Back To My Blog...

Snowdrops At Shipley Park, Ilkeston, Derbyshire
Originally uploaded by Geraldine Curtis

With all this family history to write down, day to day events have taken a bit of a back seat.

Friday 22nd February

Up early and off to the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary for an appointment at 10 to 9, Clinic E. Last week, I had to make an appointment at the doctors for a problem that was making Hermione worse. I saw a doctor who I'd last seen at the very beginning of my quest for a diagnosis in 2005. Although I felt that she too thought this was 'all been in my head' she was the only one to mention that I might have a hernia. It was just a shame she wasn't more convinced - and we made a joint decision to try the gynaecology department first.

While I was there, she showed me a letter from my consultant that I'd not seen before. It stated that when he did the operation, "there was no obvious hernia, only a bulge". I couldn't believe my eyes... Having endured a second herniogram and seen Hermione with my own eyes, he had the gall to state "there was no obvious hernia". The more I thought about this, the more it preyed on my mind. Knowing that I had an appointment with the consultant the following week, I rang up and arranged to see the X-rays. Of course, come the day, there were no X-rays to be seen until I'd made a fuss...and then there it was my hernia as clear as day. The consultant spent the whole time going round in circles, not listening to what I was saying...so I will say it here:

"If he couldn't see the hernia, because I was lying flat during the operation and therefore not locate the precise point of weakness, then maybe, just maybe, the mesh he sewed into me may have missed the actual area it needed to cover - and that's why I have been in so much pain and discomfort ever since".

Result of appointment: The consultant kept saying that we may have missed something so sent me for an X-ray ( in my mind a placebo as it won't show up any soft tissue problems) and referred me to the pain clinic....lucky me - does that mean I get to use cannabis (had to look up the spelling, don't laugh) legally...?