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In Limbo...cant cope

sallie2pc
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4 weeks ago my Husband had a nephrectomy .... or was it a partial Nephrectomy??.... even our GP does not know as the discharge letter was unclear.... he has been very unwell since his discharge and the GP diagnosed an internal infection so anti-biotics were prescibed.... .... we still do not know whether the tumour was malignant or benign despite ringing hospital (and so did our GP) now I understand these Consultants and wards deal with this day and day out ...but we dont ... what can we do ????

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    Have you tried calling the hospital and asking to speak to the Secretary of your husband's consultant? If you explain to her (or him) s/he may be able to offer advice or help you. She may suggest a short appointment or phone call with the consultant or ask him on your behalf. I have found Medical Sec's helpful and hope you do too. Good luck!
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    What an awful situation.  I went through a similar scenario at the start of my dad's diagnosis.  We ended up calling our GP who is lovely demanding for an update.  I found that hospitals have so many memebrs of staff and patients that they are naff at returning calls. So we got out GP on the case. And we also called the hospital ever hour kickign up a fuss.  So when our GP was calling them and we were also we fionally got what we needed.  It seems when you are seen as a pest they answer your query to 'get rid of you'.  The NHS are busy, but also are scared of complaints.

     

    If you have the strength i would call and call and call until you get the info you need.  The fact you have had an unclear discharge letter could be cause for complaint. so perhaps lead with that.  Waiting for answers is the worst ... i pray you get your answers shortly xxx

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    Sorry to hear of your frustrations , as if it wasn't hard enough.

    Do you have a contact nurse, often this is the case and they are supposed to act as the go betwwen you and the hospital.

    Ours was a godsend and sorted out many problems and gave me a lot of help.

  • Offline in reply to notailfox

    Thanks all for your suggestions.....despite ringing Consultants Secretary and our GP (numerous times) we are still in the dark (so to speak!) GP knows nothing, Cons. sec. knows nothing......the best advice we have been given is to attend Cons. appt. on 8th Nov. which is exactly 2 months after the op.!!!

  • Offline in reply to sallie2pc

    I'm sorry to hear all that's going on. Contact the hospital and ask for the PALS team. Explain to them what the problem is and it will be sorted quickly. They will liaise directly for you. Good luck xx 

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    My husband had a nephrectomy  in July 2015. Surprised the urologist didn't tell you everything. My advise is to keep nagging the secretary, tell her how worried you are and upset that you can't get a full answer. Your doctor should have all the notes from the consultant ask for a copy of them.

    If he has been discharged without any drugs hopefully he is ok. My husband had a rather aggressive cancer on his kidney and it was stage 3 so that is why he had the op. He didn't have an drugs when he came out as his CT showed him to be clear.

    Hope this helps.

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