Lockdown 3; Day 70

 Yesterday did not go to plan at all... I called my GP just after 8, sat in a queue which NEVER helps my state of mind and finally spoke to a receptionist to request a call from a Dr... I then got a call from a Nurse Practitioner. Most of them are lovely, but I am simply too complicated for them to deal with so she arranged for a Dr to call me and also for admin to note on my records that all my triages should be sent directly to a GP, NOT a nurse! At least I can now avoid the male Nurse Practitioner who seems determined to stop me taking paracetamol - even though I am not allowed anything else!!

The Dr called quite soon after, it was yet another Dr I've never actually seen (which seeing as I haven't seen a Dr there since October 2019 isn't that surprising I guess!) At least she had actually red through most of my notes - and she was getting worried about Sepsis seeing as I had that back in 2008...she had also seen the letter from Urology saying I could go back to Canterbury if I needed to. So that made her mind up pretty quickly and I was despatched to good old Kent and Canterbury again.

As Andy was busy with work I drove myself. I was quite proud of myself as I haven't driven that far for a very long time! Once I talked my way into Emergency Care I was hoping they cold at least take the pain away. My 1st problem was my temperature was a little high, but I convinced them is was not Covid and I was not dangerous! I then had to get passed the triage nurse who seemed convinced I was expecting them to take the Kidney Stones out there and then. At least I now know that there is a massive waiting list thanks to the pandemic so anyones guess is as good as mine as to when they will remove them.

Problem number 2 was my blood pressure. I started off high and then went even higher! Even today my heart really feels as though it is racing and I'm getting breathless even faster than I normally do. In the end they left me to calm down, but still no pain relief as I hadn't seen a Dr. Once all the Drs had finished chatting I saw one and begged for something to make me more comfortable... They then started trying to get blood out of me. Finally Vascular Access arrived and dug into a vein in 1 attempt! I was cannulated and my blood sent to the lab, again I was left alone until 4 hours after I had arrived when I finally got my pain relief. I wish I could have IV paracetamol at home as it works wonderfully quickly! I was finally relaxing a little and trying to get some water to drink when I was whisked off to have a CT scan. Thankfully without contrast as they were aware of my Kidney issues other than the stones. By the time I was back at my trolley no water had arrived and the nursing staff looked rushed off their feet. When the report came back the stone(s) have not moved, are still close to blocking the Ureter off (which is what happened last time) but at this time there is nothing they can do. Nor can I be given any stonger painkillers due to my Kidney function.

My canula was removed and I was free to go, after 6 hours to achieve a total of absolutely nothing. Obviously I was not in a good mood at this point, I then had to pay for parking so it was £7.50 for a waste of time. I tried to get my phone to play one of my play lists...it managed 2 and then stopped. This really did not improve or enhance my mood in the slightest. So with the company of Smooth Radio I headed for home. It would have been a quicker journey if a foreign lorry wasn't using the route as a cut through to the M20, But once we got to a safer/wider bit of road I got passed him. He had caused quite a queue getting on to the road to Ashford so I really was not staying behind him the whole way!

Once I got home my son was far to busy to come downstairs and talk to me, he was happier just yelling at me from the top of the stairs!  In fact, he didn't even accept I was home until he heard my voice, so can't have been missing me in the slightest! At least Misty and Rory seemed pleased to see me when I got out of the car - or they just wanted to go inside! 

The really annoying thing is that Renal didn't appear at all during my 6 hours sat wasting time. Dr Klebe appears to have vanished and is obviously not replying to e-mails for some reason. Speaking to a GP is obviously pointless, going into Canterbury just wastes my time as Urology are not bothered that I am in constant pain. I'm seriously considering turning to wine, maybe alcohol is the answer - I can't kill the pain but I can numb it at least!

This lot really annoyed me and also stopped while I was trying to get to sleep - another not happy Heather!!