Back on 3rd March I was rudely awakened by one of the GP's docs flying a desk at my local surgery. I'd had a face-to-face appointment booked for 12:30 to try to get some treatment regarding the "rotator-cuff injury" that first became an issue in February 2021, but Dr. K. S. fucked up - for some bizarre reason the £millions spent on his professional training/salary counted for nothing when he woke me up at stupid o'clock in the morning, claiming that I'd arranged a telephone consultation. After I'd torn him a new one he said to attend at 12:30, but he called again at stupid o'clock + 15 minutes, asking for me to attend at 11:00.
Some people just don't know when to back off, and this doc was one of those people. He'd set himself up for what happened later...
Well, I attended at 11:00, he told me again that scans performed on 16th September 2021 had shown a small tendon tear, and that physiotherapy was the way to go. I was given a different set of "physio exercises" that I clearly couldn't do due to the restricted range of movement of my right shoulder, and was told again that I wouldn't get any more steroid injections. He told me to take more Ibuprofen, I replied that I had been on the maximum dose of it for over a year but he ignored that... he wanted to talk but not listen, and so set himself up for some grief...
I asked for the manager.
The deputy manager kindly made time for me, so I politely gave her a full salvo - inaction regarding the shoulder, no chance of any more steroid injections for it, paracetamol (for treating GvHD) taken off repeat, ibuprofen (for shoulder pain) repeat declined, other repeats changed unilaterally without consulting those who had initiated them, the world shortage of xyloproct, Dr. V.B.'s mangling of my SystmOnline records and repeats, and the 5th-Covid-jab debacle.
She tried her best, but hardly anything got changed or corrected, so six days later I had a word with the haemo team at LRI, as the original referral was raised by them last year. The word that I had with them was "comorbidity".
Well, I reckon that must have been the Magic Word*** - within days I received a phone call from the orthopaedic department, swiftly followed by a letter detailing an appointment with an expert - an orthopaedic consultant.
I went to see her on Monday this week, and it was a revelation...
She told me that x-rays taken way back on 8th June 2021 had revealed bony growth restricting the tendon, which may well have been the cause of the tear. Nobody had discussed that with me before. She said that physiotherapy was a complete waste of time and effort, the only fix would be surgery to remove the bony growth. Until that happens, I should continue with fitness exercises to preserve some arm-muscle/mobility. I'm to get an appointment with the surgeon within a few weeks, allegedly.
Turns out that I was right to question whether "ALJABI, Yasser (Mr), Post-CCT Foot and Ankle Fellow" was the right person for shoulder jobs, that was back in December 2021:
*** That Magic Word worked wonders - it also jump-started a different "stalled" issue that I'll cover in a separate post.
