A new face

Wednesday 19^th January 2011

In October, having seen one of my GP’s Dr Blake, I started taking a new painkiller called Gabapentin. A week into taking it I noticed my left wrist was going numb and going into pins and needles, especially when I’m in bed. The blurb literature that came with the Gabapentin stated that some of the side effects included numbness and pins and needles. Could it be the same thing….

When I saw Dr Blake in December I mentioned the problem I’d been having with my wrist, and that it had began shortly after I’d started taking the Gabapentin.

She wasn’t convinced that it was the side effects causing the problem so asked if I could continue taking it, monitor my wrist and go back to see her in January.

I have a very limited time slot when I can arrange an appointment to see my GP due to having to rely on John to take me there. I can go early mornings from 8am – 8.30am and from 6.15pm – 7.pm Monday and Wednesday when they have their evening appointments.

All Dr Blake’s early morning appointments in our time slot had been taken and she wasn’t doing evening surgery for the next month. The receptionist asked if I would like to see a Dr Chapman, one of the new doctors.

“She’s very nice”, assured the receptionist.

With the exception of two GP’s, the head man Dr Rutherford and Dr Wallace (who wasn’t there very long), all the doctors are lovely. Dr Rutherford is of the old school – a good doctor but no bedside manner. Dr Wallace, well he was just horrible. I always made a point of refusing to see him if Dr Blake wasn’t available. Given the short period of time that he was there, could other patients have thought the same…..

When my name came up on the display board to see Dr Chapman, John pushed Wizzy along the corridor towards her office. I knocked on the door then slowly pushed it open with my feet.

Dr Chapman who had been sitting at her desk, sprang off her chair and opened the door.

“Hello”, she said, in a lovely Yorkshire accent, “come in, come in”.

“So how can I help”, she asked, getting herself comfortable in her chair again.

I gave her a very brief background history as to what had happened, then explained about the Gabapentin and my wrist.

“Can I have a look at your wrist”, she asked.

“I think you may have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome”, she said, after poking and prodding my wrist, “this is where the median nerve, which relays sensation from the palm of the hand and fingers, becomes pinched, often by swelling of the tendons. This leads to numbness and pins and needles. I’ll refer you to see a specialist to confirm this”.

“I think it might be a good idea to reduce your Gabapentin”, she continued, “just in case it’s making things worse. I think it also might be a good idea if I referred you to see a pain consultant. They are specialists in pain management”.

Yet more consultants to add to the list…..

Starting tomorrow

Apologies for the long delay but starting tomorrow will be further adventures from the ‘Joint Journals’.

Don’t miss it…..

Coming soon

More entries from the joint journal will be up soon. Watch this space for more details.

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 !!!!

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….

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…

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….