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Chaper Two: The Medicals....arh The Stress!!
Posted 17-09-2007 at 05:10 PM by minlady
CHAPTER TWO: THE MEDICALS…. ARH THE STRESS!
Don’t let anyone tell you the medicals are nothing to worry about…. It’s true they are simple and there really isn’t much too them, but they are stressful and you just can’t help worrying about what is going to happen… it’s just human nature and personally I’d think there was something wrong with you if you didn’t stress!
Me, well I stressed BIG time… you see if we were going to fail it would be because of me, and that’s a lot of weight to carry believe me!... Although I think of myself as quite healthy, if you were to look at my medical notes they would paint a different picture. The last 4 years have been the worst, my fault…. It all happened in labour… I put myself in the wrong position and basically I fell apart from there… I damaged my neck, which in turn damaged my spinal cord, which lead to symptoms which could have been, and were investigated for multiple sclerosis and tumours…. Eventually after months/years of worry and generally feeling unwell diagnosis of separate problems were completed which paint a much nicer picture….. But it took a long time to get there believe me, and even now I suffer from back neck ache and have heat packs daily.
One diagnosis which as given and wasn’t so nice was that I have a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)… this is a genetic condition which affects your eyes…. (Which coincided with everything else… go figure, chances of that etc)… RP basically means I am losing my sight, it may not be fully and it may not happen soon…. But it will happen. BUMMER…. Some of you may have seen my post back in May where I was ‘Over the moon’ because I had been given back my driving licence by the DVLA after 11 months of fighting to get it back…. My sights not as bad as they think!!!.... So I am back on the road again for at least another 12 months!.. Anyway, now you can see why I was worried about the meds.
We live in Telford and the nearest place for the meds is Shrewsbury. I had booked the meds in advance of getting our CO but the waiting list was so long that we had got our CO before they took place. Shrewsbury hasn’t got an x-ray facility so we had to go to the RoyalShrewsburyHospital a week before hand to get our chest x-rays done. As our eldest is under 11yrs old it was only Neil and I that had to have them done. We were in and out in no time with the films and results in our hands. It’s quite funny seeing your inside… what struck me most was that you could see my rolls of fat as well!!!!... Not a good look!
So the following week we had our meds. We had to take the boys out of school.. Which they thought was great. The appointment was in the afternoon and being May we had lovely weather… (Remember the sun?... well it was then). My neck was sore from the week before being x-rayed – so that didn’t help my stress and neither did the 3 boys running amuck in the surgery…
All the boys had to pee into a bottle, which they enjoyed…. Must be a boy thing, and they were all 3 fine. Neil, his blood pressure was up but within limits and he past no probs.. He is really fit, he runs 5 miles a day, so there was no worry there. Then it was my turn… all I can say is thank god we had a lovely panel doctor. She was so laid back she was practically horizontal. She was very set against these meds, saying they are too involved for the UK, and that they should be made relevant for each country. I had to practically force her to take the reports I had on my condition(s) and in fact she didn’t take all of them. My blood pressure was sky high and in the end she took it with a manual cuff and managed to get it to the highest but passable reading… she was a real star really, very amiable ….
So that was it..all over, no breast exam, just a ‘touch your toes’… simple.
Imagine my horror when in August I got a phone call from our agent asking if my med had been sent at the same time as the others?.... as the CO could not find it to check it off….. luckily, panic over it turned up a week later… it had been sent with the others but had gone to a different department because of my history….and as far as I am aware, nothing else has been wanted and it has been ticked off…. They say the meds are there to pick up potential problems which are going to cost the Medicare system in Australia, jokingly I say a guide dog obviously doesn’t cost that much!!!
So all of you out there worrying about your meds…. Yes worry, but don’t worry too much, as you can’t be as bad as me!
Min x
Don’t let anyone tell you the medicals are nothing to worry about…. It’s true they are simple and there really isn’t much too them, but they are stressful and you just can’t help worrying about what is going to happen… it’s just human nature and personally I’d think there was something wrong with you if you didn’t stress!
Me, well I stressed BIG time… you see if we were going to fail it would be because of me, and that’s a lot of weight to carry believe me!... Although I think of myself as quite healthy, if you were to look at my medical notes they would paint a different picture. The last 4 years have been the worst, my fault…. It all happened in labour… I put myself in the wrong position and basically I fell apart from there… I damaged my neck, which in turn damaged my spinal cord, which lead to symptoms which could have been, and were investigated for multiple sclerosis and tumours…. Eventually after months/years of worry and generally feeling unwell diagnosis of separate problems were completed which paint a much nicer picture….. But it took a long time to get there believe me, and even now I suffer from back neck ache and have heat packs daily.
One diagnosis which as given and wasn’t so nice was that I have a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)… this is a genetic condition which affects your eyes…. (Which coincided with everything else… go figure, chances of that etc)… RP basically means I am losing my sight, it may not be fully and it may not happen soon…. But it will happen. BUMMER…. Some of you may have seen my post back in May where I was ‘Over the moon’ because I had been given back my driving licence by the DVLA after 11 months of fighting to get it back…. My sights not as bad as they think!!!.... So I am back on the road again for at least another 12 months!.. Anyway, now you can see why I was worried about the meds.
We live in Telford and the nearest place for the meds is Shrewsbury. I had booked the meds in advance of getting our CO but the waiting list was so long that we had got our CO before they took place. Shrewsbury hasn’t got an x-ray facility so we had to go to the RoyalShrewsburyHospital a week before hand to get our chest x-rays done. As our eldest is under 11yrs old it was only Neil and I that had to have them done. We were in and out in no time with the films and results in our hands. It’s quite funny seeing your inside… what struck me most was that you could see my rolls of fat as well!!!!... Not a good look!
So the following week we had our meds. We had to take the boys out of school.. Which they thought was great. The appointment was in the afternoon and being May we had lovely weather… (Remember the sun?... well it was then). My neck was sore from the week before being x-rayed – so that didn’t help my stress and neither did the 3 boys running amuck in the surgery…
All the boys had to pee into a bottle, which they enjoyed…. Must be a boy thing, and they were all 3 fine. Neil, his blood pressure was up but within limits and he past no probs.. He is really fit, he runs 5 miles a day, so there was no worry there. Then it was my turn… all I can say is thank god we had a lovely panel doctor. She was so laid back she was practically horizontal. She was very set against these meds, saying they are too involved for the UK, and that they should be made relevant for each country. I had to practically force her to take the reports I had on my condition(s) and in fact she didn’t take all of them. My blood pressure was sky high and in the end she took it with a manual cuff and managed to get it to the highest but passable reading… she was a real star really, very amiable ….
So that was it..all over, no breast exam, just a ‘touch your toes’… simple.
Imagine my horror when in August I got a phone call from our agent asking if my med had been sent at the same time as the others?.... as the CO could not find it to check it off….. luckily, panic over it turned up a week later… it had been sent with the others but had gone to a different department because of my history….and as far as I am aware, nothing else has been wanted and it has been ticked off…. They say the meds are there to pick up potential problems which are going to cost the Medicare system in Australia, jokingly I say a guide dog obviously doesn’t cost that much!!!
So all of you out there worrying about your meds…. Yes worry, but don’t worry too much, as you can’t be as bad as me!
Min x
Total Comments 2
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OMG Min..................
Hope all goes well for you lovey from now on & always........ sounds like you deserve it !!!!!!!!!!! xxxxxx |
 
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Hi Min
Wow you are just as bad as me. I found the meds a total nightmare. I was worried as I was born with spina bifida (am now 40). Not as bad as it sounds I may add just a slight limp and I've never needed any medical help as an adult! However the doc there said that although I could send the meds off as they were it may help to get some letters from consultants to say I was ok. Our friendly GP looked back into my notes and sent me 3 letters from get this (1967,1970 and 1973) all saying that I was fine and coped well (at the ages of birth,3 &6). personally I couldn't see the relevance of those letters particulalry now I'm 40 and have 2 kids and have worked etc...Still who am I to question? Anyways all went Well and I passed with flying colours. Kids did find it highly amusing as the doc who did the meds described them and oh as A's and me as a B (cheeky beggar)! Good luck with everything! Mandy x |
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Recent Blog Entries by minlady
- Chaper Two: The Medicals....arh The Stress!! (17-09-2007)
- Chapter One: Us, The Family, The Start (13-09-2007)
