So here I am, at home, still in pain, and with no idea when I’m going in hospital for my surgery. It has been cancelled for the third time, leaving me feeling depressed and upset.
I’m due to have spinal surgery, a replacement disc at c5 c6 in my neck. It’s taken me a long time to get here. I had pain, slowly increasing for two years before I consulted my rather unsympathetic GP. If I’d known how long it would take to get here, or how serious my pain was, maybe I’d have gone sooner, but the pain wasn’t too bad, and I don’t like going to the doctor, so I ignored it until I could ignore it no longer. Then followed a further year of tests and meetings with various people in the NHS before a consultant said I should have a diagnostic MRI. Following that, I had my diagnosis.
I finally saw a spinal consultant a year ago. Initially he recommended a steroid injection into my neck, which did nothing. Then he said I need a disc replacement as the disc is crumbling and damaged (why bother with a steroid injection because that was never going to heal the disc) and it would be three to four months wait for the surgery. That was eight months ago. On Friday last week, my surgery was cancelled for the third time. My pain has increased considerably over the last few weeks, I’m in permanent pain, and I’m feeling extremely depressed and upset about it all. I understand that the hospital’s IT was taken down a week ago in the storms and so they’re rearranging some surgeries, but this is my third rearrangement. I have no idea when my next date for surgery will be, and I’m in considerable pain.
I’m just sad and fed up.
