Friday 17 March 2017

Not a happy bunny

I'm currently waiting to have orthopaedic surgery on my hands to help counteract the effects of osteoarthritis. The procedure is known as trapeziectomy, where a small bone is removed from the wrist at the base of the thumb. I have the issue in both hands and find difficulty in gripping/holding anything between thumb and fingers. Even doing up buttons or tying shoe laces and using a knife and fork is painful and frankly my quality of life is suffering since I am no longer able to do many of things I enjoy like cycling, playing guitar and taking photographs.

In December last year I attended a pre-admission appointment to ensure I was a suitable candidate for anaesthesia. During the appointment I asked when the first surgery was likely to take place and I was told usually within 3 months. Given we are now in mid-March I rang the appointments secretary to query why I hadn't heard anything since my pre-admission appointment. It transpires I probably won't be seen now until July at the earliest, which means I will not get surgery on both hands this year (they only fix one hand at a time and the expected recovery between surgeries is as least 6 months).

Medically speaking I appreciate there are a lot of people worse off than me, but nevertheless this delay in what is a relatively simple procedure, which would make a considerable difference to me is bloody frustrating.

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