NHS Hack ( bast@rds)

[Sepsur]

Hi Everyone,

Since leaving ICU - I've ended up @GP a few times. Injuries from not being as robust from acute muscle waste & illness from after effects of ICU and having no immune system & CLL. I'm just dipping into another viral infection ( which is inconvient) - apparently my CLL means I am suspetible to viral infection - the reason I am writing is that I was given a great idea by my step- mum - hunt out my discharge letter & notes - just in case I end up in A&E this weekend and hospital systems are still screwed. Good luck everyone

[Luckyone]

Hi Miles,

Reading your post reminded me of my first year after discharge and some of the mishaps and comments I had along the way, after 36 years of working in building, I found out after 3 months in ICU the hard way you can't do the same things as before as I managed to fall off a ladder, tripped down the garden steps, plus the usual trip to the GP's with a chest infection, but some of the most amusing were comments at the hospital when returning for appointments in particular when I went for a CT scan the radiographer said "I remember you, you were really ill" and then at a lung function test the doctor looked puzzled as on her computer my oxygen levels appeared far to low so sent me for a blood test straight away which showed slightly raised white blood cell levels, but the best one of all was when I went back to do a talk to the ICU staff, one of the male nurses who I have no memory of said "I've got to shake your hand you look 20 years younger than the last time I saw you" a comment I will never forget.

Bill

[Sepsur in reply to Luckyone]

Ha ha ha - I think I might be your cosmic twin. I think weirdly, that because I was in ICU so long - I acclimatised to it. It is a thought isn't it, that the average for a patient being on life support is 3.3days. I was on life support for 70 with a further 20 days in ICU!

I'm starting to realise that changes will have to happen despite my determination for all things to normal service.

[comadreams]

Your entire medical history can be acquired on request, diagnoses, dates, operations, medications, etc.... or so I'm told. I believe there's a small fee for the service like 40 quid or so. (That's if your info' didn't melt down in the meltdown which sounds unlikely.) I keep a file with every last silly piece of paper I'm given, discharge letter, prescriptions, etc., but it's still not what I would call a 'complete' history. Can't blame the NHS, they do their best on the stone age kit they've been working with. To err is human but to get really f#@ked up takes a computer.

[Sepsur in reply to comadreams]

comadreams - great idea - maybe it's about time we grew up and took responsibility - not expecting the nanny state to hold all our records. You do wonder at timings sometimes - as if NHS isn't under the cosh enough. 😳

[comadreams]

No reason the 'nanny state' shouldn't have all your records, wouldn't be a proper Nanny otherwise would she? As they say on X Files, 'The truth is out there somewhere.' It's finding it that's the challenge.

[Neuropathy_1]

Hi I was at home for 2 days in a septic shock coma before I was found I got really bad pressure sores on my legs and bottom from the toilet seat still got one not healing since Oct 2015 but last yr 2016 was in and out of hospital like a yo yo and Dr's and nurses etc did not remember or know my face but they knew my bum one Dr who was on duty night taken in said u were very ill and I said how can u remember me out of all patients going through a and e and he said not many sit on toilet for days u know I know I was in a coma but can not comprehend what a coma is but I feel I should of been able do something to get help I have beaten myself up so much about this and get angry with myself especially since pressure sore not healing it's a constant reminder also the likely hood of plastic surgery to do a flap looms very strong over me

[Sepsur in reply to Neuropathy_1]

I have legacies from being in a coma and being on the life support. Thankfully in the scheme of things, they do not hinder too much. They are inconveniences. I hear people very troubled by their comas and the after effects. Don't get me wrong - I hated being a burden on my family in early recovery. I don't feel guilty for getting ill, I can't control illnesses, I didn't cause it nor could I cure it on a conscious level. We have miraculously come back from the brink - we are the everyday Lazarus. Celebrate, don't beat yourself up - eat another chocolate, get your toenails cut or painted🤣. Be kind to yourself - we've been through a war and survived.

I'm just trudging the road to happy destiny.