Those little challenges sent to try us

I should have seen this one coming, after all these years and all the different medications I really should know to expect the unexpected and inconvenience. After finally getting some sleep I woke up this morning to the most annoying of new symptoms. The sore mouth bit I am used to,except at the moment I can't even manage butter on bread or my beloved marmite. In fact just smiling hurts! Its the other symptom that's new to the mix a blister type rash on various parts of my hands and fingers, in one place so inflamed it is catching when I move my little finger.

So this morning has been spent on the phone trying to get that elusive thing called a Monday morning doctors appointment. Needless to say I failed in that, how many people really need the doctor on a Monday morning? So then came the 3 hour wait to get a doctor to call me. Bless him I have a very patient and practical doctor who doesn't seem to mind calling me in his lunch break as apparently half of the town were in the surgery this morning. Result there are no spaces today but he has informed me I have show up tomorrow which means back to the telephone at 8am tomorrow morning and sit in an endless queue till I can finally get answered by an over worked receptionist.In the meantime I am stuck with a sore mouth and blisters on my fingers worthy of their own post code.

It's not the first time I have suffered side affects, I, like a lot of people have suffered from the medicines designed to make us better and in few cases have ended up with a night stay in the local accident and emergency unit of the hospital due to these reactions. Its not so much the side affects that get me down its just the fact it slows me down and that causes my morale to drop. Not to mention there is now the big challenge of what can I eat that doesn't hurt, answer not a lot tea is my friend and that's about it.

Although it does raise the question, why are our bodies programmed to challenge us at the most inconvenient of moments. Over the years we have successfully needed the services of our emergency department on Boxing day, a broken finger out of line, New Years Day, Kidney infection  5am on a Saturday morning, toxic shock from medication and so on. And it doesn't just seem to be my household. Like this morning it seemed everyone in Carshalton urgently needed the services of the doctor, considering my surgery has over 10 gps 3 nurses and 2 physios there never seems to be a quiet time, but Monday's and Friday's are the worst. Its like you never go to the A and E dept on a Friday or Saturday night unless its life or death literally because the place seems to be an extension of the local nightclub with various levels of intoxicated injuries. I know personally I have put up with the pain of a broken wrist more than once to time my visit so I avoid those times, not because I am the worse for wear, but more because I am in pain and thus on a low patience threshold. On more than one occasion I have physically left nail marks in a chair up there in an attempt to keep my patience, when faced with the level of stupidity and arrogance of some so called patients. This isn't a moan about the NHS, on the contrary its a moan about the people who abuse it.

I have had many friends over the years who work in the system, including members of my own family and they all say the same thing, they wouldn't do the job if they didn't want to help people, because the pay,hours and unfortunately the treatment they receive isn't worth the effort. I know its an age old moan, but lets tip it on the head. There are a lot of people like myself who have genuine chronic illnesses which when properly managed don't usually clutter up the health resources more than routine check ups. However when something happens to change the balance we are subject to needing weekly if not more doctors appointments, plus extra trips to specialists and in my case physio. This isn't an extreme case, most GP's want to monitor the constant progress or deterioration of the illness so they can amend the treatment given. Add these people to the standard amount of people who have those natural accidents and illnesses that we all suffer and that is enough to keep every doctor and nurse in the country busy. Especially as we have high population numbers at both the young and old ends of the spectrum. So how on earth do we expect these over worked staff to do their job properly when they become inundated with idiots who don't know when to stop drinking or worse. Sure I have had my moments of vodka induced stupidity but it has never landed me in hospital. and thinking back none of my friends landed there either. Whats more  I know none of us would have dared to carry on in the fashion I have been unfortunately witness to. Whats worse to hear if the reaction I have had on arrival at both my GPs and Physios, never do I want to hear the words "at last someone who is really ill". Yet I have heard that many times going back as far as to when I was 18. So this isn't a new problem, but has building up for the last 30 years, and it seems to be getting worse as the medical profession no long have the right to tell the time wasters to go get a life.

I am not having a go just for myself, but how many of us have had a wait on our allotted appointment time, in fact I am so resigned to it, I can all but guarantee that tomorrow my GP will be running at least 10 Min's late and my physio probably 20mins. Not because they are lousy time keepers, but because they have an allotted 10 Min's to get a patient in their room find out what the real reason to see them is and diagnosis. Sounds simple but for the fact in some cases including myself it can take 2+ minutes to get from the waiting room to consultation room, in some peoples cases even longer. Then the poor patient has to explain whats wrong, in my case no problem but some people are nervous of this discussion, then the doctor may have to do some form of exam, decide the right course of treatment and explain it to the patient. That's a big ask in a short space of time. All it takes is one patient with something really bad or slightly less oblivious and bang goes all the timing. So what the last thing needed is some paranoid patient taking up the valuable appointments through something stupid or self inflicted. There was a simple rule installed in me at a young age, if the chemist can treat it you don't need the doctors, and if in doubt phone rather than clog up the system, Unfortunately for me like today the doctor thinks my side affects are more worthy of his attention than I initially thought and my presence is ordered tomorrow.

So back to my little challenges, today I am on a go slow till tomorrow, but whats a day when I am sure there is some one else feeling a whole lot worse than me also waiting for tomorrow to come. Yes is annoying, but if everything goes our way there would be nothing left to challenge us. Most of all I take my hat off to those who give their lives  to putting people like me back together again, without them I wouldn't be here today.