ITS OFFICIAL :-)

Confirmation letter arrived today. Starting to get nervous now though lol

[allanah]

Yeah, great news, good luck X

[JacquiThomas999]

All the best, hopefully you have someone to attend with you to listen and support. I hope all goes well. I have an appointment with my Rheummy consultant for the first time in 9 months (I saw him at the start, and have seen my lovely Rheummy nurse since). Good luck.

[helixhelix]

That's good news. Write yourself a list of main points - symptoms, when things started, questions, etc. And take a copy of your blood results as they may well not have got to the hospital file. And best underwear as may be examined. And good luck, hope he or she is a great rheumy.

[Ali_H]

That's great news,

Ali

[Damaged]

Wow, I saw my Rheumy a week following diagnoses. I am so sorry you need to wait so long. I had never given much thought to health care prior to this illness. I sincerely hope you find a great doctor and that treatment is effective. I hope you find time to peruse several sites. This has been quite an experience. I found the best information, support and understanding right here. Big big hugs...may you soon be pain free 🔬

[MrsBones123]

That's good news, sorry you had to wait so long though. Not long to go now

Be prepared to possibly be there for a few hours - if my experience is anything to go by, I thought I'd be in and out in half an hour, lol, not understanding how many questions they ask at the initial appointment, then I was sent to have more blood tests, then xrays, so with having to wait a bit in the different departments, it took a few hours. Good to get it all over with at the same time though.

If I'd known, I'd have taken a few nibbles and a bottle of water, but did eventually find the tea machine

Good luck, hope you get a great rheumy and rheumy nurse x

[Jacki08]

About time too. Good luck tomorrow and let us all know how you get on. ☺

[Matilda_1922]

I haven't seen anyone for 4 months now. Diagnosed earlier this year. My next telephone appointment is 22nd September with a nurse. I have a sneaky feeling this maybe cancelled again due to the Junior doctors strike which starts again this month. Before this appointment I had one booked for 13th October which was a 4th cancellation. I called the dept this time as appointment was being made for November. Definitely not following the early inflammatory pathway. Well the response to my call when I asked for a face to face appointment was I can have a telephone appointment in September.

That's me rambling on hope your appointment goes well for you. Wear something that you can get on and off easily as I was not aware of this and struggled to undress and dress again.

[Hidden]

Good luck! I agree, take a list with bullet points and take someone else with you, if you can. A second set of ears always helps. I tend to listen to the first bit and get distracted even when I'm trying really hard to focus.

Most rheum clinics are busy, so bring a book and prepare for a long wait. My hospital wifi is rubbish! I don't wait more than 30 minutes usually but my previous rheum ran about 2 hours late!