More entries from the joint journal will be up soon. Watch this space for more details.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Monday, 6 December 2010
You couldn’t make it up !!!!
Monday 6th December 2010
On 1st July I had an appointment to see the Back Man.
He said “I see from your records you had a MRI scan in September (2009). I’d like you to have an up-to-date one done and also some x-rays on your back. I’ll see you again once they’ve been done”.
For once the NHS was on the ball and on 13th July I had the said MRI scan and x-rays.
I then waited, waited and waited for a follow-up appointment to see the Back Man. One eventually arrived for sometime in November.
Shortly before the appointment I received a letter from the hospital to say the November appointment had had to be cancelled but they had given me another one for Tuesday 4th January at 2.30pm.
Today I received two letter from the hospital. The first one said that an appointment had been made for me to see the Back Man on Wednesday 5th January at 3.05pm. No mention was made of the previous days appointment…
The second letter said that the Wednesday 5th January’s appointment had had to be cancelled and another one had been made for Wednesday 2nd March.
Provided the hospital doesn’t change the appointment again, when I go and see the Back Man in March, it’ll be nine months since I had the second MRI scan.
So much for getting an up-to-date MRI scan !!!!
On 1st July I had an appointment to see the Back Man.
He said “I see from your records you had a MRI scan in September (2009). I’d like you to have an up-to-date one done and also some x-rays on your back. I’ll see you again once they’ve been done”.
For once the NHS was on the ball and on 13th July I had the said MRI scan and x-rays.
I then waited, waited and waited for a follow-up appointment to see the Back Man. One eventually arrived for sometime in November.
Shortly before the appointment I received a letter from the hospital to say the November appointment had had to be cancelled but they had given me another one for Tuesday 4th January at 2.30pm.
Today I received two letter from the hospital. The first one said that an appointment had been made for me to see the Back Man on Wednesday 5th January at 3.05pm. No mention was made of the previous days appointment…
The second letter said that the Wednesday 5th January’s appointment had had to be cancelled and another one had been made for Wednesday 2nd March.
Provided the hospital doesn’t change the appointment again, when I go and see the Back Man in March, it’ll be nine months since I had the second MRI scan.
So much for getting an up-to-date MRI scan !!!!
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Unexpected news
Friday 17th September 2010
I had an appointment to see Kermit at 9am to find out if the plastic man had changed his mind and agreed to do the necessary skin graft.
Shortly after I had been ushered into the consulting room, what looked like a registrar picked up my notes from the box outside the consulting room door and went into the consultants office to look over them.
I hate seeing registrars so wasn’t amused when one of them picked up my notes with the intention of seeing me.
Kermit walked into the consultants office and the registrar, who was reading my notes, mention my name and mumbled something which I couldn’t hear.
“Oh, it’s a long story”, replied Kermit, taking my notes from him and left the office alone.
“How are you”, he asked, as he came into the consulting room.
“Fine”, I replied.
He asked how I had got on with the back man so I explained what he had said about surgery and the possibility of ending up paralysed.
Kermit nodded, “any back surgery carries a risk, and sadly because of everything that’s gone on with you, it’s greater. However he’s the expert so I’m sure he’ll go through everything with you”.
He flicked through my notes, “I had a chat with the plastic surgeon", he said, "and we’ve both come to the agreement that it would be best if we left thing well alone”.
“Ok”, I said, slowly.
“One of the hardest things a consultant has to do is decide when to draw the line. I could do the operation, but it may not work. That’s very frustrating for a consultant when things don’t go the way they want”.
“It would be a tough operation, one that takes a lot of skill and might be a challenge too far”, he added.
He closed my notes then said, “you seem to be coping very well the way you are, and have adapted to it. If you had said you weren’t then I might have considered it”.
HOW DARE HE !!!!! How dare he say that because I’ve coped well without having a hip, that he won’t do the operation. What choice did I have. Staying in bed all day and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t an option. I had to cope with it. It was as simple as that.
All along he had been extremely enthusiastic about putting in a new hip. He said he loved doing complex and challenging operations and wasn’t happy when the plastic man was stalling.
Now it appeared that he hadn’t the necessary skills he thought he had. So because of his lack of ability, to try and make him feel better, he said he was pleased with how I was coping with everything.
What I am most annoyed at is his arrogance. Instead of saying ‘I don’t have the skills to do the operation so I’ll refer you to someone who does’, he has simply drawn a line under it, with the attitude of ‘if I can’t do it, then no one can’.
I was going to seek a second opinion if the plastic man had said no. I never thought I’d have to do that with Kermit….
I had an appointment to see Kermit at 9am to find out if the plastic man had changed his mind and agreed to do the necessary skin graft.
Shortly after I had been ushered into the consulting room, what looked like a registrar picked up my notes from the box outside the consulting room door and went into the consultants office to look over them.
I hate seeing registrars so wasn’t amused when one of them picked up my notes with the intention of seeing me.
Kermit walked into the consultants office and the registrar, who was reading my notes, mention my name and mumbled something which I couldn’t hear.
“Oh, it’s a long story”, replied Kermit, taking my notes from him and left the office alone.
“How are you”, he asked, as he came into the consulting room.
“Fine”, I replied.
He asked how I had got on with the back man so I explained what he had said about surgery and the possibility of ending up paralysed.
Kermit nodded, “any back surgery carries a risk, and sadly because of everything that’s gone on with you, it’s greater. However he’s the expert so I’m sure he’ll go through everything with you”.
He flicked through my notes, “I had a chat with the plastic surgeon", he said, "and we’ve both come to the agreement that it would be best if we left thing well alone”.
“Ok”, I said, slowly.
“One of the hardest things a consultant has to do is decide when to draw the line. I could do the operation, but it may not work. That’s very frustrating for a consultant when things don’t go the way they want”.
“It would be a tough operation, one that takes a lot of skill and might be a challenge too far”, he added.
He closed my notes then said, “you seem to be coping very well the way you are, and have adapted to it. If you had said you weren’t then I might have considered it”.
HOW DARE HE !!!!! How dare he say that because I’ve coped well without having a hip, that he won’t do the operation. What choice did I have. Staying in bed all day and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t an option. I had to cope with it. It was as simple as that.
All along he had been extremely enthusiastic about putting in a new hip. He said he loved doing complex and challenging operations and wasn’t happy when the plastic man was stalling.
Now it appeared that he hadn’t the necessary skills he thought he had. So because of his lack of ability, to try and make him feel better, he said he was pleased with how I was coping with everything.
What I am most annoyed at is his arrogance. Instead of saying ‘I don’t have the skills to do the operation so I’ll refer you to someone who does’, he has simply drawn a line under it, with the attitude of ‘if I can’t do it, then no one can’.
I was going to seek a second opinion if the plastic man had said no. I never thought I’d have to do that with Kermit….
Friday, 10 September 2010
Drive time
Friday 10th September 2010
I did something today that I hadn’t done for over 25 years – and that was have a driving lesson….
Due to being hipless, and because of one thing and another, getting back driving would require me to part use hand controls.
I’ve never seen a car with hand controls, let alone drive using them, so I booked a driving lesson with ‘Bob’.
It was one of the most scariest things I have even done !!!!!!!! Think rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time but a thousand times more difficult, well that’s what it was like….
Thankfully I already knew how to drive so only had to concentrate on one hand doing the accelerating and braking, while the other hand steered using a knob.
Bob was impressed with how quickly I picked it up but I thought it best to have another lesson next week so I could practice reversing and parking.
I’m hoping that when I see Kermit a week today, getting a car fitted with hand controls and taking the driving lessons, will be all for nothing, and that I can have a new hip put in. However I always look on the black side so I am taking no chances !!!
Today is also the first anniversary of me being admitted to hospital. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by. Hopefully come the second anniversary I will be on two feet…
I did something today that I hadn’t done for over 25 years – and that was have a driving lesson….
Due to being hipless, and because of one thing and another, getting back driving would require me to part use hand controls.
I’ve never seen a car with hand controls, let alone drive using them, so I booked a driving lesson with ‘Bob’.
It was one of the most scariest things I have even done !!!!!!!! Think rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time but a thousand times more difficult, well that’s what it was like….
Thankfully I already knew how to drive so only had to concentrate on one hand doing the accelerating and braking, while the other hand steered using a knob.
Bob was impressed with how quickly I picked it up but I thought it best to have another lesson next week so I could practice reversing and parking.
I’m hoping that when I see Kermit a week today, getting a car fitted with hand controls and taking the driving lessons, will be all for nothing, and that I can have a new hip put in. However I always look on the black side so I am taking no chances !!!
Today is also the first anniversary of me being admitted to hospital. I can’t believe how quickly the time has flown by. Hopefully come the second anniversary I will be on two feet…
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Halfway up the stairs….
Thursday 9th September 2010
….is the stairs where I sit. That’s because my stairlift has died on me !!!!
I rang the stair lift hire company and someone is coming out to fix it tomorrow.
John had a poke around it and pulled out a mangled elastic band which seemed to have been the problem as it’s now working again.
I’ll still get the little repair man to come out and have a look at it as it had been playing up for a while so a service won’t do it any harm.
Even though I complain and moan about the stair lift, it’s certainly has made my life a lot easier as walking up and down the stairs is not easy….
….is the stairs where I sit. That’s because my stairlift has died on me !!!!
I rang the stair lift hire company and someone is coming out to fix it tomorrow.
John had a poke around it and pulled out a mangled elastic band which seemed to have been the problem as it’s now working again.
I’ll still get the little repair man to come out and have a look at it as it had been playing up for a while so a service won’t do it any harm.
Even though I complain and moan about the stair lift, it’s certainly has made my life a lot easier as walking up and down the stairs is not easy….
Friday, 27 August 2010
Back to normal
Friday 27th August 2010
Yet again I had to rang the hospital as the follow-up MRI scan appointment, which I was told ‘I should get very shortly’ two weeks ago, hadn’t materialised.
I asked the Back Man’s secretary when I would be receiving the appointment, seeing as the scan had been brought to his attention.
“He hasn’t had a chance to look at it yet”, she snapped, “you’ll get one when he’s done so”.
It was so nice to see the wonderful NHS back to its normal self…..
Yet again I had to rang the hospital as the follow-up MRI scan appointment, which I was told ‘I should get very shortly’ two weeks ago, hadn’t materialised.
I asked the Back Man’s secretary when I would be receiving the appointment, seeing as the scan had been brought to his attention.
“He hasn’t had a chance to look at it yet”, she snapped, “you’ll get one when he’s done so”.
It was so nice to see the wonderful NHS back to its normal self…..
Friday, 20 August 2010
Crash, bang, wallop
That’s what I did at 4am this morning…..
I got up out of bed to go to the loo and somehow lost my footing.
I stumbled into my bedside table and both me, the contents of the table and it ended up in a heap on the floor.
I sustained a bruised and sore hip from landing on stickies and a throbbing headache from hitting my face on the floor. My table sadly suffered a broken leg.
That’s the second time I’ve ‘kissed’ the bedroom carpet while going to the loo during the night. If I make it a hat trick I might be asking for a bedpan !!!!!
I got up out of bed to go to the loo and somehow lost my footing.
I stumbled into my bedside table and both me, the contents of the table and it ended up in a heap on the floor.
I sustained a bruised and sore hip from landing on stickies and a throbbing headache from hitting my face on the floor. My table sadly suffered a broken leg.
That’s the second time I’ve ‘kissed’ the bedroom carpet while going to the loo during the night. If I make it a hat trick I might be asking for a bedpan !!!!!
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