Support thread for those awaiting (and undergoing and recovering from) medical appointments,tests and surgery: PART TWO

[BreastmilkDoesAFabLatte]

This is a continuation of this thread, started a few months back by ohyouBadBadkitten as "a thread for you to vent in or post your 'hooray's'". Everyone is welcome, regardless of the nature or duration of their illnesses and whether or not they have a diagnosis. The last thread dealt with a real diversity of long-term and acute conditions, as well as many of the mental health challenges and fertility questions commonly associated with them.

We should probably add the standard sort of disclaimer about not necessarily being qualified or insured to offer proper medical advice, which means that if your symptoms start to sound a bit scary you'll get a few of us rather assertively shoving you in the direction of your local A&E department. As madsometimes puts it, "A&E for Mumsnetters would have Boden medical gowns, Farrow & Ball paint schemes and fruit shoot free vending machines selling organic elderflower presse. Pinot Grigio would be dispensed at wine o'clock. There would be public information posters warning about the dangers of googling Dragon Butter... the injuries resulting from Friday night threads would be quite horrific." However, we all know the reality of medical emeregncies to be signifiantly more stresfull than that, so if it's not life-threaningly urgent, we'll hold your hand and chat and support and speculate on the basis of the reasonably half-informed knowledge gained by our own life experiences.

Welcome. The kettle is on...

BackPack what a time you are having! Glad to hear CT scan for DD was ok, but you must have been so worried. Did you stay in hospital together last night? That must have been rough on you if in pain. Are you able to get some rest this morning?

Oh Backpack, your poor dd. I'm glad she is ok. My dd2 has fallen at school twice before, once I got the call when I was at the hospital which is over an hour away, and dh was with me, so my mum had to step in. School were not too happy, because a TA had to take her to our local hospital. She had concussion that time, but wasn't kept in, so we had a very scary night at home of her turning pale and vomiting.

Sorry you couldn't get your LP done. I have no idea how Natwest prevented it, but they are the worst bank that I have ever dealt with. There is no end to depths that they could plummet to, in my estimation. Hopefully, you can get it done before your surgeon goes on leave.

I was back at the hospital today for my pre-op assessment. No problems, although I was a bit when the male nurse suggested that I get a Brazilian, as he swabbed my groin for MRSA. He meant shave my extensive ladygarden around the edges, so the catheters can be placed. I don't think he actually meant a full Brazilian though. (What if he did?)
. BB, the treatment for flutter is the ablation that I'm having on the 13th. No wriggling out of it.

Pavlov, I think the sonographer probably will show you your extra-specially lovely kidney if you ask. However, it's unlikely that they will interpret the results for you. Good luck next week at work, I'm glad your acute pain phase is coming to an end.

BurningBridges DD wanted her Dad to stay with her so he stayed and I came home. We have had a lazy day today so we are well rested :)

Mad The TA went with DD they were OK about it but they said they couldn't wait for us even though we were 10mins walk away and the ambulance passed us coming into school
Natwest stopped my LP getting done with the problems they have been having. DP's Carers Allowance got messed up by them and they wouldn't allow him to withdraw it over the counter. My Surgeon tried to find a way to get me in but he couldn't as it was to late to arrange an Ambulance and the Hospital wouldn't OK a Taxi for the distance.

I have never heard of that for Surgery. I don't think I've had any Catheters placed, well I've not had any there when I've woke up. I always do the MRSA Swabs myself now as I hate the Nurses doing them.

I'm pleased your pre -op went OK :)

backpack oh no! How is she this evening? i hope she is ok, that must have been so very frightening. And definitely chase up investigations, as it is shocking they did not see it happening! I mean I know they dont have eyes in the back of their heads, and little ones are very fast, but especially at nursery age, the number ratios are much smaller specifically to keep an eye on them. I would be asking where her key worker was. It is not a bump, it is a LOT of stitches for such a little girl. How are you? I hope you are able to have a relax this evening, this would be a huge shock for you and DH too, make sure you give yourself some time too x

at Natwest.

The catheters being placed are not urinary catheters, they are ablation catheters. They are placed in the groin through the femoral vein and fed into the heart. My unkempt ladygarden extends to where the catheters will be placed and half way down to my knees.

I had a call this afternoon from the neurologist. She just wanted to know how I was, which was nice. I have had some limited eye stuff and arm numbness, but very short lived. She said that I could have an MRI scan of my brain, but I firmly declined it, as I have a PM. I said that I didn't want a CT scan either, because I'm fine. We established that I should go to A&E with symptoms lasting more than 15 minutes, less than that I can ignore.

Mad at him suggesting a brazillian! Well done for declining the MRI! I guess if it doesnt settle though or gets worse you'll pursue it further?

backpack - :( was it softpour that your dd fell onto? I should hope the school are investigating it. I would ask to see the written report of the review of the accident and the recommendations of actions to put in place. Kids have accidents, but that sounds quite unusually severe.

My contract is being renewed :) . woohoo!

OYBBK Squeeeeeee

Congratulations on your contract being renewed.

oybbk !!!!! fabulous news. You must feel so pleased, you have been fretting. How long has it been renewed for?

mad what is it with male medical professionals and their inuendos, what with BB's experience. I expect, after this I will end up with a hairy trucker type doing my ultrasound, and grunting the whole time

Hi ladies. Oh dear, lots to catch up on here!

OYBBK - Fantastic, congratulations. Good to have something to celebrate. Am raising a naughty Tuesday glass of to you.

Mad - three of my worries pre op were my period, needing a wee while lying flat for four hours after and having so shave all my lady garden off!! I completely understand where you are coming from. In reality I just did a slightly more thorough bikini line shave and it was fine. I'm sure a tampon will be ok and fingers crossed your cycle behaves so you don't need it. Didn't like weeingin a bedpan - very odd weeing lying down in bed but you may have had to do this before I guess with other surgery? I am sure compared to your open heart surgery this will be easier. Not having a general will certainly help recovery. I'm sure that slowed me down for a while.
I can see the sense in getting flutter sorted before anything else. Interestingly since my hole was closed I have had no real headaches at all, and have noticed that I used to have transient visual floaters which have stopped. Also no more new numbness, pins and needles etc... Although I'm not back to normal I am really pleased I had it closed now and the risk of stroke has been minimised. I guess what I'm saying is although you don't want another procedure if your symptoms persist once flutter sorted it might help. Then again as you are on warfarin your risk of stroke should be reduced by that. Impressed your neuro rang you. Seems very sensible and on the ball. Wish mine would return the call I made 4 weeks ago!!

Backpack - you poor thing and poor DD. what a horrible experience. I hope she is feeling better. Really glad Natwest don't do your lumbar punctures!! Was slightly confused!

Pavlov - glad to hear your back is a little better. I think they will show you your kidney if you ask them. Sorry to hear about going back to work confusion. It is a stress we could all do without isn't it? Hard enough to concentrate on trying to feel better and sorting out home life!!

Mharhi - hope all ok for your ultrasound. Does sound painful. How are you doing after your op?

Burning - yes I do my MRSA swabs too! Shame about your GP surgery. You could do with a new enthusiastic GP coming along who has not learnt about moving fat!! Although they're probably rare the way the NHS is at the moment.

Laughing now at thought of hairy trucker type sonographer!!

D'oh I forgot about the peeing lying down
I had an angiogram, so I have done the peeing thing, and it's weird and very, um, wet

I don't know why the neurologist called me today. She said that she had been reviewing my case and wanted to see how I was, because the opthamologist's letter had arrived through the internal post. I got my copy a month ago, hospital post must be dire! I said that I was glad that the opthamologist had said my eyes were great, but I didn't understand what he meant by my sight problems being caused by circulatory problems. She said she couldn't fully explain that, because she didn't totally agree, but didn't know the cause. Oh well, medicine isn't an exact science I suppose.

mad at the Brazilian comment. How are you feeling about the ablation now?

kitten and what a relief... what took them so long? Really pleased for you, though.

BackPack your poor DD. Certainly, they need to look into it. How is she now?

ginger How are you doing?

I'm still eating endless packets of nuts and pots of yoghurt to try and halt the drastic Prozac-induced weight loss and I think that I've stopped losing. I hope. Really don't want to have to come off the Prozac...

Just back from a meeting
Tis renewed for another year. Massive phew! It is a struggle to manage, but I think I'm still doing a pretty good job and I do love it so I am very relieved. :)

Hi BM - nuts and yogurt sounds like a very healthy way to put on weight. Cake?? Glad the Prozac are working. You are sounding much more positive over the last few posts.

I've managed a couple of days work this week. It's ok but I'm a bit tired really. Still it could take a while to be able to build up my hours. Part of me wants to get back into it properly but part of me says slow down and make the best of the opportunity to get back to something near normal energy levels.

I have tentatively reduced my amitriptyline dose a little for last few days. No ill effects yet....

ginger I was going to say that too! nuts and yoghurt? you want to be eating donuts. a 5 pack to yourself. Well, I could do that without an issue and I don't need to keep the weight on!

night all.

Hm donuts, now I want some!

Hi again everyone, yes op was ok, much easier to recover from, laproscopic, for a band adhesion so just went in with a telescope and got it, feeling almost back to normal now, no tummy pains yet.

I had same with prozac was great for losing weight, sounds a good idea eating healthy things like yoghust and nuts, also another thing 5HTTP I found had a similar effect. I've tried other antidepressants during b'feeding and none as good or with less side effects as prozac- it was also much easier to stop, something about it's half like I think.

Off to try and have a swim now I think- am getting quite a bit of pain from adhesions from having anastomosis last year, and where this ovary is trapped, the ultrasound should be okay it says whenever in cycle, however as is vaginal don't really want during my period!

Hope you are all having a good pain free day..

half life I meant

Mharhi it's great that you're swimming... can imagine it helps with the pain?

Unfortunately I'm not really a cakey or donutty person... and whereas I've always loved chocolate I ate so much in the days immediately before and after the surgery that I'm still a bit chocolatted-out, so to speak. But that said, there is some rather yummy-looking chocolate cheesecake on offer at the local garage: I may have to try it...

Can I join in? I'm waiting to see a specialist in London for joint hypermobility syndrome. I was diagnosed two years ago by a physio, and when I researched it, so many things dropped into place. All the pain and clicking and crunching my joints do, it all makes so much sense now.

I went to my doctor last month because I just found out that my dislocating thumb can lead to real problems later on and the right physio, or splints, can prevent the need for an operation. He said he would rather refer me to someone with a particular interest in JHS, and now I've got an appointment with the leading UK expert which is a bit daunting!

Welcome I love your username, but am afraid I'm one of those peskily punctual people!

A friend of mine was diagnosed with Ehlos-Danlos syndrome a few years back, which I think (do someone correct me if I'm wrong...) is the same as EDS. Like you, it took her a while to find the right medical care, but found that having a doctor who really understood the condition did help her find ways to manage.

Is your thumb painful at the moment?

EDS has (I think) six sub-types; JHS (or JHMS) is EDS type 3. (don't you just love medical acronyms)

My thumb isn't painful, but it has dislocated ever since I can remember - and as it didn't hurt, I didn't realise it could be a problem until I researched JHS. It is a bit disconcerting for people if they notice it when I pick things up - it pops out and sits at an odd angle till I pop it back in. I'm hoping the London specialist can set me on the right track for referrals to physical therapy etc to help with the general joint pain and stop any further deterioration.

A new GP has started at our surgery and I saw him for the first time, he said he has another patient with JHS and actually knew a bit about it, which was fantastic. My old GP did a kind of patient-led treatment: I would research something, tell him what I'd found, tell him what I wanted to be done, and he would do it. Not terribly helpful when all my knowledge was from Google and the local library!

I am slowly reading this and the previous thread from the start - some of you have really been through the wringer.

Hi oops - there's nothing more I like than a leading UK expert and I try to seek them out for all my referrals . Sounds like you are to be in the right place. And I am always late by the way, also I notice my children have picked up the habit as well - its definitely congenital!

I am at all the shaving going on - my problems are above the waist so I remain hirsute. Liking OYBBK's contract being renewed, and glad Mharhi's went ok.

I've been up to A&E with DD2 today, she has a long term back problem and we are going to need an MRI - they did tell us this last year and we said oh no she'll be fine , but now it looks like she won't. Have her first private physio appt. next week (around then I also hope to get my bone scan results) and her orthopaedic clinic appt. on 9th July. On top of this, we are trying to sort out DD1's formal referral to Queen's Charlotte's in Hammersmith which is proving a bit round the houses.

Do you find that if you are known to be ill by friends, and then your DD's get sick as well, they get a bit as if you all have Munchausen's or something? I don't know how it all happens at once, and I know from MN I am not the only one in this position, but do you think all those fit and well people with their fit and well DCs think we are making it up?

Sorry, confusing post with too many emoticons. Got a bit over-confident and posted without previewing. I meant I am glad Mharhi's op went ok, and DD2 WILL need the MRI. Anyway, you probably got the gist.

Hi Oops
I'm glad that you are on the way to getting a diagnosis, and hopefully some treatment. I have marfan syndrome, which is related to EDS. With these rarer conditions, it's vital to get a specialist who understands, it really makes such a difference.

Before I was under my current specialist, I really felt that the doctors I saw were only a page or two ahead of me in the genetics textbook. My current cardiologist knows more, or at least as much, about my condition as anyone else in the country, and my surgeon operates on more people with my condition than anyone else in the UK. For me, there are no What If's. I know that I have the best team looking after me, even if they do work in a hospital in a not particularly nice area, that takes an hour plus to get to.

Dh is always early. I'm reasonably punctual, but dh drives me crazy!

BB, good luck with your bone scan results. I really hope that the scan gives you good news. How is your dd2 now? Not in too much pain I hope, I know you said up thread that your dd has long term health problems. Is that dd1 or dd2? Gosh it is horrible when the children are sick too. These things do happen though, and we just have to be strong.