How Did Today Go Emmie??

[Smowball]

Many of us have been wondering how your hospital appointment went this morning - did you manage to even get down your stairs to your transport?? If so then how did the hospital go - did the consultant offer any positive help??
Let us know when you can. Much love x

[emmie]

no worries Naomi, hope it makes sense...

[dannyk13]

Hope you have better luck next time Emmie.I can understand your frustration.

[naomi24]

I read that but hadn't realised you didn't go at all. I thought you had arrived too late for your appointment.

[emmie]

Danny, it was a long process of getting the app to see the Orthopedic team and then patient transport, and no doubt will be the same again, when i phone them both when open at 9am

[emmie]

no Naomi, my app was 09.45, they turned up at 10am, too late for my app and i had to send them away. So did a phone consult.

[emmie]

i hope that i can get another appointment with the Orthopedic team soon. Will phone them this morning and let you know how i get on.

[naomi24]

Can you not get a friend or two to go with you in a taxi for the next appointment?

[emmie]

no, i need professional help, 4 paramedics with a stretcher or chair to help me down and up - i wouldn't forgive myself if friends helped me and I fell and took them with me.

[1ozzy]

Don't forget the stairs Naomi.

[emmie]

there are four flights to navigate, i haven't been able to get out as the knee problem has become so much more serious, painful in the last three months.

[naomi24]

I haven't forgotten the stairs, 1ozzy. My initial question was about the stairs.

Oh I see, emmie. I didn't realise you need to be carried.

[emmie]

alas that seems the only way Naomi, or carried down with a chair, i can't put my left leg down for long, without it giving way.

[emmie]

its why i haven't been out since my MRI scan on 4th Feb.

[naomi24]

Have you tried crutches to get around? I was on crutches for six months because I could hardly put my foot to the floor and when my husband had a serious operation on his leg he commuted daily into London on crutches. They can be very helpful..

[emmie]

i have a walking stick for indoors, crutches might help, but not to get me down stairs, as i need professional help/support to manage the stairs.

[emmie]

friends have offered to help, but if one of them fell down the stairs because of me, i would never forgive myself.

[naomi24]

Sounds like you might have to think about moving to somewhere on the ground floor. Those stairs could be an on-going problem especially as you get older.

[emmie]

chances are im up for surgery, the consultant said that its an option for a knee replacement, which means a temporary, i hope, time encased indoors, to recover. I should be free of pain afterwards.

[pat2604]

I am rarely around this early Emmie so have missed your posts abou how bad your knees are. I'm so sorry to hear about yesterday.

As someone who has Chronic bad pain and can't get about, you have all my sympathy and empathy. I hope things soon get better for you.

Chin up,

Love Lottie xx

[bednobs]

emmie, it makes me wonder if you have a confidence problem primarily. You presumably get about your flat, albeit slowly, put your shopping away, answer the door, go to the bathroom, do your washingwhich means that you CAN put weight through your leg, just not for long. You would usually only need to send a stretcher for bed bound patients, which i don't think you are; i have never heard of 4 people being sent to pick someone up for patient transport.
Understandably, 4 flights of stairs are daunting, but i wonder if you can "build up" by for example going out to your stairs today and going down 1 step, coming back up and going back. If you do that every day, you may gain confidence, and be able to increase bit by bit?
if you want to be able to get things sorted, you have to help yourself too, otherwise progress is stuck at the behest of others, which you have found out to your detriment.
i hope that doesn't sound patronising and clearly i only know things about you that you put here, but it seems like the alternative for you is to move or stay in your flat in pain till you die, which doesn't sound appealing to me