MEDICAL MATTERS

[Moh]

Had a good day today - visit to the doctors - haemoglobin (spelling??) levels fine & kidneys OK, blood pressure OK - so no more pills. Then saw chest nurse for a COPD check up - does not want to see me until next year plus I have lost 7.5 kilos since I came home - all good. Just hope hospital visit next week goes as well.

[Tardis]

A nod to my GP (Earby), who arranged a phone consultation within 24 hours and treated me like an adult.

House visit negoitiated and then told I will have a few more before the next stage.

Glacially slow at 4-6 months

Always comforting to see someone trying to stay calm and say that they will intervene faster if necessary. NHS in panic mode is not good.

[Stanley]

Lovely news Moh. Well done, you are evidently doing all the right things. Part of the answer is of course (or so I believe) your diet. Hardest thing to quantify but quite possibly the most important. Old fashioned cooking is like Jewish Penicillin!

[Cathy]

Glad to hear you are well and truly on the mend MOH.

[Moh]

When the nurse last visited I still have 3 boxes of large dressings and one of smaller ones = some are unopened and all are sealed dressings, but they say they cannot take them back (no wonder the NHS is hard up) - any ideas what I can do with them?

[PanBiker]

St John's maybe Moh unless the are as equally paranoid.

Same goes for mobility aids as well, we got quite a few for Sally's mum when she was still living independently, now she is in managed care she no longer needs them but the only way you can get rid of them is via the charity shops or on ebay. Not a lot can go wrong with a safety rail for bed, really winds me up when the country is supposedly skint, as you say, any wonder.

[David Whipp]

When the nurse last visited I still have 3 boxes of large dressings and one of smaller ones = some are unopened and all are sealed dressings, but they say they cannot take them back (no wonder the NHS is hard up) - any ideas what I can do with them?

Barlick Surgery were happy to have some unused dressings I had left last year...

[Stanley]

Same deal with an unopened bottle of eye drops and eye shield I had after the eye ops. They couldn't take them back and give it to me again, however, they saw sense and only prescribed one bottle for the second eye.

[Cathy]

I remember when leaving the hospital after having my daughter they gave me the packet of nappies I had opened, lotions etc, the bottles she had used and some made up ones (30ml's aaw! sweet), everything we had opened or touched really. Oh and lots of freebies, a bit like a Welcome to the World basket.

[Moh]

Saw the surgeon yesterday - he was happy with everything and does not want to see me for 6 months. I thought he would have 'sacked' me but he said no, and to contact him if I had any further trouble.

[Wendyf]

Glad to hear that all is going well with your recovery Moh.

[Tardis]

Hmm, first referral has arrived. Tissue typing and tests it says

[Stanley]

Moh, they'll have a set procedure. The good thing is that he isn't flagging up any concerns. Long strides now?

[Tardis]

Another referral, a different hospital, a pre-operational assessment clinic. May take 4 hours, but they'll allow me out to feed the meter in the car park

[Cathy]

Good Luck Tardis, hope it all works out in your favour.

[Tardis]

Thank you. It has two choices and I'm comfortable about both

[Tardis]

Two different hospital appointments, at different hospitals too, a day apart and I spend an hour on the phone asking them if they will only do the blood tests once.
Eventually I told them them to sort it out. I will do bloods at one clinic and they can share the results, so it was important for them to collaborate.
"If we miss any we'll do them at the second" I was told.
Then you'll be very disappointed I explained, because I will refuse. Get it right first time.
Gasps all around *rolls eyes*

[Marilyn]

How hard is it to just give a second sample?
It isn't that big a deal...
( though results can generally be accessed on-line between all doctors, including your GP if only they bother to look them up! )

[Moh]

I think it better to give two - one clinic may miss something the other one finds.

[Tardis]

Not hard to give 2, even though I'm anaeamic.

I was thinking more of the duplicated cost, time and resources

[Marilyn]

You have a long, hard road ahead Tardis.
Don't worry about time, costs or resources...
( and I understand how those that are chronically crook get really pissed off with the repetitive nature of tests)
Hang in there.

[Tardis]

Frustration is built in I think. Terrible when you become a knowledgeable patient

But yes, all my funding is guaranteed. Even the visits for counselling, for as long as I want. Everyone is but a phone call away and even my GP is reactive.

I am adjusting to being "special"

[Tardis]

Hurrah, clarity.

One hospital rang to say they'd do all the tests and the other hospital wouldn't need to. They would quite happily prod me a lot

[PanBiker]

Not at work today, have some kind of throat virus going on. Woke up Saturday thought someone had been rasping out my throat, as day progressed, couldn't get warm. Not much sleep Saturday night but no shivers on Sunday. Not lost my appetite fortunately, looking at my throat there is no strep infection (which is an automatic doc visit for me with my history of peritonsillar abscess) but my tonsils are working overtime fighting whatever I have inherited. Paracetamol, food and fluid and let it run it's course. Coughing better, as they say!

[Tardis]

Get well soon