Wednesday 16 March 2011

Referrals

Recently, I have been having a lot of stomach problems, so I went to my local GP, who thought that it might be a gall stone. He then referred me for an ultrasound at one of the nearby hospitals, so, a few weeks later, I went for one. It was really fascinating! I saw things like my liver, gall bladder, stomach, spleen and kidneys, after the doctor has applied a pre-heated jelly, which made it much more comfortable than it would have been if it was cold, although it did tickle a lot. However, they concluded that I did not have a gall stone, so I was put on Lansoprozole to try and calm my stomach. Initially, this appeared to work, until the stomach ache reappeared after about a week. Upon returning to my GP, he then referred me to a paediatrician at Yeovil District Hospital. I went up to floor 10, and was weighed and measured by a nurse, then sent through to see the paediatrician. He was very friendly and immediately put me at ease, although he too could not see what was wrong with me. I then had to have a blood test. Unfortunately, when the nurse put the needle in my elbow after applying cold spray, the vein moved around the needle, then, when the needle was in the vein, the vein collapsed. Next, she tried the other elbow, and it went well in the beginning, until the blood stopped and we didn’t have enough for a blood test. Upon returning to the other elbow, the vein decides to be unhelpful and moves again, so the nurse tried another part of my elbow, and we finally got enough blood. Luckily, I don’t mind blood tests, and made jokes to show that I didn’t mind and I knew that it wasn’t their fault. Now I’m just waiting for the test results to come through to see what’s wrong with me!