Chris Hansen’s blog

I actually don’t want to dwell on the low points. Suffice it to say that I will be returning to the retinal clinic at St. Thomas’s Hospital in 6 months rather than a year. They are not concerned enough to do laser surgery, but as I have just begun insulin therapy for my diabetes, that fact can have an adverse effect on retinal health and they did see several new pinpoint hemorrhages. The ophthalmologist, very helpful guy that he was, also remarked, “Oh, you have the beginnings of a cataract there in your right eye. We don’t have to worry about it now, but in ten or twenty years we can deal with it. Diabetics often begin growing cataracts earlier.” Thanks a whole bunch. Even adding, “Your eyesight is excellent.” doesn’t make up for any of that.

The good part is that I was dilated (by a very pleasant student nurse) relatively early as I arrived at around 1:15 pm for a 1:50 pm appointment. Thus, I was one of the first of the afternoon cattle-call to get asked in for examination. Normally, if you arrive close to your appointment time you end up waiting forever because the illuminati arrived early and got dilated first.

The foot clinic on Wednesday was interesting. They told me to report to X-ray when I arrived for a foot x-ray to ensure that I did not have osteomyelitis (bone infection). With the amount of antibiotic they’ve been pumping into me, and the fact that my foot bones don’t feel infected (I now know very well what a bone infection in my feet feels like…), I was dubious that any infection would be found, but I dutifully showed up at X-ray at 10 am and told their reception who I was. “No, there’s no appointment for you today.” “Oh,” said I, “I guess I’ll toddle down the hall to the foot clinic and give ’em hell. She told me to wait a moment, checked her computer (“Computer says ‘Nooooooo…'”) and said, “They’ve made you an appointment for next week. We can take you now; have a seat.”

So I got my x-ray (the young male eye-candy in the waiting area comes from the fact that lots of young men have bone injuries that require x-rays), then walked down to the Diabetic Foot Clinic. They unwrapped my foot and I gave them a bit of heck not for the x-ray mixup but for the fact that their fax to the District Nurses had specified one type of dressing (that the District Nurses had difficulty getting) and forbade substitutions unless they checked back with the Clinic. I established on Monday that they had checked back and approved a substitution, but this all happened on Friday and the nurse who visited hadn’t said it was approved. She just allowed me to refuse to have my foot re-dressed. Luckily, there was no lasting damage and it’s been sorted out, but I do wish that when they use form faxes they cross out parts that do not apply to the particular patient.

The podiatrist then wrapped up my foot well in padding, but unfortunately, not well enough. I was in agony all evening Wednesday until Thursday morning when the District Nurses arrived—a team of two, one of whom is a Souf Lunnoner of a certain age and really witty and very able. She wrapped it up correctly and I could actually stand and walk without pain again. I wish that whatever she has could be bottled and administered to the podiatrists at the Foot Clinic. As most of their patients don’t feel anything in their feet, they are rather cavalier about pain and I believe tend to discount it when a patient actually does feel something in their feet.

Then came time for my antibiotic. They administered four boli: saline, antibiotic, saline, and hepsal (which stands in the line and prevents clots). Last time the second saline was not administered. I asked them why so much and they said they just were told to do it that way. They gave me so much fluid that I joked that I had at least an extra pint in me after I left. They are supposed to replace the port (the end of the line into which the syringes go) once weekly but the replacement port they found screwed onto the line but the cover couldn’t be removed. I told them to put the old one back (after a very good wipedown with alcohol wipes) and speak to the IV nurse about getting the right supplies.

Today the District Nurse team came again and helpfully had forgotten to bring alcohol wipes for the line. I went into the kitchen and brought out a handful of Lens Wipes that I bought in the US a while back and which I use to clean my computer screen. They are exactly the same as the ones the nurses use so we were again in business. I hope they’ll bring more tomorrow as I wouldn’t like them to run through my entire supply of screen cleaners. They did bring an empty archive box into which they’ve put all my dressing material. I’ll have enough of this stuff to open a pharmacy when I’m through, I think. It has tidied up the living room a bit.

HWMBO went to work late as he had an offsite meeting. So when he came back he was a bit tired, so we went out to Nando’s for dinner. I dealt with some correspondence afterward, and now to bed.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 09:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.