Trip to A&E!

Yesterday morning I woke up with pain in my right hip/pelvic area and to begin with, it wasn't too bad, so I carried on with my day as normal – this included an appointment in Audiology (another story!) at the QEH. As the day progressed, the pain became much worse. It became excruciating to walk up the stairs – I stubbornly didn't accept this was going on and left it until the end of the day, before I rang my medical practice. I was told by the receptionist, that because it was so late in the day, it was unlikely that a GP would call me back now until tomorrow and if the pain got any worse, to go to A&E.

Later on, the pain became so bad, that it was almost impossible to turn over in bed. I had taken paracetamol before I went to sleep and this had done nothing. I rummaged around in the cupboards to find stronger pain relief – took some Co-codamol tablets that had been prescribed to me a year ago and they also did nothing to take away the pain. After giving up and trying cold and hot compresses, I was desperate and very close to going to A&E, but I was so exhausted with the pain and lack of sleep, I didn't have the energy to get myself there and I wasn't going to ring an ambulance! It was around 5.30am at this point.

I must have had some sleep, as I was woken up by a GP calling me from my surgery. The GP requested I come in urgently to see him, which I did. Total agony to get in the car and painful to drive – should have got a taxi really. At the surgery, the GP could see how much pain I was in, when I could hardly get on/off the couch to be examined, it brought tears to my eyes literally. He wrote up a report and asked me to go to A&E for further investigation – he thought I may have a Femoral Hernia. Drove home and got an overnight bag ready just in case and then drove to A&E. Left the overnight bag in the car, as too heavy to carry any distance when I was in this much pain – if I did need it, I'm sure someone I know would have picked it up for me.

A&E was jam-packed and the new overhead live screen, stated that there were 66 patients in A&E, how many had been triaged and something else I can remember. It took one hour and 10 minutes to get triaged. Another half an hour to see a doctor. A cannula was put in me, bloods taken and general obs done etc. I had to return to the waiting room, as there wasn't even a cubicle spare for the doctor to examine me. The staff were all lovely, but it was obvious they were struggling with the numbers and dire situation they were in and more than probably the serious lack of beds available. After being examined and the lady doctor finding that I couldn't even do a straight leg raise more than an inch or flex my knee at all, because of the pain in my right hip, I was then asked to return to the waiting room again, whilst she discussed my case with a 'senior'. I never got to meet the 'senior' but I was called back in again, to say it might be musculoskeletal, nerve pain or lumbar and that I would be sent home with a prescription of Oramorph. The doctor said she would refer me 'urgently' for an MRI scan as an outpatient, to find out the exact cause of my pain. I wonder if 'urgently' means, days, weeks or months?! To be honest I was relieved I wasn't admitted, you rarely get any sleep in hospital.

I slowly made my way back to my car. I very luckily found a close by chemist that had my Oramorph prescription. Returned home and took my first dose of Oramorph, which surprisingly has only taken the edge off the severe pain! Maybe this will improve after a few doses. You can only take a 5ml spoonful every four hours (max four times a day). So I'm now going to take dose number two and float off to sleep hopefully – good night!

Update – Wednesday Evening 

The Oramorph still hasn't obliterated the pain, but on a positive note has certainly relaxed me, to the point of being asleep most of the day. Contacted my GP again this afternoon, who said that I could take something like paracetamol alongside the Oramorph, but said that it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever, as the Oramorph is far stronger. The only comfortable position is laying on my left side. My GP told me that in his experience, an "urgent MRI scan" generally means several weeks and my best bet was to return to A&E again in hope that they would do an MRI scan straight away......?! The doctor I spoke to, also looked up my previous admission to A&E for the same thing (from what I can remember) which he said was in November 2020 and they suspected kidney stones, but after a CT scan found nothing – this was the last time I was given Oramorph, to cope with the same severe pain. He said even though the CT scan showed nothing then, that it could possibly be kidney stones this time?