A great start to the day! Then my NS has to spoil it!
Mon, 11/02/2009 - 15:05 | 
Chris Well, the day started off really well!
@beverleyknight sent me a Twitter mention that she would be very interested in buying my mother-in-laws book on 60's Student Nursing for her sister-in-law who is a Nurse!
Then NHS Choices gave me the chance to become an official blogger on the new NHS Choices blog site!
Then I was sent my server stats for my blog! 3733 visitors and 15097 page views!
on top of that I seem to have come out of the other end of a cold / man flu / chest infection - I feel great!
Talk about on a high for a Monday morning!
Then I get a letter from my Neurosurgeon from my last visit......... the following post will set the scene of the dreadful appointment that I had.
Well, he seems to have played down my symptoms as a result of his "less than organised and caring demeanour"
He told me on my last visit that he would take time out to write a letter to the DWP on my behalf to explain my situation.
He tells them that I am "only relatively mildly affected"........... wow! Great support!
The fact that he tells them that we had an "extensive discussion" about my symptoms is a bare faced exaggeration. The first 10 minutes of my appointment were taken up with him complaining about not being able to log onto the NHS website, then swearing in front of my wife to one of the attending nurses and asking them to relocate us to another room.
He then began to explain his delight in the fact that he was "due to retire in 4 weeks and could not F****ng wait".........
This had then taken up 15 minutes of my appointment!
I started to explain some of the symptoms that I was experiencing, but as we know, we sometimes cannot explain very clearly or are sometimes less than comfortable with some of the more personal linked symptoms.
He made comments about how he thought physio / rehabilitation might help me (never suggested these before and has always played them down)
He also went into a diatribe about stem cell replacement. but which is currently at a developmental stage.
I had not yet had the chance to go through the symptoms that I was suffering with, nor the severity or give him examples of simple activities that affect my normal day to day activity.
Just as he had finished with his "stem cell replacement" tangent, he tapped his watch and informed us that he had another appointment to attend to and ushered us out of the room.......
I have since been told numerous times that I should have complained, but to be honest I wasn't interested at that time.
instead I waited a few weeks and asked my GP to refer me to Walton for a second opinion.
Now I have the report....... I am seriously thinking about doing so!
I have also been sent a letter to explain that he has now "given up practice" and that I am to see another consultant in his place.
What an absolute self righteous w*****!
To say that it has put a "stain" on the day would be an understatement!
Enough that I have to some to terms with a life significantly of less quality than it was, I have to put up with so called "experts" not having the time of day to do their job either professionally or with patient care in mind.
please don't take this as a whine, it's just a shock at the moment.
Tags: 
Hi its Better half, i forgot my password again.
I know this doesnt help now but its a tip for yourself in the future and other Chiari suffers/carers that read this blog.
Do a symptom diary, seems like a bore but every day write down how you are , any new stuff, weird twinges. You will be surprised what comes up and what you forget. Then a few days before a neurosurgeon appointment , write down a list of the ones that came up more than once. Only a small list like vertigo, facial numbness etc, keep it short and sweet they have low attention spans ;)
There it is in black an white and the surgeon has it on file forever. We did this the first time we saw him for a consultation and he even asked to keep the list because not thinking i went to put it back in my bag! Since then we always take lists to give him for the file, which are now broken down into sections ...same/better/worse. He really does seem to appreciate it and goes through the list for any clarifications if he needs. We seem to get alot covered in a very short time this way
The surgeons appointments are abit scary and you know you never say in there what you were going to. Time goes so quick before you are kicked out and you know it takes months for a new one. I always seem to mess up talking to medics on behalf of BB......You need lists people!
I know i seem a smug git saying this now, when you are ready to kick puppies. Just try to keep calm and do the lists, may help some heart ache in the future.
Hey BB, as ever you are full of useful and helpful advice. Thank you so very much - what a brilliant idea!
Laura - Thank you hunny ;) You are always there! You are a star ;)
I never did this but it seems like a really good idea and one that I will surely do in the future.
As for the 'not a whine'.... WHY NOT??? I sure as hell would be!! That would really upset me so you go ahead and whine all you want!