... On a Cold and Frosty Morning
I have two more appointments at St Thomas's Hospital, Westminster, London. On 22nd October and 2nd November - for diagnostic procedures, not treatment. (The first appt was on 2nd October - what is it with my new consultant and the number 2
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It's a pay-off thing. Thanks to the NHS all of this,from the scans to the hospital rooms to my meds are *free* to me. No arguing with my insurance provider about cost or necessity or contributions. And when I think about it, there are a *lot* of costs. Every time I have steroid injections, that's a portable x-ray machine, an operating theatre, a Consultant (ie senior doctor), a radiographer and at least three nurses, plus the images, the drugs and the contrast with which they inject me. I shudder to think of the costs of a full-spine MRI under the US system.
But, downside, the hospital schedules your appointments and tests being done in different departments depend on when those departments have a slot.
NHS waiting lists being what they are and these tests being RE-examining a pre-existing condition, hideous month or not, I'm really lucky that everything is happening so fast. I was thinking I'd be waiting a couple of months before anything got moving.
I don't have a portable e-reader, unfortunately (I got Kindle for PC b/c that was free to download) and I don't even have a mobile phone - but I will see if I can get to Waterstones in the next week and get something to read. (Not that you can read during the boring as hell and long-ass MRI and it's so noisy that even if you bring in a CD you don't *hear* it. ::sigh::) (Enough of that. Think good thoughts, Dee. You are actually getting SEEN. This MAY help. Positive, positive, positive thinking!)
Especially as appointment *times* and when you actually get *seen* can be two very different things in my experience. There's nothing quite like getting to the hospital for 7am (after a 4 hour journey!) and then sitting around until *1 pm*. EXTRA especially on a 12 hour fast prior to appointment time. (::grumble grumble::)
/moaning
::*HUGS*:: Thank you for all the good thoughts, hon. :)
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