Postman brought my letter from the hospital with my "imminent" appt for my surgery this morning. It's for 29th October.... a whole MONTH after seeing the Consultant from hell and he telling me it would be imminent, within the next 2 weeks. I also had another enclosed letter from the Pre-Op Assessmnet clinic to go in on the 13th for my tests.
I am SO fed up, it feels as if everything that was discussed with the Melanoma Nurse last week has been totally ignored. My friend had pointed out to her that the delays were having a financial impact on me, the longer it was taking to get done the more in debt I was becoming. The nurse was surprised to hear that I was not on full pay from work and I explained it was because I was classed as 'bank' work ie casual labour (although I had worked continuously for 2 years with the staff bank office). I told her I was now on SSP which was only £300+ ( my rent is £595!). I was already claiming Housing Benefit because of my low income so it's no good saying apply for it because I already had it! She made a note in my file to that effect.
When I asked about the Pre -Op assessment she said it would be the week before. Again we had to point out that I lived quite a way away from the hospital (in another county in fact!) and as I couldn't drive long distances (melanoma removed from my right inner ankle leaving 2 inch scar across ankle bone and told not to put undue pressure on it) it made it difficult to get to appts. I had to rely on friends to take me but they all worked and were busy people themselves. She said that she would have a word with the clinic and see if either it could be done over the phone or arrange for me to come in the day before so at least I was already there for the op the next day.
I am quickly losing confidence in my care at this hospital, information given is not acted on or not given to me clearly. How can the Consultant stand there and tell me within the next 2 weeks???? I'm just so fed up at the moment.
pheonix
xxx
FormerMember
This swine is giving you the runaround. I asked mine for a date, and he said "How about tomorrow?" so I asked if he worked on Saturdays, as I knew I would have to be without food for 24 hours before the op. (Bowel surgery). He laughed and said "September 25th" which was obviously the date he was planning on anyway.
Anyway, because you don't have much choice, I suppose you have to grin and bear it, but it will give you time to make a written complaint to the Hospital. Some of these Consultants think they are God. Fewer and fewer of them now, thank goodness, but you have one of the worst. Let's hope he is as good as he pretents to be.
This is horrendous. The problem with money is awful, and I too had this worry, as prior to my diagnosis i was doing three jobs, only one of which I had a contract (and therefore sick pay) for. I actually delayed going to the doctor for two weeks because I knew we were finally getting contracts for the second job, which had been in the pipeline for over three years (they just forged our timesheets iwhen we worked more weeks in a row than temping laws allowed). Money has rarely been mentioned on the site, but it IS a huge worry, and at a time when you should not be needing to worry about anything other than starting treatment. It's the only time I have been grateful I bought a grotty little terraced house in a slummy area when I graduated rather than going for somewhere more expensive!
The fact that you are having to travel from another county is again an indictment of the hospital closures. Sorry you are suffering like this. Keep blogging! Lots of love - and empathy xxxx Penny
I hate it when people do what I'm about to do, but is there anyway you can muster up the strength to fight them on taking all your nodes? Most surgeons here in the US are NOT taking all, but a small cluster. They have found that they can get a fairly high percentage (90's) by taking a proportion of them but not all of them will give them information they need and maintain your ability to not have the problems you mentioned in your blog about yourself. You have a little time to research and question. I would encourage you to do so. Good luck and will be thinking about you on the 29th.
I am going in for just Sentinal Node Biopsy on 29th, I did my research lol! I didn't want to store up trouble for the future so opted for that procedure. Still not looking forward to it though!
