree with me on that. But I do believe in miracles, and more so than I believe in the capacity of anything else to help.

I had several ECGs, an X-ray and all the normal bloods plus CK . I didn't have an echo, which I'm glad about... I think it goes into the probably-nesessary-but-best-postponed-until-calmer category.

Anyway mad how are you doing?

The OOH never came he phoned me and asked me to check myself as he was really busy and never knew how long he would be. I checked it myself and the Shunt drained into the "bubble" slowly but it did all fill up so it means its working.

I'm just waiting for my Eye Dr to phone me with an appointment for a field test and photos of my eye, it is supposed o be either today or monday for the appointment.

I hope you feel better soon Breastmilk. Did A&E say what they thought the pains were?

When I had my out patients appointment on Monday, I kept giggling like a mad thing because my friend was sending me daft texts. She kept asking if I had been put on the Slendertone yet (ECG). Every time I got a silly text, I was smiling. I think that is the best way for me to survive these things.

Giraffes - no moving furniture (are the steroids making you feel all restless and uncomfy? it is fake energy and will do you no good at all)

BM - how about a telephone appt with your gp and ask for some more useful painkillers that someone can pick up for you?

backpack I hope the eye doc gets back to you quickly. I hate those field of vision things. Feels like a really formal test that I fail rather unless they turn it up really bright!

I made it through a working week. Hooray!!!! I am really really tired. Not going to be terribly restful tomorrow as something urgent on the voluntary side has cropped up as well as an appt I cant cancel, but shouldnt be too too bad.

kitten Well done... it's a milestone, really.

Glad the poxy meeting went well, too.

I've booked a GP appointment for Tuesday, which was the next available slot (and found some rather strong painkillers lurking on a lonely shelf)

I'm sorry for all my moaning. I'm starting to appreciate how blessed I have been never to have experienced pain like this before, and starting to feel a fresh sense of respect for people who carry on with their lives amidst constant chronic pain.

Dont be sorry!!!! everyone moans about pain, especially when it is new (but also when it is chronic and dragging down)

Well done for booking your appointment