More than just a bag lady

Yesterday I received this text message.  So being the good girl that I am, I followed the instructions and rang the number. Naively I thought that maybe they had got another appointment for me that was closer to home and not at such a stupid time. How wrong could I be?? They cancelled the appointment!! I know! I could hardly believe it either! I had to ask the guy on the phone to repeat himself as I thought I had heard wrong. Apparently there has been some sick calls at the centre I was due to attend and so they've had to cancel a load of appointments. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not unreasonable and I understand more than most that people get ill but surely they should have a contingency plan? Do they not have other members of staff that could cover or bring in staff from another centre?  Apparently not.  So I asked when my appointment would be rescheduled to. And here comes the best bit.  They couldn't say!  So not only have they cancelled the appointment but ...

The kids have been getting £3 a week pocket money for a while now but there was nothing laid out that said what they had to do to get the money. Infact some weeks they might do nothing at all and still get it and other weeks (usually when I'm having a bad week) they would end up doing lots of chores still for £3. I had spoken with a friend a few weeks ago about boundaries and child discipline and chores ect and was shocked and amazed to find out that her daughter (who is the same age as Big Fella) did hoovering, cleaned the bathroom and washed dishes. I never thought that my kids would be capable of doing those jobs even though they did other things around the house. I wanted to think of a way to incentivise them and reward them for tasks carried out around the house. This way it would mean that when I'm not good and can't get out of bed they could do some of the jobs for me but because they're being 'paid' some of the guilt is alleviated. I also want to train t...

I called ATOS this morning to try and get my PIP assessment appointment changed. I was sent a letter a few weeks ago telling me to attend an 8am appointment in a town 33 miles away! The man on the other end of the phone told me to call back in February to get a different appointment so that's what I did. As a result of my phonecall today I will mainly be slating ATOS so I think it's only fair that I balance it out and provide some positives. Here goes: my call was answered almost straight away. No going on hold and having to listen to that dreadful music. The chap I spoke to was polite, tried to be helpful and it was obviously a UK call centre so nothing was lost in translation.  But now the rage: they have NO appointments closer to home. They have NO other appointment to offer me. I am expected to attend an appointment at 8am  despite the fact I have young children to get to school and I will still be hooked up to my feed. I would usually add in a few 'f bombs' or othe...

I received a call from the receptionist the day before yesterday before asking me to go in and see a doctor following some blood tests I had recently had done. Straight away I thought that this was not going to be good. You see I had not just had one set of blood tests done, I'd had two. After the first set I received a call telling me that the doctor wants the blood tests repeating because of some of the results. So I went and had them done again but apparently they weren't too great either which is why I found myself yesterday at the doctors surgery waiting to see a GP that I don't see very often.  That's the thing with GP surgeries now. It's so damn hard to get an appointment that I end up having to take one with any of the doctors, rather than my own doctor who knows my medical history intricately. There's 5 doctors at my surgery but I believe that some inner city practices can have 2 or 3 times that many. How is there ever continuity of care? I suppose it...

Over 6 months ago I went to see my GP and begged for a referral to a pain specialist. St Marks do not have an acute pain team which I think is absolutely ridiculous given the fact that most people suffering with Inflammatory Bowel Disease also suffer with pain. And the reason St Marks don't help patients cope with pain long term is... because the budget for the service was cut. It all boils down to money. As usual.  Readers of the blog will know that the GP forgot  to make the referral that I had asked for. It was only noticed when I saw a different doctor and I asked them to chase up the referral. They checked the system and said no referral had been made so they did it for me. That was back in October and the letter came through a few weeks ago offering me an appointment at the end of January.  The appointment was at QE2 hospital in Welwyn Garden City. This was the hospital that I had all of my original surgery and treatment in 2009. The emergency surgeries I had done t...

I was opening the post this morning when out of one envelope came a letter telling me that I would need to attend a health assessment in order to continue with my claim for PIP (personal independance allowance, what used to be the old disability living allowance). I was pleased that finally my claim was being looked at until I read where I had to go. Of all the many assessment centres around the UK I had to attend one in Chelmsford. That's over 33 miles away and would take well over an hour to drive. And then I realised that I have been given an 8am appointment!  You must be joking! How the hell am I going to get to Chelmsford for 8am?? I would need to leave at 6.30am to get there in time for the appointment so I would have to get up at 5.30/5.45am! At that time I will still be having my feed and because of my medication and the way my illness affects me I struggle in the mornings so there is no way I could manage to get up at that time.  Plus I know I couldn't manage to drive...

I know it going to make my belly hurt.  I know I will feel horrid tomorrow morning.  I know I shouldn't.  I know I should know better. I know all this stuff but... ...sometimes you just have to say fuck it!