Hi to all!!!

no -no news yet recieved yet another phone call this morning from our equivelant of pals asking if id heard from the hospital. but thats all i ever seem to have is phone calls and letters not one offering a date, the last one says around christmas~~~~~~~~~~~but thats the fifth different date ive had so can i believe them i dont think so!!!! as for focusing on the actual admission date yeh think it does sort of pre-occupy your thoughts away from the actual op and post op, mandy and i were chatting the other day about me getting back to work i was getting so excited but then went on a downer thinking i have to actually get the surgery first then god nows how long in recovery! i have an appoint with the gp this afternoon to try and sort out my night meds (they dont seem to be working as well) im just soooo tired of it all, and to top it all off i have an appointment with the job centre tomorrow for a focus back to work interview!!! well had my moan now ,,,,, hope they at least keep your appointment for you, and you can try and think of the post op situation, take care chat soon gail

The job centre want you to go for a back to work interview???????? Are they having a laugh??????? Seems you can get pushed up some lists then, just not the ones you want. Honestly I am speechless. Maybe as part of the back to work initiative they could pay for you to have your op done privately, then save on the paltry benefits, you get to pay your taxes again...so that keeps them happy. A very good investment I would have thought. And you get what you really want which is your old life back. I just hope that you can keep a straight face when it comes to explaining exactly why you cannot work right now. I don't think I could!

I hope your GP can help you get some rest at night. Lack of sleep is awful, I know. I find my meds don't seem to be as good any more. I'm not sure if the effects are just less, hence more pain or if the pain is worse. When it is all masked by the meds it's difficult to know just what is going on underneath.

we wondered where you'd gone :o

well my complaint against my surgeon at kings was rewarded with a phone call from the surgeon himself!!!! he was very appologetic by what he wrote to my consultant about me, but then let himself down in his last sentance!!! :x anyway he said he'd put me on the waiting list from when he should have done in the first place and that i would get a date for surgery in the next couple of months!!! well i got an appointment for a pre-assesment in dec, have you had one of these??? just wondering how long after this pre-assesment you have the op! are you worried about having the same surgeon that you made a complaint about?? i am!! :shock:

did you have that meeting up kings you said about?? ive not been on for a while and not read all posts yet, think i need to catch up :mrgreen:

gail keeps me up to date on some, :cheers:

take care,

:rose: mandy :rose:

Good to see that it looks like you are finally getting somewhere. And the surgeon himself rang?? You must feel very honoured. :lol: :lol: :lol: At least no doubt he thought so!!!

The pre op assessment meeting is done so they can check you are fit for surgery. They ask heaps of questions and then take a blood sample, check your blood pressure, check your weight, do a swab to check you don't have MRSA (yeah I know, the chances are you'll walk out of there, rather than into there, with it!!) and do an ECG. That part all takes about 25 minutes. Then you see a junior doctor who too asks loads of questions, unfortunately most of them are the same as what the nurse asked which is pretty irritating. One word of advice. The clinic on a Tuesday starts at 9.00a.m. I was fooled into thinking that if it was the first appointment of the day, then there could be no waiting around, right??? No!!! Far from it. The junior doctors are doing rounds until 10.30, so you end up waiting over an hour and a half just for a junior doctor to turn up. I was pretty cross as it is just bad planning and clearly they think that patients have nothing better to do with their time. If you can try to get an appointment 11.00ish. Although having waited as long as you have, you must be so pleased just to see the cogs on the wheel turning again.

The results take a week to get processed then they will look at getting you a date for surgery. I think their standard waiting time at that point is 6-8 weeks, but maybe it will be quicker for you. If the surgeon is honouring his original 'decision to operate date' then they will want to get it in within 20 weeks otherwise you become a 'bad' statistic. After 26 weeks an appalling statistic! Unfortunately, it has very little to do with your health, just which boxes they need to tick.

My complaint still rumbles on. The surgeon has completely hidden herself behind the complaints procedure machinery, rather than just face up to her shortcomings and dare I say it actually apologise. I think it's all in two parts now. The first part is them investigating what's gone wrong, which is taking ages and then secondly the impact of that on me and what they intend to do about it. It looks as though they have backed out of the conciliation meeting, cowards. I was going to be outnumbered there 4 to 1 but I was still willing to go. Now they are going to respond (again) in writing and the Lead Surgeon is going to be reviewing my case. I have a surgery date now of 28 November, but originally the letter re the complaint was going to come after the surgery, which I was unhappy with. They are going to try to speed it up, but I won't be holding my breathe! I think that if the surgeon is not willing to come to the conciliation meeting (heaven forbid she may actually have to apologise to me!!!) then she may also decide that she doesn't want to operate on 28 November either. Quite where that leaves me I have no idea. I have told them though that I will be far from happy if they cancel it at very short notice. Whether I end up with another surgeon now I won't know. But I'm supposed to be admitted in 18 days and to say I am pee'd off is something of an understatement. Right now I don't really care if I have the same surgeon or not. I'm not going to ask to change, if she feels uncomfortable that is her problem. I personally, wouldn't give her the satisfaction. After this is all over I can safely say that I will never set foot in King's again.

All that I want now is closure on this whole sorry saga. The firm where I work has been very good about this over the last twelve months, but they need to know where they stand so they can make plans for my absence. So far Kings have not honoured any of the dates they have given me and although at least this one is in writing, I still don't believe it is going to happen. If you get a pre-op assessment date around 27-29 November, feel free to visit me, it will be good to have a chat!!!

well had my interview she was astonished how eager i was to get back to work(hello im living on £72 a week) and all the letters that i have sent complaining of the wait ive had to endure with the surgery. but she said she doesnt want to see me again and told me of all the grants and back to work money ill be entitled to when i go back so it turned out in my favour. but then a phone call from the complaints dept they cant find my letters and copies that id sent to them to continue with my formal complaint!!!! of the way id been treated by the hospital , i give up now whats the point eh? as for pre assesments at morriston i dont think they have them i was given a consent form to sign and fetch in when they finally offer me an appointment. gail

can you imagine, i'll walk in the ward and say right which one of you is truly fed up???? i'll have 'em all saying thats me!!!! :lol:

no i got to go early december! unless you still in then!!! (hope not)

oh i don't mind waiting till after xmas, then i can see what gail goes through (me ickle guinea pig!!) i can have a good xmas, have me op then move house in march, works out just right, oh thanx i'm happier now :D

my appointment at 10.30, i'll take sandwiches i think lol,

think it funny though as you think you on waiting list for surgery then put on another one after pre-op ass!!!! funny :lol:

i know what you mean i'm soooo fed up with it all don't care anymore, i tried postponing it this week but they advised me not to, so i didn't, they said if i do change my mind to ring in aweek!! but i'm not going to i don't think,

just see how things go,

see ya later

:rose: mandy :rose:

I hope that your feeling ok and don't have to wait too long for your Op. Most people can't stand the thought of going into Hospital but we all can't wait!!

Yes I've still got trouble peeing, heard nothing from my Doctor sent a couple of emails to my Consultants Secretary, but you know how it is THEY DON'T BLOODY CARE!

I'm really fed up I went for my Pre-Assessment for my op last week, that's a laugh I have a 3-4 months wait. What's the point in doing it now they'll only have to take more bloods etc nearer the time.

I tried cutting down on some of my tablets over the last couple of days as I'm sick of being like a Zombie, but the Pain has come back with avengance.

Did you see a piece in one on the sunday papers last week, a family were claiming £57,000 on benefits per year, the guy said there's know way he's going to get a job as he could never make that much in a year in a full time job. It makes my blood boil, all I can claim is £72.55 Incapacity Benefit a week I have 2 teenagers to bring up and my own home, I don't know what's going on in this Country. I had to go for a Back to Work Interview a few weeks ago now, I told them I can't wait to go back to work they seemed shocked (not everyone's scrounging). Unfortunately I'll have to look for another job as I worked in a Nursing Home prior to my op and there's know way I could do that now.

Speak to you soon.

Angela