Better news

It turns out the nurse on the phone was at fault. I called again and spoke to my doctor on Friday and she had told the nurse to schedule me in, so I don't know why she was being awkward with me. I have an appointment on Thursday! Yay, I can't wait to bend my finger again. Isn't it sad what arthritic people get excited about? 2 years ago I was really scared at the prospect of a joint injection, now I'm looking forward to it. Hope it works!

P.S. Thought I'd update my blog 'look'. It was getting a bit old!

Emergency?

Yesterday I called my doctor to get a steroid injection into my finger. It's been acting up for over 2 months and I'm sick of it. Last time I got it injected in 2010 it sorted it out for well over a year, so I was sort of hoping it would help again. However, the nurse rang me back and asked: "So, is this an emergency?". I was quite taken aback as last time I got an appointment no problem in the same week. I didn't really know what to say. Is it life or death? No. Am I completely disabled by it? No. Does it affect how I use my (dominant) right hand every day? Yes. Does it make my job as a photographer more difficult and require me to use my hands with caution? Yes. So I basically froze up and mumbled something about it being quite uncomfortable to which she said that since there were no available appointments until the end of May, I'm as well waiting until the 13th June when I have a check up appointment anyway. I got off the phone call feeling pretty deflated. I don't know if I should've just taken the end of May appointment, but something in the woman's tone made me think that I was exaggerating my discomfort, and that I'd be taking away time from patients who need the appointment more. The whole thing has left me in a foul mood, and feeling like I am a hypochondriac. Anyway, so now I have to either call back and demand an emergency appointment (and look like a drama queen) or wait until the 13th June which is 5 weeks away. Doctors sometimes have a special way of making you feel very small.

Pictures

Here are some photos from Peru taken on my Holga film camera. I've only just started shooting on film for a bit of fun so still getting to grips with it.

Main square in Cusco during the Lord of the Tremors parade the week before Easter. They go all out for religion out there, quite a culture shock but interesting to see.

My friend and some immaculate Inca stonework on top of Pisac ruins, in the Sacred Valley.

Huaca Pucllana, ruins in the middle of Lima from a pre-Incan civilization.

A curious little alpaca!

View over Cusco.

Pretty yellow flowers that were all over the Sacred Valley.

And of course, the classic shot of the city in the clouds! I took hundreds on my digital SLR but these have a lot of character, I think. I still need to go through my photos from the rainforest, and then I'll post some. Otherwise, I'm just settling back into normal life. Work is going ok for once, and apart from the fact it's REALLY UNSEASONABLY COLD for may, I'm enjoying springtime and the long days. Nothing much else happening right now, apart from having some swelling in my right index finger again. Maybe I can chop it off? Yes? Or maybe I should go back to see my doctor but for some reason I'm reluctant to. Otherwise I feel fine and full of beans. Hope spring is creeping in wherever you are and warming everyone's bones!

Back!

I've just returned from my trip to Peru! A bit battered and bruised but in one piece! Had a crazy 3 weeks, saw so many amazing places and had some very memorable experiences. I will do a longer post with photos soon. Day off work tomorrow, thankfully, then back to real life.. Oh it was also my birthday on Sunday there. So I'm now the grand old age of 26. I had a relaxing birthday in Peru, as it was the end of our holiday and we were pretty much wiped out, but I'm looking forward to catching up with my friends and family this week and celebrating properly.

NHS part 2

Just to follow on from yesterday's post, today I had a very positive experience with the NHS which once again makes me thankful for it. I feel a lot better but I'm still having issues with one of my finger joints and rang my doctor on Friday to see if I can maybe get it injected before I leave for Peru so that I am feeling 100% for my adventures. I rang at about 4pm and got her secretary. My doctor rang me back today and we had a chat and she said she is reluctant to inject the joint now as it is a fairly tricky one to inject and there's a (very rare) chance it could gets infected. I leave a week today so she didn't want me to end up in Peru with an infection, which is pretty sensible. But she asked me how I was feeling in general, and gave me an appointment on Friday just to 'have a chat and look at the joint' and to reassure me. I tried to say not to waste her time and that I'm sure it'll be fine, but she insisted I come in for a chat. I always feel like she's my second mum or something, she rings me up if I'm worried about something and talks to me about it personally. Maybe I've just lucked out, but it is really great to have such a caring doctor. And it's all for free.

NHS

I don't know how much some of you know about the UK health system, but basically the National Health Service means that everybody gets free healthcare, no exceptions. It has its downfalls, don't get me wrong. Some parts of the country are better than others, some areas have more funding and access to more drugs. The waiting lists can also be mind-boggling at times. However, the fact is I've had brilliant care by the NHS my whole life and have no reason to complain. I never have to worry that if I lose my job in the future I won't be able to afford treatment. In Scotland, we don't even have to pay a nominal charge for prescriptions. However, the coalition government that is in power just now (it's essentially a Conservative government) is trying to introduce a new Health and Social Care bill, which is proving to be very controversial. At the heart of it are two principles, giving GPs control of funding for services in their area and introducing more private competition within the NHS services. At the moment, NHS hospitals do outsource some services to the private sector but there is a cap which is very low. Under the new proposals, this cap would be raised to something like 49%. The government seem to think that greater competition for services will increase the overall quality of services for everyone. I'm no expert, but it kind of scares me that a hospital (which is currently low on space and has long waiting lists) would be able to offer almost half of its beds to private patients (probably Mr and Mrs Abbot-Smith paying for their cosmetic surgery or something). Critics of the bill say it's a stepping stone to privitasation of the NHS. The Tories do love to privatise everything, so it wouldn't surprise me if that is their long term goal. This is worrying to people such as myself who are chronically ill. As it stands, no private healthcare plan covers pre-existing health conditions. So who knows what would happen if people had to sign up for them. I also do not want the UK to have a two-tier system, with people who can afford to go private getting the best treatment and the NHS struggling to care for the poor, chronically ill and unemployed. As I said, I am no expert and all the criticisms could just be because people are afraid of change. We've had the NHS since the second world war and it's something we're very proud of. Hopefully it'll work out for the best, I guess only time will tell.

Back to normal

So the past couple of weeks I've been feeling back to normal. I think things have settled down on their own, so that's really good. Maybe it was all stress related because I've had so much on at work. Now that's passed and I can just focus on my holiday! Not long to go now, I leave on the 28th. Got all my vaccines, and most of the hotels and travel booked. Got a few more bits and bobs to book and a few more items to buy. So excited, this month is going to fly by. I've also got one of my best friends who I visited in Iceland coming over next week. She's great fun and I can't wait to have a few days with her. Overall things are definitely looking up. And I can feel Springtime in the air.