Putting the doctor right.

[RobertSmithsLipstick]

I have just recieved a really nice, really friendly letter from the doctor who discharged me from hospital.

It tells me that my heart scan was fine, and there were no particular antibodies detected to suggest an autoimmune condition.

It say she appreciates that I still may have my symptoms of dry eyes and fatigue (forgetting about 100 more) but that these can be managed my my gp.

The point is, i was discharged from hospital without anyone checking my abdominal scan results, so a week later i had a huge bleed at home, went off to hospital and was told then that the scan had shown scarring on my liver.

A gastroscopy and scan since then have shown cirrhotic changes, portal hypertension, 2 eosophagal varices, and a swollen spleen.

I feel pretty aggrieved about all this, as eosophagal bleeds can be fatal, and I feel like telling someone off.

Also, all of this has taken months and months wasted to get to this point, and I'm no further forward in getting help.

Is it even worth contacting anyone, just to make my point, do you think?

You can absolutely Reply to the letter copying in GP and others that are copied in to your letter & ask for a correction to the letter -

My son had a letter with two inaccuracies about and a scan & I just politely wrote back asking for the two things to be corrected and it was reissued-

Well, the correction would mean they'd have to say that they either hadn't checked my scan, or that they decided not to tell me the results.

I feel mean, because it's such a lovely letter - she was in fact the only doctor to really listen to me when I told her how ill I felt (and still do!)

Wow! I think this goes way beyond a polite letter back. I think, as it’s so serious, I would be contacting PALS and making a complaint so that nothing like that -hopefully-happens to anyone else.

I hope things soon improve for you @RobertSmithsLipstick

Then I feel angry, because all the time these miscommunictions happen, it is delaying me trying sort out exactly what is wrong with me.

I have to keep trudging off here there and everywhere, and I'm getting too ill to be able to do it, even by taxi both ways.

I have seen this as a clinician and is usually due to a delay in getting the letter typed. Does the letter have the dates on it - when it was dictated and typed?

Do you have a follow up appointment with a liver or gastroenterology specialist?

I do now, due the bleed.
My gp, however claims he had no paperwork to say that I had scarring.
He ordered another scan, almost as if he was trying to catch me out.
It's bizarre!

I've been mulling over what to you asked about dates, and I can see now, that could be where the problem is.

I actually was given an appointment with the surgical dept, by mistake.
It wouldn't have been until next March anyway, but I had to phone them and the secretary asked about what surgery I was having!

Also, I can't help wondering what would have happened if I hadn't have had the bleed?
I delayed seeking help, then got a cab to the hospital, queued up to get into a and e for an hour...

I should have had an ambulance, I think.

It might be worth discussing this is PALS.

I think it probably is down to the timings of it all.
I'm now being treated by a rheumatologist, as he feels my body is overwhelmed with inflammation.

I was only referred to him because my gp insisted that 2 blood tests being normal meant he could do nothing for me.

Oh, and I've just realised I don't have a follow up appt with a liver doc, because I have to have another scan first!

The surgical secretary I spoke to told her boss my tale, so he was the one who cancelled my appt with him and referred me on for a ct scan.

Waiting for that, still.