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My Essentials for a Hospital Appointment…

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Welcome to the seventh day of the National Health Blog Post Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health.  Every day during the month of November I will be writing a new blog post related to health and living with a chronic illness based upon given prompts provided by WEGO Health.

Today’s prompt reads:

Mary Poppins Carpet Bag: Write about what’s in your bag/purse/backpack every day and why!

This prompts come on a day where I have a hospital appointment – this afternoon I have a specialist appointment with a consultant in Audiovestibular Medicine.  So, given today’s prompt I decided to change it slightly and instead write about everything that I have in my bag when I attend various hospital appointments.  I don’t know about you, but I tend to get anxious and jittery attending hospital appointments, even after so many visits!  So I like to have plenty in my bag to keep me occupied and distracted when waiting to see the doctor.  Sitting in a hospital waiting room is in itself a waiting game.  So here is the run down on what I keep in my bag for appointment days:

  • The appointment letter: Very important to take this as obviously it contains all the vital information regarding the appointment such as the location, time and the doctor you are seeing.  More often than not the receptionist checks the letter for your information so is important to take the appointment letter with you to the hospital
  • Other Medical Information: At appointments they always ask you for certain information such as the frequency of the symptoms; medications you are taking; questions about medical history so I would advise to keep a notebook with all of this information written down in it, to take with you to such appointments
  • Puzzle Books: I have a couple of puzzle books, with Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles in them.  I usually get these out of my comfort box when I am stuck in bed as they help distract me from the pain and dizziness as well as help pass the time away, so often will take a book or two to complete whilst I am waiting.
  • Mobile Phone and iPad: Obviously, I am not able to make or receive calls whilst at the hospital but the phone itself becomes an entertainment centre, with everything I need to occupy me during the often long wait to been seen by the consultant.  With the phone I am able to check Facebook and Twitter, exchange messages with friends to help me through the anxiety, and also play different games to distract me from the dizziness.  The iPad enables me to listen to music or even watch a favourite film or television programme to make waiting much more enjoyable!
  • My ‘Little Book of Strength; – I am a big fan of the ‘Itty Bitty Book Company’.  They are a small company who sell handmade little book of quotes whether it be motivational quotes, positive quotes or quotes to gain strength from.  They also come with coloured beads attached to them, which make them really beautiful little gifts and keepsakes.  I love the ‘Itty Bitty Book of Strength’ and read all of the positive quotes when I am struggling because of my condition or just having a bad day. And I take them with me to hospital appointments to give me strength and help keep me calm
  • Mints and a bottle of water: My condition and the dizziness causes a lot of nausea; as well as this my mouth is always dry due to side effects of my medication so the mints and water help with this
  • Hat: I always carry this around in a little pocket in one of many Kipling bags as I have found that wearing a hat and minimising a lot of the stimuli surrounding me does help calm the dizziness down somewhat and is one of my main coping strategies when it gets bad
  • Purse: Always carry a purse as there are always shops at hospitals, and enables me to buy a drink or a snack during my wait.  Oh, and helps towards the car park fees, of course!

 

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My Comfort Item

What do you carry in your bag/purse/backpack when you visit the doctors’ or hospital?  Feel free to add your thoughts and comments below!

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In Chronic Illness

Encountering Problems in Healthcare

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Welcome to the fifth day of the National Health Blog Post Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health.   Every day during the month of November I will be writing a new blog post related to health and living with a chronic illness based on given prompts provided by WEGO Health

Today’s prompt reads:

Election day! Votes are in – you won!  If you got elected as President (or Prime Minister, for those living in the UK!), what are the three changes you would make to healthcare?

In the UK, in my opinion we are very fortunate to be provided with a National Health Service; free medical care for every person living in the UK.  There are many positive aspects with the NHS such as the many dedicated staff that work in hospitals and GP surgeries.  However, the NHS is not without its flaws and although I have received many positive experiences using NHS services, I have also sadly experienced negative experiences and seen first-hand how changes could improve the NHS.

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An example, of how frustrating being a patient in the NHS is the unfortunate waiting times for appointments.  The waiting time just to make an appointment with a GP is extraordinary – at my surgery, it is not unusual to wait approximately two weeks to have a non-urgent (or regular) appointment with the doctor.  For hospital consultations it can be approximately a 3 month waiting list.  For a patient living with a chronic illness, like myself it can be a very long wait as we struggle with a flare of the symptoms we live with.  There are approximately 15 million people in the UK suffering with a long-term health condition alone, and after talking on Twitter with other patients, there are many people who have to wait more than a couple of days for a GP appointment.  If the flare is very bad, however, many are then forced to attend Accident and Emergency to get help after failing to get an appointment with their GP.  This obviously increases the NHS load within A and E departments; increasing waiting times and so on.  Therefore, I propose having clinics within GP surgeries and smaller hospitals specifically for those suffering with long-term and chronic health conditions to enable them to get help and advice before their symptoms become so bad that they are forced to attending Accident and Emergency, therefore cutting the number of people attending there and reducing the number of those taking up inpatient beds in hospitals.

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I would also propose making it easier for patients to get in contact with their GP and consultants.  As a patient I am very often frustrated when I cannot contact a doctor to ask a question or get test results.  Messages are taken and supposedly passed on but it can take a long time for them to get back in touch with me.  So, I would make use of technology within the NHS – for example, allowing patients easy access to contact with their consultants via email.  Also, it wold be great to use Skype for non-urgent appointments in all surgeries across the UK.  Technology is quickly becoming a major feature within all aspects of everyday life so why not implement new technologies such as Skype, tablet computers within healthcare?

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The third change I would make within the healthcare system is the proposal to the end of the ‘postcode lottery’ that exists within the NHS.  The ‘postcode lottery’ refers to the difference in healthcare and treatment depending on where you live in the UK.  In my opinion, this is entirely unfair, imagine that you could receive life-saving treatment or medication if only you lived somewhere else!  The purpose of the National Health Service is to provide a consistent and professional service to each and every person living in the UK, and the ‘postcode lottery’ undermines this very fact.

Those are my proposed changes to the healthcare system in the UK.  If you could make changes within the healthcare system where you live, what would you change?

Loved to hear your thought; feel free to comment below!

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In Chronic Illness

Illness Forces You to Grow Up Fast and Ditch those Training Wheels

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Welcome to the fourth post in the National Health Blog Post Month Challenge hosted by WEGO Health.    Every day during the month of November I will be writing a new blog post related to health and living with a chronic illness based upon given prompts provided by WEGO Health.

Today’s prompt reads:

Training Wheels.  Write about a time your health condition forced you to grow up and take the training wheels off (so to speak)

As a person who has lived with a chronic health condition since childhood; I know exactly how  living with a chronic illness forces you to grow up far quickly than we are ready.   Instead of playing out with friends, it can force you being stuck inside feeling unwell, or in my case dizzy beyond belief.  Fun parties and sleepovers are replaced by endless doctors and hospital appointments in the quest of searching for a diagnosis to explain the symptoms that are unusual in childhood.  However, there are positives to living with illness from such a young age – for example, you become much more compassionate towards others , less judgemental and more understanding of people with other illnesses and disabilities.

Tests, injections and medicines become a way of life and eventually the training wheels are forced to come off and we are forced to grow up.

 

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After living with illness for so long it is hard to pinpoint one situation that my personal training wheels were forced off.  In fact it is not just one situation that forces you to grow up, but it is a continuous process.  Illness forces you to acknowledge your limitations and to accept your life as it now is.  That is often the way you can move forward with your life and grow up and throw those training wheels out once and for all.

An example of this, was my stubbornness and reluctance to use my wheelchair; not only because I was ashamed or worried about what others would think of me using the wheelchair but also because I know how bad the dizziness can still be even when sitting down.  But after a lot of falls suffered when out, I finally had to accept and realise that the weakness in my legs would not get any better and that there was now a great need for me to start using the chair on a much more regular basis.  After I accepted this I grew up some more and started using the wheelchair, threw those training wheels off and started enjoying trips out in the wheelchair more than I ever thought I could!

To read more about the acceptance of needing a wheelchair, you can read a past blog post about just this topic: ‘Becoming Visible in an Invisible World‘

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In Chronic Illness

My condition sends me in a spin!

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Welcome again to the third post for the National Health Blog Post Month hosted by WEGO Health. Every day during the month of November I will be writing a new blog post related to health and living with a chronic illness based upon given prompts provided by WEGO Health.

Today’s prompt reads:

My Mascot! Give your condition, community or self a mascot.  Who is it?  What do they represent?  What is their battle cry?

To represent my condition in the form of a mascot, I have chosen to represent it using an inanimate object instead of a person or animal.   I have decided that the mascot for my condition will be a spinning top.

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The world due to my condition is constantly moving ; and very regularly the dizziness becomes severe vertigo sending my whole world in a spin.  The room spins so fast, just like the spinning top.  A perfect representation of how my condition affects me everyday.

However, it is not only the dizziness and vertigo that affects; as regular readers of my blog would know that the condition also causes weakness in my legs which often results in my legs giving way from under me.   The spinning top also can represent this part of my condition as the spinning top falls after it stops spinning;  Falls, like those that happens to a spinning top after it stops spinning is a constant part of my life; my legs will suddenly collapse from under me, causing a fall to the floor!

Now, there is much more to my condition such as the fatigue that I constantly experience, or the visual disturbances but just like any mascot that I could have chosen could not have represented every facet of my life with this condition but I wanted something to represent the symptoms which  I consider to be the biggest challenges that I face daily due to the condition which I live with.

If you could represent your condition with a mascot, what would you choose?  Let me know your thoughts!  Feel free to comment below…

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In Chronic Illness

“I think I can” and “I know I can” – Life with Illness causes doubts and a battle to remain positive

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Welcome to the second day of the National Health Blog Post Month hosted by WEGO Health.  Every day during the month of November I will be writing a new blog post related to health and living with a chronic illness based upon given prompts provided by WEGO Health.

Today’s prompt reads:

Little Engine Post: Write 3 lines that start with “I think I can…” and then write 3 lines that start with “I know I can…”

Living with a chronic illness is not a life choice but instead becomes a lifestyle; high heels and a little black dress is replaced with a comfortable pair of slippers and a pyjamas.  Not only does it become a lifestyle but also changes the way you not only see yourself but also the way you view the world.  It affects self-confidence, and once in areas of your life you were entirely confident in, now fills you with self-doubt.  So, sentences which started with “I can…” can sometimes turn into “I think I can…” or sadly sometimes “I can’t…”.

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I think I can remain positive despite chronic illness.  Yes, this is still one thing that I know I can do yet.  Living with illness is like riding a rollercoaster; there are plenty of ups and downs.  One day you are able to remain upbeat and positive despite all the things that we have to live with but the next day that upbeat and positive attitude disintegrates into a puddle of depression and low self-worth.

I think I can cope with the dizziness.  But sadly the dizziness is starting to get the better of me and my coping strategies that once worked so well is now not doing its job and is making me miserable as well as leaving me in tears nearly everyday.  Everyday feels like an upbeat battle; feeling like a war instead of simply being able to enjoy the day and all the positive things that happen.

I think I can write a list of all the things I like about myself.  It sounds like an easy question, right?  However, during all the times I have been asked to do this exercise, I have had a lot of trouble to write the list of everything I like about myself;  however give me a list of all the things that I don’t like about myself and I can write quite the list!

But what about what I know I can do?

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Well, I know that I can push myself with a successful outcome.  This week I found out exactly this.  I have missed several weeks of the weekly group that I attend because of illness and particularly the dizziness that I have been struggling with, however this week saw the annual Halloween Party and wanted to attend despite the severe dizziness.  On the day I really wasn’t feeling well and the dizziness was still very bad so really had to push myself; and I did and I managed to not only stay there but actually enjoy myself!  Even celebrating a win at Bingo as well!

I know I can use and stay in the wheelchair.  This used to be big problem for me because of the dizziness in which I live.  A concern of mine was that although I really need one due to the weakness and severe trembling in my legs I would never get used to it, and be able to stay in one for very long, despite the real need for it.  However, not only have I been using the wheelchair for sometime now but can also stay in the chair for some hours despite the dizziness.  I now am going to more places and able to stay out for longer.

I know I can rely and gain a lot of support from a wide network of friends.  Twitter has been a real lifeline for me, as I have met a lot of wonderful people and make a number of lifelong friendships along the way.  The support I receive from others when I am going through a bad time is truly overwhelming and I am thankful for each and every one of my new friends.

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