Bad week but now glimmer of hope!
Sunday morning I got a call from my daughter, a ‘shadow’ had appeared over her left eye restricting her vision.
She has had ongoing dental problems since April which due to complex disability/ neuro problems her regular dentist is unable to treat. He has prescribed antibiotics on weekly basis since then. Not surprisingly they have been becoming less effective as time goes on and I have been meeting brick walls whilst trying desperately to get her appropriate treatment.
So, her face has been becoming more swollen and Sunday morning swelling was spreading to eye and forehead area. To cut long story short we had to travel to eye hospital in Birmingham . They were very thorough and could find no clinical reason for severely reduced vision in left eye. We left there with number to phone for one remaining test at local hospital. We were advised to see GP re swelling. By Monday the swelling and pain had spread to the right side of her face. We started at 9:00 am by phoning gp requesting face to face appointment. We finally got a call at 12:30 from gp advising they couldn’t see her as root of problem was dental and they were neither trained nor insured to advise in such an instance. She advised us to go back to dentist or A&E. We duly phoned dentist and left message after after message for advice. Finally at 4:00 pm dentist reiterated that he couldn’t help and that we should go to A&E! However, we were unable to source a wheelchair accessible taxi but managed to book one for following day , Tuesday (yesterday).
A&E was very busy and we were finally seen by a doctor after 5 hours who initially was unhelpful as they ‘don’t deal with dental issues’ . He said we should go bk to GP and ‘demand’ she organise a Multi Disciplinary Meeting ‘ to look into situation. Whilst in theory an MDT could be a good idea I didn’t feel that I could do this and it certainly didn’t address the urgent situation. I asked if he could try and call some one from another department. He reluctantly agreed but said that he knew it was a waste of time as ‘they wouldn’t come’. We were sent back to waiting room and after half an hour we were contemplating leaving when he came out and said that to his amazement a doctor was coming down! So, this lovely doc saw us, she understood all my daughter’s medical issues and told us of a local NHS dental service specifically for patients with additional physical/medical needs. She used to work there herself , she gave me contact number and incredibly, we now have an appointment for tomorrow!!! Hallelujah!!! So sad that we weren’t directed there 2 months ago! :(
In terms of visual problem I have been unable to get reply from local clinic despite continually trying. We think it is related to one of her known conditions and we are reassured that Sunday’s investigations did not show anything significant but we will be continuing to chase follow up once tomorrow is over!
So, fingers crossed for tomorrow and please accept my apologies for lack of blips/ comments on those I follow!
Todays blip was taken during a local evening stroll! I think it is a beautiful tree, light was beginning to fade!
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