Lockdown, Day 83

Yet another night with very little sleep...and the pain in my left shoulder and right hand have got worse by the hour. The only advantage of not sleeping is it gives time for thought and reminisence. Last night most of mane was back 12 years and the time before my arthritis was diagnosed and treated...plus the fact that the majority og the drug that I was taking has been removed from my prescription. 

This morning I called our GP Surgery, never an enjoyable task and it took over 2 minutes to get to talk to a human. Something that never endears telephone systems to me. Once she had identified me I was told that the drug had been removed as per William Harvey in March. At that point I was in with Costa Chondritis and no mention of this drug was made to me at any point - they even sent me home with some. I was also told it was far too late to get a call from a Dr so I made the point that first thing in the morning at the moment I am in too much pain to even thing about calling and that I am sure I am not the only person in that situation. We argued slightly for a while with me asking to speak to the practice manager and also making the point that an official complaint it on its way...I then mentioned to magical initials, CQC and suddenly a call back space was found for me!

I have now been called back and the Dr has agreed that I still need the drug and it was only identified for review with me, not for immediate stop as that is not the way to take anyone off it and I am now going back on gently. She is also sending me some oral morphine in case the pain gets worse before it gets better...always a lovely thought...

It is crazy that they have also told me that going forward I can request a call back at any time via their website...a high majority of their patients will probably not have any access on line. They already have many visitors every day trying to make an appointment as they don;t want to phone - on line booking will really cause problems in the make up of their surgery clients. For me it will avoid the medically trained receptionist when try to get a call prior to any appointment. ( although the usual response when I do go in is that they are sending me to the hospital)

As a result of all this I really haven't achieved much today...I'm just looking forward to the pain hopefully stopping and not carrying on into a full  flare up which results in me not being able to move or do anything I want.

Mikey is also creating a headache by going on constantly about the new PS5 which he needs...He only got his X Box at Christmas and he is not replacing it after just 6 months. Because I am in pain I am not in the best frame of mind or feeling exactly patient.

It is very hard to accept taht this small person arrived nearly 10 years ago - I am even more amazed that I have kept him alive since then with very few trips in to A&E, especially once he stopped testing the school playground with his head! I grew to dread phone calls from school which all tended to Start "Mrs Zerfahs, now please don't worry, but..."and I would then dash into school to pick up a Mikey trying hard to be brave with an egg growing out of his forehead. At least he used a tough part of this body for his tests...