still waiting & getting nowhere

[chillijava]

hi helen
well i have just sent another email to his secretary,(if thats what you call her), this time i phrased it more forcefully. i have always worked (WHEN I COULD WORK) in customer service and to be honest she definately wouldnt get job in any of my offices
if you know what is going to happen then i think you can handle the waiting, but its this being in limbo that causes the problem, i am normally quite sympathetic to people who have busy jobs, but i cant see how a quick email, even to say its being looked at, can take up too much of somebodys time, we are at the moment in the middle of selling my mums house so that we can buy a bigger one and have her live with us as she has altzheimers, we have had an offer on her property and are now searching for the right house, so as you can see time is really of the essence if i am to have surgery, i must try to de-stress

[molly]

Hi Andrea,


When my daughter was a pp with Dr G, and she finally got to speak to this woman she ended up bursting into tears on the end of the phone as her attitude was well short of empathtic. This did change her attitude, should,nt have been necessary of course and it did lead to some action, only on this occasion.
Please do not worry about being a pest, we have far too many other things to worry about, and it will not make any differencento your place on the list, Dr Gis far too kind and professional for that.


Good luck Molly

[helenlegs 11]

Yes I particularly hate the limbo stage too, so I do sympathise.
I know from my own experience (when I could work ) sometimes people do shy away from supplying a negative or at least a not positive 'no info' answer like 'I don't know when/why/what'' as it may encourage a sharper reply from the probably disgruntled. However, there are often major benefits to a quick e mail, just to explain the situation. Try the e address? if you have no reply? At least with that there is no danger of being caught up in a lengthy 'customer service' phone call, which we both are aware can sometimes happen, I'm sure.
Probably part of the problem is that Dr G's nurse isn't actually 'customer service' which is a cost saving exercise.
I know that he did have a secretary at one stage but she left a while ago I think.

[chillijava]

sent 2 more emails today and again no reply, so i rang her and guess what it went straight to voice mail, so i am going to try again tomorrow and also i am contemplating contacting the nuffield hospital, as that is where i see dr g, and complaining to them about the service i am receiving, such a shame as i like dr g he is really nice and i do have a lot of faith in him.


andrea

[chillijava]

RESULT!!!!!!
dr g rang me last night and apologised for the delay in him getting back to me, he explained that his secretary/nurse was having domestic problems, i dont know how true this is but hey ho.
he then went on to ask me how i had got on with the nerve block, which puzzled me, as i sent via email details of the pain chart i had to keep to his secretary 2 weeks ago, he said he hadnt seen them, so i presume another thing she failed to do, oh dear i am sounding cynical
i explained that i had some relief from the block for a few hours and he said that this suggested to him that there was some kind of nerve damage to the pn nerve and that i now had 2 options open to me which would be surgery or a neuro stimulater fitted the choice was mine.
he did say if the surgery didnt work that he would then fit the stimulater and that wouldnt cure or solve the pain just mask it and that the surgery was a way to solve the problem, i did say that that a lot of people had said that the surgery didnt work, but he said there are lot of reasons why this should be and because i had only had the problem for a year the outcome would be favourable as the shorter time you have had the problem the more likely the nerve would recover, so i decided to go for it.
mr dixon will be doing the surgery, not sure when as mr dixon is on holiday for the next 2 weeks, (oh the joy of having a holiday, something i cant even contemplate at the moment, but maybe soon), but i would say within the next 6 weeks.
i will keep you all posted as i know not many have had the surgery in bristol and i feel like i am a pathfinder for you all


andrea

[calluna]

Hooray!

The fact that Dr G hadn't received your pain chart isn't good though. I had some issues a couple of years ago now when his secretary was supposed to refer me to Mr D but Mr D's secretary never received it. I did not know who to believe, we spent 6 months waiting to hear about that and when someone else finally was persuaded to look into it, turned out that the referral had never left her desk in the first place. (My husband says, quoting the Red Queen, off with her head! - which seems a little drastic but we weren't at all happy about it as you can imagine.)

Anyway, perhaps a good thing to check that Mr D's secretary actually receives word about this, I'd suggest.

I do hope it all goes well for you.

(Am jealous actually. Have got as much mesh as poss removed (definitely not all) but nobody has suggested decompression surgery.)

[Geraldine]

Great news that you heard back from Dr G. It does sound as if something isn't right with his "secretary" as he doesn't normally reply himself as he is so busy. I imagine he doesn't look at his emails and leaves that to Catherine. It's amazing that he doesn't get someone else on a temporary basis to help out as you probably weren't the only person trying to get hold of him.
Think I might wait a week or so before trying to make an appointment.
Hope you soon get a date for your next procedure.
Julia

[chillijava]

i must admit i was a bit surprised when he rang last night as it was 9.45 so not early, but maybe he picked up the rather terse message i left on her phone, he did also say that he would contact mr d himself, (as i think they are bosom buddies) and would see me in sugery, how nice is that


andrea

[helenlegs 11]

A bit of tersness can help sometimes can't it!
Just goes to show how lovely the man actually is. So glad you have a plan now. Good luck with that plan . I can't even count the amount of people that I have heard have had the decompression surgery earlyish on and then dissapear, living their lives Andrea.
Please let us know how you are.
Take care,
Helen

[chillijava]

still a bit worried that it might not work for me, but i really dont have a choice, i suppose this is the only way to get a cure if thats possible, will keep you all informed as soon as i know the date



andrea