Written at 5.30pm (on my sofa!)
Well, that was disappointing…
Pretty much a waste of time.
Sometimes people say “no news is good news” well not today. Essentially, after about an hour of waiting in a packed out waiting room, the registrar called me into his office. He sat me down, asked how I was doing, then proceeded to tell me the the CT scan I had had not yet been viewed by the Neurosurgeon (N.S.) and without his opinion there can be no decision made regarding my surgery.
There are no words to describe how frustrated and let down we are. This date had been a beacon, I thought I would be told some definite dates or timescales but rather than that I have been told that, until the N.S. comments on the scan (that his team arranged for on the 3rd Jan) there can be no further action taken. We are again left in limbo-land with no clear date for anything.
I am left with an open appointment with the Thoracic surgical team so as soon as they get the green light I will be seen in the next clinic (which will be the following Tuesday) or I will need to see the N.S. team in an outpatients appointment. From there, who knows – maybe they will have got their act together but I am no longer expecting anything to be straight forward. I could be called in next Tuesday, I could be called in 3 weeks time, who knows…
What I do know is that there are, basically 3 options.
- The N.S. sees the CT scan and decides that the surgery needs his input. If this is the case then it will be either
- The N.S. sitting in on the operation (scrubbed up and sipping coffee…?)and making sure that nothing goes wrong. This would mean that the surgery will be held at St. James’
- The N.S. leads the operation with assistance from the Thoracic team. This would mean that the surgery will be at the LGI
- The N.S. sees the CT scan and decides that he doesn’t need to be involved in the surgery and the surgery will be done without his support at St. James’s
- The N.S. sees the CT scan and decides that surgery is not the best option going forward. Yes, you read it correctly, there is now the (small) possibility that surgery is potentially not going to happen.
Now you know what I know. The N.S. is holding all the cards and seems like he isn’t really looking at them. His team asked for the CT scan in early Jan and now as yet has not seen this scan (although the Thoracic team have it on their system).
The registrar was pleasant enough, he said that if it were him he would “…not be happy…” in fact he said;
I seem to have to say that quite a lot…
I have now got to Sit and Wait! I will be contacting the thoracic secretary each week (or every other day!) to see if they have any further information, although they have said that the secretary should contact me as soon as she hears anything (through what faith I have in that promise is minimal).
The treadmill seems to be circular and I’m getting dizzy, confused and disorientated. My stress levels are causing my back to be bad and there seems to be nothing I can do to get this process moving forward. All I can do is hope that tomorrow something has shifted.
If you pray, then please pray that;
- The N.S. gets his arse into gear (yes, can you can say the word “arse” in a prayer) and looks at the CT scan and advises the thoracic team.
- My pain and stress levels lower.
- We find some level of peace in the process.
I’ll be heading off the the Driving range tomorrow with a friend and I’ll be taking my frustration out there. Hopefully I will have cleared my head enough to be able to get back to work on Thursday, although my diary will need to stay empty for next week until Tuesday comes, as I could get a call on the Monday or Tuesday to call me in to possibly get the ball rolling again.
Good job my faith is in something other than the NHS Empire…
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Oh my days !!!! I feel so frustrated for you ! I’m sure you can imagine my choice of language as i sit here on my sofa in disbelief at the neglectful attitude of some aspects of our healthcare system !! (very politely put if i do say so myself !) I like the part about ringing them often to remind them that you exist and explaining how much pain you are being left in while they get round to looking at things and thus making a decision !
My thoughts are with you and Gill and i will indeed be calling upon the universe and the powers that be to give the N.S. a kick up the arse, give you some repsite from your pain and showers a whole load of peace on you both !
Hugs
Hugs straight back at you!
Thinking of you both and praying for you. xx
I don’t mean to be flippant, but to ask seriously, is there any way you could go private?
We’ve considered it but feel that at the moment all we need is 10 minutes from the N.S. to give his opinion. Then the ball should (?) start rolling again.
We feel that going private is something we shouldn’t have to do and all it would do is line the pocket of the N.S. We don’t want to have to pay for his incompetence when we pay our tax like everyone else. It might need to happen further down the line but only as a last resort.
Now, off I go to call the surgical secretary and start hassling her to get the ball rolling!