Anxiety Calls
Tuesday 10th July 2018
My appointment with Dr Das is tomorrow and I've spent the past two days wrapped in panic and anxiety. My Husband has a job interview which of course had to be tomorrow of all days. It's just the way it is and I would never expect him to cancel because of me. All my other family members are at work. I spent the most part of today crying and shaking at the mere prospect of driving to Kettering on my own. And then trying to park. It's now 10pm and I'm feeling a little better. Thankfully my 18 year old son has the day off work tomorrow and has agreed to come with me. He doesn't know why I'm going. I've just told him I have a virus that attacks my liver. I hate using the label for it. It makes me feel like a leper.
I have spent the past hour studying the map of KGH car park and I'm 70% confident I know how to get there and where to park. I will use my phone as a sat nav. I do feel as if half of the weight I've been carrying around all week has been lifted. I just hope it goes OK.
Wednesday 11th July 2018.
It was so hot today. I want to wear a dress to keep cool, but I will have to lift it up fro my scan today, so I settled for jeggings and a top.
I managed to find my way to the hospital this morning but parking was a nightmare. The small car park I had planned on using was completely rammed. It was difficult turning around to get back out again. I eventually found the main car park which has recently turned into a multi-storey. It doesn't look safe at all. Steel beams everywhere made it hard to park in a bay. I'm lucky I have a small car.
It was difficult finding the Ambulatory care unit and I had to ask few people how to get there. It turned out to be a tiny, hot and stuffy little room with a TV and chairs around the outside. It was pretty busy when I got there. I gave my details and was told to take a seat. I was dying for a drink and there was a table in the middle of the room with a jug of blackcurrant and plastic cups. My anxiety prevented me from puring myself any though. I think I waited about 30 minutes when a nurse came out behind me and scrubbed a laminated sheet on the wall behind me clean and re-wrote 1 hour and 45 minutes on it. The current wait time to be seen. I prayed that didn't apply to me as I had an appointment. Thankfully my prayers were answered as a few minutes later, I was called in.
I was taken to an examination room and told to lay on the bed. It was just me and an Indian doctor at this point who I assumed was Dr Das, although he didn't introduce himself. He asked me a few questions and then another Indian Doctor came in to the room who introduced himself as Dr Das. He was really nice and explained to me about the new drugs that are now available. It all depended on my answers to five questions which one I would be prescribed.
1) Have I ever received treatment before
2) What genotype I am
3) How 'sticky' my liver is, which the scan would determine shortly
4) If I have previously received treatment, did it work
5) Am I taking any current medications.
So I gave him the answers I knew... I have never received treatment, nor am I taking any current medication. I had no idea what genotype I am but the blood results from last week should show that. And then it was time for the scan, which was just an ultrasound.
The first doctor scanned me while Dr Das tapped away on a machine and told him where to scan next. At one point he said to me "so you're definitely not taking any medication at the moment?" Erm... no I'm not. This started to make me worry just how bad my liver had become damaged over the past 14 years. Could the Hep C have eaten away at it that much?
Then they stopped and wiped the jelly off me and said that my liver looked very good (phew) and that he would get my blood results and be back shortly.
So I got up off the bed, pulled my top back down and went to the other side of the room and sat on a chair where I had put my handbag. I was left in the room with this man who clearly felt as awkward as I did. I was wracking my brains trying to think of something to say to him. I asked him if they still do the liver biopsies and he said they don't tend to do them as much any more as the ultrasound scans are just as effective.
More minutes passed in silence until eventually Dr Das came back into the room. He double checked my address and Doctors address. As I suspected when I was in London, my GP surgery hadn't sent my blood results over. Typical.
He said he would chase those up and then discuss with his team what the best treatment would be for me. He and a team of consultants have a meeting every second Tuesday. Unluckily for me, they had met yesterday, so his next meeting wasn't until 24th July. He said I would definitely be offered treatment though as everyone is entitled to it. So not to worry and he would be in touch.
I left the hospital feeling positive. I was finally going to beat this awful virus and the risk of harming others with it would soon be eliminated!
I have spent the past hour studying the map of KGH car park and I'm 70% confident I know how to get there and where to park. I will use my phone as a sat nav. I do feel as if half of the weight I've been carrying around all week has been lifted. I just hope it goes OK.
Wednesday 11th July 2018.
It was so hot today. I want to wear a dress to keep cool, but I will have to lift it up fro my scan today, so I settled for jeggings and a top.
I managed to find my way to the hospital this morning but parking was a nightmare. The small car park I had planned on using was completely rammed. It was difficult turning around to get back out again. I eventually found the main car park which has recently turned into a multi-storey. It doesn't look safe at all. Steel beams everywhere made it hard to park in a bay. I'm lucky I have a small car.
It was difficult finding the Ambulatory care unit and I had to ask few people how to get there. It turned out to be a tiny, hot and stuffy little room with a TV and chairs around the outside. It was pretty busy when I got there. I gave my details and was told to take a seat. I was dying for a drink and there was a table in the middle of the room with a jug of blackcurrant and plastic cups. My anxiety prevented me from puring myself any though. I think I waited about 30 minutes when a nurse came out behind me and scrubbed a laminated sheet on the wall behind me clean and re-wrote 1 hour and 45 minutes on it. The current wait time to be seen. I prayed that didn't apply to me as I had an appointment. Thankfully my prayers were answered as a few minutes later, I was called in.
I was taken to an examination room and told to lay on the bed. It was just me and an Indian doctor at this point who I assumed was Dr Das, although he didn't introduce himself. He asked me a few questions and then another Indian Doctor came in to the room who introduced himself as Dr Das. He was really nice and explained to me about the new drugs that are now available. It all depended on my answers to five questions which one I would be prescribed.
1) Have I ever received treatment before
2) What genotype I am
3) How 'sticky' my liver is, which the scan would determine shortly
4) If I have previously received treatment, did it work
5) Am I taking any current medications.
So I gave him the answers I knew... I have never received treatment, nor am I taking any current medication. I had no idea what genotype I am but the blood results from last week should show that. And then it was time for the scan, which was just an ultrasound.
The first doctor scanned me while Dr Das tapped away on a machine and told him where to scan next. At one point he said to me "so you're definitely not taking any medication at the moment?" Erm... no I'm not. This started to make me worry just how bad my liver had become damaged over the past 14 years. Could the Hep C have eaten away at it that much?
Then they stopped and wiped the jelly off me and said that my liver looked very good (phew) and that he would get my blood results and be back shortly.
So I got up off the bed, pulled my top back down and went to the other side of the room and sat on a chair where I had put my handbag. I was left in the room with this man who clearly felt as awkward as I did. I was wracking my brains trying to think of something to say to him. I asked him if they still do the liver biopsies and he said they don't tend to do them as much any more as the ultrasound scans are just as effective.
More minutes passed in silence until eventually Dr Das came back into the room. He double checked my address and Doctors address. As I suspected when I was in London, my GP surgery hadn't sent my blood results over. Typical.
He said he would chase those up and then discuss with his team what the best treatment would be for me. He and a team of consultants have a meeting every second Tuesday. Unluckily for me, they had met yesterday, so his next meeting wasn't until 24th July. He said I would definitely be offered treatment though as everyone is entitled to it. So not to worry and he would be in touch.
I left the hospital feeling positive. I was finally going to beat this awful virus and the risk of harming others with it would soon be eliminated!
10th August
I haven't heard anything about my treatment yet so I called Dr Das' secretary for update but apparently the Hep C nurse is on leave until Monday. I'll call back next week.
16th August
I received a call from the Hep C nurse at Kettering general Hospital. She said I’ve been prescribed an 8 week course of Maviret. She's booked me an appointment for 11th September for bloods and to start treatment. My appointment is at 13:30pm, but I have to go a bit earlier to have my bloods done. She said she would send the forms out in the post...
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