![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2009 10:56 amI am finally having breakfast, so while I take a break from spitting down the phone (actually, being very polite, probably too polite) here is what is happening in Hannahville today:
Every day I hope nothing will arrive in the mail, email, whatever, to fuck my day up.
Today I received a referral letter for an appointment, but it is with the Orthopaedic Physio at the Royal Infirmary for another physical assessment, rather than the arthroscopy that the Orthopaedist at Mountcastle referred me for.
This is because the Orthopaedic Department at the RIE is different from the Mountcastle Orthopaedic Clinic, so everyone has to have an assessment before they are put on the waiting list for the arthroscopy even if like me you have an MRI giving a definitive diagnosis. The waiting list is 15 weeks (although apparently the waiting time is going down by the time I have the assessment, hmm, I wonder if they could be artificially shortening waiting times). It is red tape.
It is red tape that is a month away, and puts my expected date for an arthroscopy to 16th of July. Two days after my birthday! ...
It's now a question of will I or won't I get to that 12 month barrier to Disability, even if I don't need further surgery. I'd rather not get there, but if I need surgery after that (all they can do in an arthroscopy is shave back and wash out bits of cartilage, anything else is more complicated) I most certainly will. I remember joking about that. I remember thinking it was so far away. I remember people at the jobcentre giving me shit because I can't be protected by the DDA. Good times.
Plan of action? Call up the Orthopaedic appointments officer (again - I've talked to the entire body of medical professionals in Edinburgh trying to figure out what the fuck is going on), explain that I have already spent months in physio after a misdiagnosis at my first orthopaedic assessment so can I please have an earlier appointment, if not can you please give an earlier appointment if anyone cancels, and can I send a copy of the MRI and report to the Orthopaedic Physio and be put on the waiting list right away, and if she doesn't have the authority to make that decision can I please speak to the Orthopaedic Physio herself or someone who does have the authority. That is my script.
Right. Finished breakfast, so off I go.
edit: Result? No sooner appointments and they can't keep me on standby because they have to offer cancellations to whoever is next in line, but I can call periodically to check for cancellations, and the MRI won't help because they're not allowed to refer me on for an arthroscopy without seeing me first. The red tape, it is solid.
I don't know how it is I've kept from completely falling apart until now. I'm still only really on the edge, but I think it's pretty good that it's taken 6 months to get to crying every day and having to make a really damn concerted effort to not self destruct totally. I don't like the idea of another six months, it scares me.
The awful thing is that these waiting lists I'm on, they are *filled* with people like me. I wonder how many of us are going to sue the shit out of them.
Every day I hope nothing will arrive in the mail, email, whatever, to fuck my day up.
Today I received a referral letter for an appointment, but it is with the Orthopaedic Physio at the Royal Infirmary for another physical assessment, rather than the arthroscopy that the Orthopaedist at Mountcastle referred me for.
This is because the Orthopaedic Department at the RIE is different from the Mountcastle Orthopaedic Clinic, so everyone has to have an assessment before they are put on the waiting list for the arthroscopy even if like me you have an MRI giving a definitive diagnosis. The waiting list is 15 weeks (although apparently the waiting time is going down by the time I have the assessment, hmm, I wonder if they could be artificially shortening waiting times). It is red tape.
It is red tape that is a month away, and puts my expected date for an arthroscopy to 16th of July. Two days after my birthday! ...
It's now a question of will I or won't I get to that 12 month barrier to Disability, even if I don't need further surgery. I'd rather not get there, but if I need surgery after that (all they can do in an arthroscopy is shave back and wash out bits of cartilage, anything else is more complicated) I most certainly will. I remember joking about that. I remember thinking it was so far away. I remember people at the jobcentre giving me shit because I can't be protected by the DDA. Good times.
Plan of action? Call up the Orthopaedic appointments officer (again - I've talked to the entire body of medical professionals in Edinburgh trying to figure out what the fuck is going on), explain that I have already spent months in physio after a misdiagnosis at my first orthopaedic assessment so can I please have an earlier appointment, if not can you please give an earlier appointment if anyone cancels, and can I send a copy of the MRI and report to the Orthopaedic Physio and be put on the waiting list right away, and if she doesn't have the authority to make that decision can I please speak to the Orthopaedic Physio herself or someone who does have the authority. That is my script.
Right. Finished breakfast, so off I go.
edit: Result? No sooner appointments and they can't keep me on standby because they have to offer cancellations to whoever is next in line, but I can call periodically to check for cancellations, and the MRI won't help because they're not allowed to refer me on for an arthroscopy without seeing me first. The red tape, it is solid.
I don't know how it is I've kept from completely falling apart until now. I'm still only really on the edge, but I think it's pretty good that it's taken 6 months to get to crying every day and having to make a really damn concerted effort to not self destruct totally. I don't like the idea of another six months, it scares me.
The awful thing is that these waiting lists I'm on, they are *filled* with people like me. I wonder how many of us are going to sue the shit out of them.
