Not the weather but me ...... or I can think of other words to describe the way I feel right now but none of them printable. And why you ask? Because my GP was too tight fisted to send me for an ultrasound of my gall bladder when I first complained of severe abdominal pain about 5 years ago. Apparently it comes out of their budget which is why the initial response was 'wait and see what happens' and then the next GP took me off one medication even though I was complaining of chronic pain which it now turns out was due to a highly inflamed gall bladder. And how do I know all this? Because today I saw the consultant at the hospital after I finally had the ultrasound at the beginning of July. Not only did this show gall stones but that the gall bladder is very thickened which is a sign of long term inflammation and if it had ruptured that could have been fatal. The consultant said this is going to make the surgery more complicated as there will probably be adhesions to the surrounding tissues. Then he said I also have a hernia and then ....... he was concerned because he could feel the aorta and was worried that I might have an aneurysm PANIC!!! Luckily he had a further look at my scans and notes and although my previous MRI scans were not informative because they had been done to look at the spine a closer reading of the ultrasound report came across the reassuring words - no abnormalities in the aorta. A BIG sigh of relief there, I mean you die from a burst aneurysm! I am incredibly cross with my GP for 2 reasons, firstly because they took so long to send me for the correct tests which not only put me in a lot of pain but also put my life at risk but also the consultant said that I should have gone to hospital when I had the severe attacks and the gall bladder would have been taken out straight away. My GP never mentioned this to me, he only told me to take the medication he had prescribed so I did as I was told and lay there in severe pain until the attacks passed. Rest assured I shall not be letting this go but tomorrow, when I am not quite so angry, I will be writing a letter of complaint to the Practice Manager of the surgery and sending copies to the Patient's Association and the General Medical Council.
But hopefully, hopefully the consultant said I might have the surgery next week. Though I will have to have the pre-op appointment first where they test for MRSA, and it's Bank Holiday next Monday so who knows when I'll get the surgery. The consultant will be doing the surgery himself ('cos it's so bad) and will fix the hernia at the same time. I think I'm going to referred for further checks on the aorta as well.
The weather today has alternated between sun and showers. I spent the morning writing up my journal notes. No sooner had I sat down outside but big raindrops plopped down and I had to make a run for the house. My afternoon has been spent at the hospital. Being the NHS I didn't even get seen until 45 mins after my appointment time. Yet if you turn up a few minutes late they give you a real telling off.
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