February-2024 Garry McGivern’s regular monthly update. What a wet month. I had hoped to go away again in February, but the weather has been pretty awful; it seems to have been constantly raining. I’ve also been waiting for another MRI scan after I was told that I needed one fairly urgently. Not that urgent, then. I’m still waiting. Although I knew that if it was that urgent, I would have been sent straight to the hospital. But when somebody says urgent, you tend to think it will happen quite quickly.
You may remember that at the end of last month, I returned home from Kent for a batch of hospital appointments. Well, one of the three went really well, the other two not so good. My first appointment was for my hip, which now shows no signs of infection and hasn’t come loose. And I could have been discharged from orthopaedics. But Mr Wakeling, my surgeon, said he would still like to keep me on but doesn’t need to see me for a couple of years. Unless, of course, I have a problem.
Mr Wakeling was, however, extremely worried about my neck and back (even though it’s not his department) and is still convinced that I should be talking to a neurosurgeon. But that’s in the hands of the MSK team, who I’m currently under. And they are the ones who decide when I see a neurosurgeon.
Mr Wakeling has also asked me to keep him informed of any updates on my back/neck, which he doesn’t need to. But how good is that, showing a personal interest in my well-being away from his field of expertise. What a lovely chap and a great example of the wonderful people who work in the NHS.
It’s Complicated
My next appointment was with the MSK team, which didn’t go quite so well. After talking to Will, who I was there to see and giving him a list of my latest symptoms, he was unsure what to do. And went and got his boss. There then followed a debate about what was worse and what was causing my new symptoms. Was it my neck, or was it my lower back? After much discussion, they decided that they needed me to have an urgent MRI scan. Which, as I’ve already said, hasn’t happened.
My third hospital appointment didn’t happen. It got cancelled. It was only a follow-up to my carpal tunnel op, which to me seems fine. Apart from it hasn’t made any difference. But that was one of the objectives of having the operation. They wanted to see if the symptoms in my hand were coming from a pinched nerve in my wrist or my neck. That’ll be my neck, then!
Looking Forward
I had planned to go away for a few days at the end of February after finding a campsite in the New Forest that was open. But after looking at the weather forecast, I decided to give it a miss. It was forecast to rain. And as I look out my window today, the 29th, it’s pouring down.
Let’s hope that the weather improves, especially as March is when many campsites open up for the season. Although, I’ve just noticed that Grange Farm on the Isle of Wight has put their opening date back because everywhere is so wet.
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