Is visiting the Dr the right thing to do if you're ill?

6 weeks ago, I woke up with severe vomiting and spent 3 hours sitting on the toilet while being sick in the sink..... I have to say that it's a convenient set up in our bathroom lol
So, I was sent home from work and took 3 days to recover.... after that, I had pins and needles through my left leg. Went to the Dr's and was told that I had a viral infection and that it would go away.... it didn't. It got worse after a couple of weeks, so I went back and another Dr told me to leave it a month and it should go away. He says it's the after effects of the viral infection..... so 2 days after that, I start getting this weird feeling on my head. I thought we had a leak in the ceiling above my desk as it felt like a drip of water on my head, which then ran down to my nose. This feeling got worse over 2 days and added to that, the pins and needles had gone, but had changed to a numbness down the whole left hand side of my body. My left leg would lose all feeling and I'd have to grab on to something to stop myself from falling over!
So on the 20th of November, I had Alan drive me to the A&E. They admitted me and I spent a week there. Listed below is what I had done in that week.
X ray - clear
CT Scan - inconclusive
MRI on my head - showed scarring on my brain
1st lot of Blood taken - still waiting on results
MRI on my spine - still waiting on results
1st Lumbar puncture - failed to get any fluid as it was a junior dr doing this.
(I did however end up unable to walk without any pain as she'd hit my sciatic nerve!)

They discharged me on the 27th November with an appointment to come back for another lumbar puncture, more blood and an eye exam.

I went back in on the Monday and they managed to get spinal fluid this time. Thanks to the Dr who managed this without leaving me in agony.

Still waiting on the results of the 2nd lumbar puncture, 2nd load of blood and am still waiting to get my eyes tested. I'd originally had them tested about 2 years ago and had been told I had a cataract growing. Turns out this may be wrong.

So I leave the hospital after the lumbar puncture. They did let me sleep for hours to make sure I would be ok. However, I start having the headache from hell when I get home.
On Wednesday, I receive a letter telling me I've to go see the neurologist in JANUARY 2010!
So I call them and tell them I have no idea what's to happen next, that I'd been discharged on Monday night with no info. So the secretary says that she'll get the dr to call me....

Thursday I'm still suffering the lumbar puncture headache but I need to go to the Dr to hand in my discharge notes and get a sick line to give to my work. The lumbar puncture headache is fine when I'm lying down, but HORRENDOUS when I'm standing up. By the time I get to the surgery, I'm in AGONY. After sitting for 5 mins, I make the decision that I must get home ASAP or I was gonna pass out with the pain... I walk up to the desk, hand my notes over, then collapse..... they lift me into an empty Dr's room and lay me on the bed.
Bliss.
The Dr comes through and writes out a sick line for me and I've been told to ask him to contact the Dr at the hospital for news by the secretary I'd spoken to the day before. He assures me he will, then leaves me alone. I manage to call a taxi, then the nurses in the surgery help me out to it. I crawl into the house, up the stairs and into bed. I fall asleep for hours and when I wake up, I'm a little better...

On Friday, the Dr calls me and I explain what went on and how I'm still feeling. He wants me to go back into hospital but assures me he'll get the neurologist to call me first.

So, he calls and after pushing him for an explanation on what's going on with me, he tells me that he doesn't like giving this kind of info over the phone, but that he's diagnosing me with MS.
It's not something that I'm totally at a loss about as my Dad has had secondary progressive MS for 12 years now, so I'm kinda keeping it in the family so to speak :)

Now that he's told me this, he's brought my appointment with him forward from January 2010 to December 7th 2009 :) he's hoping he'll have all the other results back and we can discuss where to go from there.

I'm gonna try and keep this blog up to date as I'd like to keep a daily diary on how I'm feeling, pain wise and emotionally.... They say the best way to deal with MS is to be happy and bright.
I can be that :) easy!!

So, watch this space :)

Veggie no more?

So, I've been a veggie for almost 20 years now... wow.

10 years ago I donated a kidney to my uncle over in the good old US of A. He had polycystic disease and really needed a new kidney to survive.

http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/newsroom/life_stories/story.jsp?id=33

After the op, things were ok for a while. Then I started catching every cold and virus going and the Dr's told me that my immune system had been affected. So I've soldiered on and suffered many coughs and colds but now it's getting to be a joke. I've had lots of colds this year, but I also caught seasonal flu and just last week had a viral infection that I'm still getting over.....

The Dr has told me that I need to change the way I'm looking after myself. With 2 strikes against me (being veggie and only having one kidney) meant that I needed to look after myself more than normal people.

So, I've decided to stop being as much of a veggie and I had my first bacon sandwich after nearly 20 years...... OMG! Maybe not such a big deal to most of you, but it's a big deal to me.

I became veggie after watching a programme on how we treat our animals before we murder them for our consumption.... not nice at all. I still did eat fish, like tuna and haddock, on occasion, but didn't touch red meat or chicken.

I feel a bit guilty after eating that bacon sandwich, but I guess it's time to look after number 1 now, and in case you'd forgotten who we're talking about.... that's me!!

Vodafone pt 2

Well after getting my MMS sorted last night by that brilliant agent Frank, I get up today to find out that I couldn't send MMS again..... arrgghhh!!

So I call through to technical and ask to speak to Frank on his extension. The person just passed me through to technical, so I had to explain it ALL again....

He checks my account to find another bar on the phone. Who put it there I ask? He's not sure.
I think he knew if he told me who it was, I would have written the longest most complaining letter in the history of mankind..... that along with Data protection is probably why he couldn't tell me.

So he lifts the bar off the phone, calls me at home and low and behold, I'm able to send MMS again.

So after he says goodbye, I call Vodafone (the I'm peed off and I'm leaving you line).
I speak to Max who listens while I moan and makes all the right noises to let me know she's taking it all in.
She's going to send this through to their Voice of the Customer department.
Apparently, a Director of Vodafone is going to call me asking for details and such of my issues with them.

We'll see. I'll let you know if they do or not.

Vodafone Letter I've sent....

If you could bear with me for a few minutes, I'd like to set the scene of my night last night.

Last Thursday, I had put my Sony Ericsson K800i into the Vodafone shop for repair. It was sent away on Friday and I went back to the shop today to pick it up. Now after being told that it would take about 7-10 days to repair, I thought that the service was amazing. My phone had been sent away as it was not always receiving calls, they were going straight to voicemail, the toggle was also "sticking", the phone would not switch back on sometimes after I had switched it off and it also decided to switch off of it's own accord. So after detailing all those faults, I was assured the repair centre would look into it.
Imagine how delighted I was to receive it back well within the timescale quoted to me. As I said before, amazing service.

However, when I got it home, the toggle was still sticking, the phone still continues to be a nightmare to switch on AND I couldn't send any MMS texts.
So I called 191, spoke to a nice lad who sent the settings over to me. I received them, saved them ~ to no avail. So I called back and spoke to Michelle. She told me that the previous agent hadn't removed the bar on my phone. Michelle did this, resent the settings to me and I tried again ~ to no avail. So I called a 3rd time, for someone to cut me off as soon as they answered the phone.

Now by this time, you can imagine how red my face was with anger. Remember how angry Yosemite Sam got when Bugs Bunny annoyed him, yeah, that was me tonight.

So I called a 4th time, explained the situation quickly to Louise who then passed me through to the person who would save me from an early grave ~ Frank.
He listened to me griping about the service I had received. Listened whilst I told him I would not be taking another contract with Vodafone and listened when I told him what had happened so far. After about 30 mins on the phone, trying all sorts of setting changes and trying to figure out what was wrong, I was finally able to send an MMS. Hallelujah!

However, when Frank called me back to find out how it had gone, there was still the problem of being able to download and view the MMS. He sorted that problem out very quickly for me and after turning my phone off for a few mins, then back on again, the problem was no more. I could send AND receive MMS.
Throughout the time I was on the phone with Frank, which was about an hour, he kept me chatting, making me laugh and I had a fabulous time getting to know about his dogs while he tried to sort out the MMS problems.

He has changed my mind about looking elsewhere for another provider in June. I will stay with Vodafone purely on the fact that Frank was able to fix my MMS problem, with a cheery telephone voice and making it seem such an easy fault to fix.
I would like it if Frank was rewarded in some way for his Customer Service tonight. I'm sure every company would want to have an agent like him working for them. My previous job was in Call Quality with a well known bank. Listening to Franks call with me would have been a delight and he would have been well rewarded for changing my mind about leaving.
I hope you do the same.

Frank Pentlow is a highly knowledgeable and caring agent and if you could employ more people like him, Vodafone profits would rise and rise.

If you could pass this on to someone who will reward Frank, I would be very grateful.

Vodamoan!

Well my phone was taken away to the Vodafone repair centre last Friday. I had had some issues with the toggle, the phone sometimes wouldn't switch back on after I'd switched it off, problems receiving calls and the phone deciding to take the huff and switch itself off... so I buy a little handset to see me through the 7 to 10 days my phone would be away.

Friday I get a text from Vodafone to say my phone had been lifted. Yay!

So I thought I might get it back on Friday or sometime next week.

Low and behold, I get a text today telling me it's ready!!

Amazing service huh? ~ NOT!

The phone came back with some of the faults it was sent away with.... it still won't switch on all the time I try it and I've been on the phone 3 times now to get the MMS settings resent. They've sent it twice now. First numpty didn't notice a "bar" on my phone. The second one removed the bar.... sent the settings and it still doesn't work. Called the 3rd time and the person hung up on me! Honestly, I am SO thinking about changing providers.

Vodafone never used to be this bad. What are they playing at? Maybe their profits have been so great that they feel Customer Service is something they don't need to bother with.....

Am now on my 5th call with them in half an hour. Frank the technician is helping me.....

The loss of Wisdom...

Well I've had 2 wisdom teeth removed in the space of a couple of weeks.... how blonde do I feel now hee hee
Seriously, wisdom teeth with a big hook on them are no laughing matter for extraction. Along with paying for the privilege of suffering in pain for a few days, spitting up blood for about 24 hours and feeling like you've done 20 rounds with Mike Tyson.... if I didn't like to keep my teeth in good condition, I don't think I would have gone along and given the thumbs up for the dentist to inflict that much pain on me. Although, considering I hadn't been in over a year, the dentist was surprised at how little needed done. I do brush my teeth more than the average person, or so I've been told.
Added to the pain, there is the humiliation of sounding like the Elephant man on the phone (although if you were smart enough, you'd switch your phone off, I obviously wasn't smart that day.... well, I had had my 2nd wisdom tooth removed!!) being unable to eat for some time although wanting to. When I did try and eat or even drink something, I needed the largest bib that Mothercare did. Messy business trying to eat or drink when half your mouth is numb and it feels like your tongue has been removed....
Well that was yesterday. Today I'm in pain, but I've been able to eat and drink without the bib ~ Hallelujah!