Nice people thread part 6 - thrice by twice as nice :)

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

I shudder to think what someone who relied on and trusted in the system would have done through out this. That is three losses of referral in the same state hospital. ( one between a consultant and himself private to state).

A trusting member of my family was advised in May by her optican that she needed to see her GP urgently and the optican would write to him.

She rang in to see if the letter had arrived, no, rang the optican who confirmed it had been sent, arranged an appointment - no letter. Advise to go back and see the optican, repeated the cycle. Eventually he got the letter and agreed to refer her. By this time her son had worked out that she had thyroid problems that were causing pressure on the optic nerve.

Nothing for the hospital, so the GP agreed to refer her again. Nothing again, so she went back to the GP. It was only when she advised him that she had sent her driving licence back to the DVLA as her sight was so bad she could not drive that she discovered he had never written the referal letter!!!!!!!

When she got the the hospital appointment in December, they kept her in. She also has diabetes and the situation was such that they could not treat the thyroid problem without disrupting the diabetes, so she was an inpatient for nearly three weeks.

It took surgery and lots of hospital transport (50 miles a day for one period). She now has her sight and her licence back, but it took 18 months.

The consultant was incensed but she cannot even complain as it is the only GP practice in a very rural arrear.

lostinrates

Oh RAS thats terrible (but nice to see you in this thread, welcome, my friend!).

I have thyroid issues too. but do not think they are related directly (though have read this is more problem in people with endocrine issues so my guess is their is not yet understood interaction).

My GP has been very good, as has been a wonderful out of hours gp. Both advised the leapfrog option as they are copncerned at the delay. I am latrophobic, mainly, almost only relating to GPs, thpugh i notice i am getting edgy for all these things and was shocked that the mri unsettled me so, so top go to a gp is quite a 'big deal' for me. But since i trailed off seeing the old consultants and moved i have been in the medical hinterland, not quite at sea alone, because i was in phone contact with old fp and on occasion old consultants, but i feel the systems have let me down very badly and i feel.....untrusting and vulnerable relying on them, hnce the fear.

Doozergirl

zagubov wrote: »

Right. We're going to see the Olympics in September. To see the grounds more than any particular event, and mostly so that DS will be able to say he's been. Reminds me of being dragged around the Tutankhamun exhibition in London in '72.

See you there ) 6th and 7th for us.

Doozergirl

lostinrates wrote: »

My dad offered to stay the night so that i could call an ambulance and 'beat the system' the way I have been advised. It just feels a bit useless. All they will do i think is keep me in till the morning, tell me what i know, that the senior opthalmologist is away till the day i have an appt with him anyway, and that the neurolgy dept will make an urgent referral, which i already am waiting for in nhs and have private. So not really sure what i would gain. I might..depends what happens between now and then.



Besides all the losses and confusion i find that an urgent referral can take so many weeks quite scary anyway. To day my head is cracking at the seams it feels like. After doing the animals i am going to have the longest shower in the water conserving world and that will help:)

.

A&E at a different hospital? I drove BIL across Birmingham yesterday so he'd go to a hospital with a tropical disease department, just so it might be on the radar in their A&E.
Entirely unimpressed with A&E but it was the proper sort with drunks smelling of wee and noisy people, unlike our local which is always quiet and the staff and beds available, though I think all they specialise in is sandwiches and letting people die or something.

Wander yourself into the hospital with bestest neurology department?

I'm entirely unimpressed on your behalf. Just because a condition is existing, it doesn't make **** scary symptoms any less **** scary.

Abnormal to you is off the scale for most people. You've paid for it, use it. It's not a stroke victim you're holding up, it's all the idiots I saw last night, most of whom were drunk or had bleeding fingers.

lostinrates

Doozergirl wrote: »

.

A&E at a different hospital? I drove BIL across Birmingham yesterday so he'd go to a hospital with a tropical disease department, just so it might be on the radar in their A&E.
Entirely unimpressed with A&E but it was the proper sort with drunks smelling of wee and noisy people, unlike our local which is always quiet and the staff and beds available, though I think all they specialise in is sandwiches and letting people die or something.

Wander yourself into the hospital with bestest neurology department?

I'm entirely unimpressed on your behalf. Just because a condition is existing, it doesn't make **** scary symptoms any less **** scary.

Thing is, if you cannot see, you cannot drive (safely) so wouldbe getting ambulance. In any case, the situation is the same at both nearest hospitals and the slightly further one. My gp's secretary has been chasing fairly aggressively between the three, so i know how it stands. We went to the hospital we chose in the very first instance as it was the shortest waiting list.


If it happens worse than has so far been, or god forbid, both eyes at once, i will call dad to come here and call an ambulance for me. Apart from the headaches its not painful.

fc123

vivatifosi wrote: »

My granddad was like that fc. He'd say things like "nobody is ever famous for coming second" and "be what you want to be in life, but be the absolute best at it, if you want to be a binman, that's fine, but be the best binman" (before going off into how to time and motion study the job). Then he'd not allow the kids to win at things when they were 7 or 8 because it's important to learn how to compete in life.

I absolutely adored him though, he took each of his grandchildren, worked out what we were good at and then nurtured the chosen ones to extremes, in my case I was good at shooting so we'd spend 3 hours a day on many days target shooting with air pistols and air rifles (hence the comment above). He didn't get on with my brother because he didn't find something he excelled at and I didn't realise until later the extent to which my Mum stood up to him to stop him moulding "mini me's". Even now I can't hear him criticised because he was my hero. He was brilliant at so many things: he played football professionally, played about 30 different types of musical instruments and was supreme in his artisan crafts. He was brave enough as a fireman that during the war they climbed on the rooftops of the burning buildings of Woolwich to put out fires not thinking they would get down again. However I also have to acknowledge that he was a very hard and complex individual who nobody in their right mind crossed. Thankfully I'm not neurotic, but a lot of my extended family members are after such an upbringing.



Making paperbacks to cost is increasingly common (eta: google mass market paperbacks). Pages of library books now often fall out after a few reads. In "ye olden days" (1970s and earlier) libraries had binding machines that warmed up the glue and you stuck the pages back in and waited for them to cool down. I used to love doing that as library prefect. Now it is considered so dangerous warming up solvents that even the staff aren't allowed to do it. Let alone unpaid child labour.

They meant well I am sure but it's a balancing act as pushing for one person can bring great things but for another the push affects their confidence making it so low that they give up.

The glue thing is 'quality fade' ......very common in a lot of things nowadays. Manufacturers are pushed on price so cut teeny tiny corners just a tiny little bit....like watering down the glue....so things aren't made as well as before.

lostinrates wrote: »

So dh got told off at work today....for being there. Apparantly the caring organisation is horrified he would leave me atm and are suggesting he works indefinitely from home till we are more sorted.

This all feels rather unnecessary, but, last niht i had vision loss for the first time in the other eye ( normal one stayed ok).

Its almost always happening at night, so i am wondering if i can minimise presuure on the relevant part of my brain by tryingto sleep sitting up.

If they say that then I think that's a great idea and he should take them up on their kind offer

lostinrates wrote: »

Can you believe the eyeclinic referal cack to nhs got lost? Three losses within same hospital. I am afraid i was not a nice person again and explained i was not prepared to lose my sight because they could not organise themselves correctly, and have got eye ultrasound a week today.

I shudder to think what someone who relied on and trusted in the system would have done through out this. That is three losses of referral in the same state hospital. ( one between a consultant and himself private to state).

As RAS said my old dad had something similar. He is lucky as has old 'mates' @ UCL so day after, booked himself in for an opinion witha consultantthen paid for the eye op. 9 months later a refferal came through but he would have already been blind by the time it came. He is lucky as he has the 4k to hand to pay. The others who trust leave their trust in the system or don't have the cash to hand...makes me sad.

Bit like my MIL...but that's for another day.

I hope you get it sorted and never worry about pushing and asking...firmly. DH can join in if he's home too.
Bypass with an SOS if you have to too....that's what the service is for.

Quick pop in for me as off to Romania in 30 mins BUT have just heard that the 02 is chocka as we won a medal? DD going to drop us off at the tube. We'll get as near as we can and walk the rest of the way.
Flight at 11.55 from Luton so we should be OK.
Wish me luck tomo....fun factory visit from 8am all day then early flight home weds am.


Spoke to my sis lst night and she now has ill health with her MIL. It's not looking good as she has just found she has a brain tumour (but they don't think it's cancerous' )which explains her 'funny turns'. Lives down near PN's mum so far away. All a bit tricky and difficult for her hubby as their parent/child relationship is a bit strained as he was abandoned age 11 (with his twin) by her.

Anywa

zagubov

lostinrates wrote: »

Can you believe the eyeclinic referal cack to nhs got lost? Three losses within same hospital. I am afraid i was not a nice person again and explained i was not prepared to lose my sight because they could not organise themselves correctly, and have got eye ultrasound a week today.

I shudder to think what someone who relied on and trusted in the system would have done through out this. That is three losses of referral in the same state hospital. ( one between a consultant and himself private to state).

As a former NHS employee I'm embarrassed at the way you've been treated.

We've got version 1.0 of a Health Service and it's cheap but only good if you're careful what countries you're comparing it with.:(

PasturesNew

fc123 wrote: »

... my old dad had something similar. ....lucky as he has the 4k to hand to pay. The others who trust leave their trust in the system or don't have the cash to hand...makes me sad.

And the extra cost of blind benefits and adaptations etc over a person's lifetime would dwarf £4k if only they'd fixed it. They never look at the whole picture, just individual budgets.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

Thing is, if you cannot see, you cannot drive (safely) so wouldbe getting ambulance. In any case, the situation is the same at both nearest hospitals and the slightly further one. My gp's secretary has been chasing fairly aggressively between the three, so i know how it stands. We went to the hospital we chose in the very first instance as it was the shortest waiting list.


If it happens worse than has so far been, or god forbid, both eyes at once, i will call dad to come here and call an ambulance for me. Apart from the headaches its not painful.

If you can find the BEST one .... and find a NP who lives near that ... you could visit them for the day and have an ambulance call out

Nikkster

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you can find the BEST one .... and find a NP who lives near that ... you could visit them for the day and have an ambulance call out

I was about to say something very similar