So with the latest cycle of medical appointments finished, here's a round-up of recent happenings for you and the family members who aren't on my friends list and who don't speak and skulk around in the background:
The two mental health assessements drew the conclusion that I'm in need of treatmentant given everything I've been through in the past year. I've been put forward for cognitive behavoural therapy, although the waiting list for treatment is six months or so.
The blood tests showed that I have low folate levels. This basically means I'm anaemic, and I'm now on a course of folic acid for the next few months. They also tested to see how my other organs were doing, as well as for diabities. Thankfully that came out all clear.
There was one slight emergency during the second blood test when I didn't stop bleeding because of all the blood thinners I'm on. It took fifteen minutes of pressure from the very nice nurse before the blood flow stopped. I've not got a nice little bruise in the crook of my right arm thanks to those pesky blood thinners.
Remember that nasty episode during my first hospital stay? You know, during the first chest drain where I woke up screaming because the container had filled up so quickly and some of the nasty stuff had moved over to my heart chamber because it had nowhere else to go?
That was well and truly the cause of my current atrial fibrilation, the irregular heartbeat. The three electro cardiograms I've had in the past few weeks - two at the GP surgery and one at the hospital yesterday - all showed the same thing.
The cardiologist at the big hospital has put me forward for an electro cardiogram to see what condition my heart is actually in, while my GP has ordered a B-type natriuretic peptide test, or BNP test. It's to measure serum natriuretic peptides. I have little to no idea what that means, and I had to Google what the test entails.
And here's the big one boys and girls: the cardiologist has put me forward for cardioversion to try and shock my heart back in a regular heartbeat, I had one back in 2020 (remember that lovely year?) and it worked then.
Now for the elephant in the room - the diaphragm repair. Yes, it still hurts like hell. The GP put me on a course of co-codamol earlier in the year. I was taking the bare minimum, one pill in the morning, one before I went to bed and one in between on an as and when basis.
I ran out of those pills a few weeks ago and went back onto paracetamol, and the pain has steadily increased almost back to the level it was before. The GP is reluctant to put me back on co-codamol because of it's highly addictive qualities, so it's back onto the over the counter painkillers, including this lovely freeze gel that I get for the princely sum of £1 from places like QD and Poundland.
Oh, and let's not forget the constant fatigue that's been dogging me all this time.
So to summarise, I still feel like crap most of the time, and I'll be ending up in hospital again sooner or later.
Thank you all for reading, and for all of your continued support, and if you see anyone who doesn't know about what's happened, be they former co-worker or aforementioned family member, please pass this information on to them. And finally.....
Oh what a fucking wonderful year it's been.
The two mental health assessements drew the conclusion that I'm in need of treatmentant given everything I've been through in the past year. I've been put forward for cognitive behavoural therapy, although the waiting list for treatment is six months or so.
The blood tests showed that I have low folate levels. This basically means I'm anaemic, and I'm now on a course of folic acid for the next few months. They also tested to see how my other organs were doing, as well as for diabities. Thankfully that came out all clear.
There was one slight emergency during the second blood test when I didn't stop bleeding because of all the blood thinners I'm on. It took fifteen minutes of pressure from the very nice nurse before the blood flow stopped. I've not got a nice little bruise in the crook of my right arm thanks to those pesky blood thinners.
Remember that nasty episode during my first hospital stay? You know, during the first chest drain where I woke up screaming because the container had filled up so quickly and some of the nasty stuff had moved over to my heart chamber because it had nowhere else to go?
That was well and truly the cause of my current atrial fibrilation, the irregular heartbeat. The three electro cardiograms I've had in the past few weeks - two at the GP surgery and one at the hospital yesterday - all showed the same thing.
The cardiologist at the big hospital has put me forward for an electro cardiogram to see what condition my heart is actually in, while my GP has ordered a B-type natriuretic peptide test, or BNP test. It's to measure serum natriuretic peptides. I have little to no idea what that means, and I had to Google what the test entails.
And here's the big one boys and girls: the cardiologist has put me forward for cardioversion to try and shock my heart back in a regular heartbeat, I had one back in 2020 (remember that lovely year?) and it worked then.
Now for the elephant in the room - the diaphragm repair. Yes, it still hurts like hell. The GP put me on a course of co-codamol earlier in the year. I was taking the bare minimum, one pill in the morning, one before I went to bed and one in between on an as and when basis.
I ran out of those pills a few weeks ago and went back onto paracetamol, and the pain has steadily increased almost back to the level it was before. The GP is reluctant to put me back on co-codamol because of it's highly addictive qualities, so it's back onto the over the counter painkillers, including this lovely freeze gel that I get for the princely sum of £1 from places like QD and Poundland.
Oh, and let's not forget the constant fatigue that's been dogging me all this time.
So to summarise, I still feel like crap most of the time, and I'll be ending up in hospital again sooner or later.
Thank you all for reading, and for all of your continued support, and if you see anyone who doesn't know about what's happened, be they former co-worker or aforementioned family member, please pass this information on to them. And finally.....
Oh what a fucking wonderful year it's been.
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