Well that's me off my bike for a while

[Ganymede]

She did name the person she was referring me to, but it went in one ear and out of the other. It was effectively immediately after she told me "this is as good as it gets!" not her exact words but...
I have looked at the list of people who are at the BUPA hospital I'm currently at and don't recall it being any of them, so I'm not sure. I will wait for the appointment to come through - like you said it should not take long. I haven't seen a neurologist. One thing at a time, I think. It would be good to get referred to Oswestry or Wrightington. I know Wrighington and it was a surgeon there who establish what the problem was last time. But one thing at a time. If this consultant is not helpful or prepared to listen to me, then I'll request another referral and take it from there.

That's the ticket.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I don't quite understand why you're not being offered the option of fusing the vertebrae

me neither. She said she didn't think it would help me, yet I can feel the vertebrae moving around as I move and there are often audible clicks and clunks that even my OH can hear and he is going deaf...
It is this movement that I think is causing the problem with the facet joints, but I need to look into it in much more detail before I see a consultant and study it...

 

[ColinJ]

me neither. She said she didn't think it would help me, yet I can feel the vertebrae moving around as I move and there are often audible clicks and clunks that even my OH can hear and he is going deaf...
It is this movement that I think is causing the problem with the facet joints, but I need to look into it in much more detail before I see a consultant and study it...

At the very least, your consultant should have explained why further surgery was not considered an option!

Since the problem is due to the vertebrae moving around and crunching, would a very supportive corset help? I would have thought that you if you were strapped up really tight it could hold everything in place. It might not be brilliant for breathing though, and of course you already have problems in that department ... Hmm, I found this after just a quick search. I definitely reckon that would be a good line of enquiry!

Good luck with the second opinion!

I think so often there is a solution out there as long as you are lucky enough to find the right expert. I don't know if you have ever seen that Supervet programme on TV? He does the most amazing operations on animals that other vets would give up on. You want to find Superdoc!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just found an excellent American website on the spine

http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-AnatSpine.htm#.VPxUqGcfyM8 (anatomy of the spine)
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-BackPain.htm#.VPxVDmcfyM8 (back pain)
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-Facet.htm#.VPxVKGcfyM8 (facet joints)
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-HLdisc.htm#.VPxVXmcfyM8 (Herniated Lumbar Disc)
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/HT_spine.php#.VPxVj2cfyM8 (this page is the one to go to for all the links and options...)

plus all the procedures and which is considered better now.

their pdf's which you can download and are also better for printing are excellent. really good clear diagrams.

 

[vickster]

I think you should try to see a Prof in spinal surgery if you can . See who in the UK is publishing on the subject and popping up at conferences

Google whoever the current consultant recommends and see if there maybe someone more expert.I'd try to go straight to the tertiary centre (or to the private hospital where the leading prof is) even if it is a little further away

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

[QUOTE 3577193, member: 9609"]May be your doctor meant there was no more the NHS could do for you at the momen[/QUOTE]
This is a private consultant I'm seeing under Bupa.

The clicking isn't tendons and ligaments. I know that sound well. This is grinding bone on bone and something that has only been there since the disc was removed.

 

[Pale Rider]

As a general comment - which may or may not apply to SatNav - 'going private' is not always the wonderful thing people think it is.

The consultant may be one and the same, but equally may have slipped almost fully into private practice and not kept his/her expertise up to date.

The NHS can also provide access to a much wider range of services.

 

[vickster]

Hence me suggesting a prof from a centre of excellence with a private practice. All the orthopaedic consultants I've been treated by have had senior NHS roles, but I have seen them privately which I can do more easily at a time that suits me and my job.

I don't know what NHS services you refer to, but treatment can also be done on a private unit in an NHS hospital.

My last NHS procedure (albeit in A&E one evening but in a large teaching hospital) was extraordinarily painful and left me with an infected leg needing IV antibiotics and further emergency surgery which was done three days later privately.

That said I have no beef with the NHS despite that experience but I'll happily continue to pay my BUPA subs

 

[Pale Rider]

I think there's a feeling in the NHS that BUPA - at least the hospitals - try to cream off the easy jobs.

A couple of examples.

When I had my hip replaced the consultant thought I might need a blood transfusion afterwards due to another medical problem.

That ruled out the local BUPA hospital - they can do hips but don't have the kit/infrastructure for a swift blood transfusion.

Second example is a 'bloke in the bed next to me' story, but I've no reason to disbelieve it.

He had a hip done at the BUPA hospital, was discharged, but something went wrong.

All BUPA did was tell him to go to A&E, where he was duly admitted to my ward.

His view was BUPA had made a mess of the operation, but that doesn't matter.

The point is when something did go wrong, the BUPA hospital couldn't sort it.

 

[Katherine]

Well done @SatNavSaysStraightOn. I see why it must have taken a few days for you to sort that out in your head and why you were in a mess on Friday, it must be mentally exhausting!
Lots of good advice from other CC'ers.
Hope you can find your 'super - doc' and the best way forward.


You are awesome . Xxx

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

In this case my consultant works out of an NHS hospital as well. If it wasn't for her, I would most likely have lost considerably more use of my legs than I have. I'm not blaming her for the position I am in now. She acted and acted quickly when then NHS did not. My GP came out to me twice on that period and the 2nd time only after considerable argument about a home visit. Community physio visited me 3 times giving me incorrect advise for what was actually wrong. Luckily the exercises were simply too painful for me to carry out. That was also a red flag request by my gp.

By the time my consultant had operated on me to try to save me from permanent and significant paralysis in my right leg, the local NHS had not even given me a date for an MRI to work out what was wrong. They had not contacted me despite us ringing them to find out what was going on. My GP had red flagged the MRI and after 5 weeks I had not heard anything, not even a date for the MRI.

I don't fault what my consultant did. I'm simply not happy now with an answer that is she can not do anything more for me when I have new symptoms that from what I can see can be dealt with. I now appear to have an instability of the vertebrae which is a common problem after the surgery I have had and given my hyper mobility syndrome hardly unsurprising. I have symptoms that come and go and both legs are affected. I'm also on far more pain meds and significantly more nerve pain meds than before following a bad fall over a month ago.

Saying there is nothing more that can be done after 1 operation (successful) 1 epidural injection into 4 facet joints and no physio does not seen correct to me. I can't accept that I won't be able to sit up again, stand without crutches or walk for more than 15 minutes with crutches. That at 42 I'd not an option in my book.

I will point out that this is the first time I have gone private (with the sole exception of paying for a private ultrasound of my basically vascular system on my leg after the dog bite when the NHS were not interested is finding out what was wrong with it). I have had both good and bad experiences with them, often from the same hospital. I used to live in an excellent area for the NHS, I no longer do sadly.

 

[cyberknight]

We all can only hope there will be light at the end of this tunnel for you , now stop whinging and get some cycle made endorphins in your system and you will feel better !
( only kidding )

 

[Ganymede]

In this case my consultant works out of an NHS hospital as well. If it wasn't for her, I would most likely have lost considerably more use of my legs than I have. I'm not blaming her for the position I am in now. She acted and acted quickly when then NHS did not. My GP came out to me twice on that period and the 2nd time only after considerable argument about a home visit. Community physio visited me 3 times giving me incorrect advise for what was actually wrong. Luckily the exercises were simply too painful for me to carry out. That was also a red flag request by my gp.

By the time my consultant had operated on me to try to save me from permanent and significant paralysis in my right leg, the local NHS had not even given me a date for an MRI to work out what was wrong. They had not contacted me despite us ringing them to find out what was going on. My GP had red flagged the MRI and after 5 weeks I had not heard anything, not even a date for the MRI.

I don't fault what my consultant did. I'm simply not happy now with an answer that is she can not do anything more for me when I have new symptoms that from what I can see can be dealt with. I now appear to have an instability of the vertebrae which is a common problem after the surgery I have had and given my hyper mobility syndrome hardly unsurprising. I have symptoms that come and go and both legs are affected. I'm also on far more pain meds and significantly more nerve pain meds than before following a bad fall over a month ago.

Saying there is nothing more that can be done after 1 operation (successful) 1 epidural injection into 4 facet joints and no physio for not seen correct to me. I can't accept that I won't be able to sit up again, stand without crutches or walk for more than 15 minutes with crutches. That at 42 I'd not an option in my book.

I will point out that this is the first time I have gone private (with the file exception of paying for a private ultrasound of my basically vascular system on my leg after the dog bite when the NHS were not interested is finding out what was wrong with it). I have had both good and bad experiences with them, often from the same hospital. I used to live in an excellent area for the NHS, I no longer do sadly.

A very measured post - you've thought it through so much - I'm shocked that you had to wait so long for the NHS MRI and was very shocked at the time when you couldn't get home visits. I'm afraid the postcode lottery is real - also I think you're right that a judicious mixture of public and private in your case is a good one. And you're right to seek further opinion. Good luck!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We all can only hope there will be light at the end of this tunnel for you , now stop whinging and get some cycle made endorphins in your system and you will feel better !
( only kidding )

I am back on my bike though well trike. ride 4 was this morning... see the my ride today thread!

And don't worry, I know you were only kidding. It is wonderful to be back out even if I only manage about 4.25 miles

 

[Deleted member 26715]

t even if I only manage about 4.25 miles

Which is 4.25miles more than I have ridden in over 6 months & there is not supposed to be anything wrong with me apart from being a lazy git, well done