I don't want to hijack dear cof drop's funny post and so it is time that I tell my friends what has been going on. 4 weeks ago I managed to see a GP. I told her that I had been having pains in my left upper chest and was quite breathless. I felt sure that it was not an exacerbation of bronch. She laughed, yes laughed and told me that 'we all have pains between our ribs as we get older'
I struggled on until last wed night I woke up with a very sharp pain in the same place, gasping for air. By thursday night I was having problems walking and talking
phoned 111 who sent an ambulance. Paramedics gave me atrovent inhaler which eased the breathing but I refused to go to our local hospital because it is their consultant who asked me why I thought I had lung damage with bronch.
Next day battled with my consultants's bronch nurse to have her told what was happening. I told her I thought I had a pneumothorax. Sulkily she agreed to speak to my con who said yes, come over to clinic today. My dear friend took me and as soon as I arrived, xray, bloods. All the dear nurses in that clinic came to talk to me. Con put xray on screen 'what have you been saying that you've got '
'Pneumothorax'
'Spot on I'm not letting you go home'
Then six hours waiting in emergency assessment and overnight in a freezing holding ward then weekend and Bank Holiday before finally having ct guided drain in.
Almost immediate breathing relief. As my con is now part time she does not do patients on the ward now. As it happens not such a bad thing as I came under a really fabulous guy who also knows his bronchiectasis.
He and I now have a plan to.badger the powers that be because unlike cofdrop respiratory patients at the QE do not have direct access to the ward and have to go through A&E or the assessment procedure every time they need admitting.
Today they have clamped off the drain to see if the pneumothorax comes back.
So spent my 73rd birthday with a pipe stuck in my back, attached to a drip.
I’m so sorry to hear that you have had to spend your birthday in hospital, but I’m very glad that you were finally listened to re your correct self-diagnosis, and finding a good doctor you can have a good working relationship with, an unexpected bonus. 👏
I hope you recover speedily and escape the ward to actually have some sort of birthday celebration 💐🥂🎉
That’s certainly a birthday you won’t forget dear friend. Why does everything have to be so difficult though when you clearly know bronch inside out! Thank goodness for a good consultant and hope you’re soon on the mend
Oh so sorry you’ve been so ill and had to go to QE. Think you usually see Dr Sullivan, is she now part time. Glad though that found another consultant who understands condition. It’s surprising that bronchiectasis patients have to wait in A and E, hope you’re able to get this changed. Perhaps you will be able to have a birthday celebration when your better, hope so. Good luck, keep fighting, best wishes, Jean x
Littlepom here’s to a speedy recovery. I certainly hope you give your GP a right what for when you get your strength back. May be arrange for her to take out any stitches from the drain🧐 🤷🏼♀️
Too true, just thought if she could physically see that it wasn’t just a general we all get aches and pains as we get older, may be would take the next patient more seriously.
Hope you soon feel better and get the drain out quickly.
Hells bells, what a nightmare, why can't they just accept that you know what you're talking about . Feeling so awful it was too difficult to spit nails. As for the GP 🤬🤬🤬
Awful how resentful and threatened some medical personnel are when we speak on our own behalf and display a knowledge gained through experience. They just wont have it. Well done sticking to your guns LP, though knowing you, I would expect nothing less!! So glad you now have a cool consultant in your corner.
Hope you are on the mend now and belated happy birthday. Hugs, jean xx
Oh no Littlepom. This is dreadful. I am so sorry to hear this. Doctors who don't listen are the absolute worst. You must have been on so much pain. 😔 I want to say "Happy belated birthday" but that hardly seems appropriate. I hope you are recuperating. Take it easy my friend. Much love to you. xx ❤️
What an awful birthday for you, and a frustrating time beforehand. Hoping you soon get your health back on track with the help of the fabulous guy who's worked out a treatment plan for you.
That's not good news Birthday in hospital, but on the plus side you have the satisfaction of knowing they got it wrong, and once you have recovered you can have a right rave up and laugh at cofs jokes without pain hopefully. Take care I am sure you will have a lovely birthday when you are fully recovered . 🧁🍰🌼 a bonus cake for you xx
I hope you have a great birthday celebration when you are recovered. Thank goodness you know your stuff as your GP needs hauling over the coals for her response. Good luck with your campaign but more importantly take it easy and get yourself home for that birthday celebration. 🤗🍫🍫
oh flippin heck! You don’t do things by halves do you. I’ve found the same with one of our Drs I had a carcinoma took off my leg. It took two operations to get it all. Then I got Covid and Shingles together. As you can imagine I felt quite rough. Coming towards the end I was supposed to go to the Drs to get the dressing removed. I phoned the surgery to ask what I should do. I had a really obnoxious receptionist who told me I would have to make an appointment and go down. So I was a bit insistent and she said she would go and see the duty Dr. She came back and said you’re not disabled you’ll have to ring up and make an appointment. By then I was getting really upset with frustration. So I finished the conversation. Bear in mind I was still positive with Covid but coming to the end. A few days later I phoned a lovely Dr I’ve found down there. I had to discuss something else with him. I told him what happened. I said if I’m not disabled why can’t I do things or walk very far. I’ve got seven spinal fractures that are very painful if I do more than I should. I also told him I had been in tears. Obviously I was very low I suppose because of the Covid and Shingles. He said Well she’s wrong. If you need a District nurse to come out you can have one. He sounded furious. I would like to have been a fly on the wall because he didnt strike me as someone who would leave it.
I by then didn’t want anyone doing it anyway. (I can be a bit pig headed) so I took it off myself. Luckily everything is ok.
I just think that our NHS is going to pot. They just don’t care any more. Between that and how I was treated in hospital. Not very many are caring anymore.
They either don’t care or cant be bothered.
Luckily you had an inkling what was wrong. Well we do know our bodies better than anyone else.nits a pity we aren’t listened to me more.
You take care and hope you’re feeling better now. Xxx
Good grief Littlepom. I am sorry to hear about what you are going through. What an appalling GP! I’m glad to hear you have found a consultant you feel you can trust anyway. I do hope you are able to get back home soon and enjoy a belated birthday celebration.
What a nightmare. When, when, when, are they going to listen to patients? Makes me furious. In 2014 Katherine Murphy, CEO of the Patients’ Association, said that behind all the hospital scandals there is the muted chorus of patients and families of patients saying: “They didn’t listen to us… They didn’t listen to us…” Ad infinitum.
How can that GP miss a pneumothorax? How can doctors ignore a patient who has shown for the past 70 years that she knows what she is talking about?
and they’re still not listening, even to the patients association! She missed it because she stood at her computer batting away everything I said, didn’t examine me and of course did not send me for an xray.
So proud of you LP for standing your ground when you knew something was wrong, but sorry to hear you have had to cope with this and a drain, especially on your birthday. I am sure that you will have a good old knees up when you are better so belated birthday wishes. Take good care x
You know already I am sad and horrified you have had to go through this., firstly that you had pneumothorax in the first place, then followed by a neglectful, glib gp. Ihope you’re improving.
Was admitted yesterday. Our planned admissions are not general respitory. Following the success of Trifactor etc up to press, there is now room for cf/pcd/bronchiectasis patients On the cf ward. For most of my life I have done the dreaded a&e - assessment - finally a ward and the difference from then is so superior. So I hope you can get something in place.
oh so do I. I am so jealous. The con on this ward is fighting for it but he says only the patients have the power to change it but are too scared to hold hospital authorities to account. I have just had fun filling in a long survey but will be writing to the relevant people and CEO when I get home. When your hospital v
Can put the second premier teaching hospital in the UK to shame on this it is a bad day.
I’m at the QE ..under a /? same male bronch consultant….Dr R ( are we allowed to exchange names?) …. let me know if there is anything I can do/ letter that I can write… to back you up with this ..
Thanks Pat. I am under Anita Sullivan, as are a few others on here. I know that all of the resp cons feel the same and have been asking for direct access for their patients to the resp wards so I think that we have to support them. I am now back up on resp ward waiting to have drain put back in. Even using the term 'chest pains' and 'failed discharge' as told to us by my daughter's paramedic friend to shortcut the A&E process we waited from 11am until 1.45am to get me admitted on to the ward.
Dr Rauf was on the ward today with Dr Green. They both work with my consultant. A lovely team. It could just be the bronch damage now causing this. There is an outside chance that it is an accumulation of damage from the surgically produced pneumothorax at Warwick hospital 2 years ago. I do feel that I was sent home too early. My first admission was under a hotch potch of diff doctors who don't know me. Now I am with my own team and Caron our bronch nurse. It all seems to have happened this way because my daughter's friend told her to declare 'failed discharge' in A&E when we arrived and at the same time Caron went searching for the right people to get me back in. Still had to wait till 2.30 am for a bed. Just had drain back in. Instant relief. They are talking of sealing the lung to the wall with medical talc when it is up again.
Sometimes when doctors don’t listen, it can be life-threatening. Doctors often don’t listen to their patients. Worse yet, sometimes they just don’t believe our lived experience.
Thank goodness you know your own body so well! How awful to have been sent away first time because it was supposedly your aging body! Dreadful!I hope you're now on the road to full recovery.
Hang on to that new doctor who knows his stuff. He sounds worth his weight in gold! Xx Moy
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