The 7th Cavalry aka BUPA

I am lucky, in that I have spent 30 years in the cab business in London, and that has enabled me to spend a lot of time learning to understand the accents of drivers whose communication skills were, at best, rubbish. Add to that the fact that that many of those drivers did not have English as their first language and I am often way ahead of many people when it comes to understanding at that level. In the NHS the  doctors that used to be called SHO's are now known as S2's. So, the S2 we dealt with on Friday at A and E was like that: both language and communication issues. He called me today, and we had what can only be described as a scary and frightening conversation, in that I had absolutely NO idea why he called me, and he was asking ME if I knew about G-CSF.  "was I taking it, etc etc" "Er no, I am the patient, I don't self prescribe..."

When asking him WHY he had called me there was no clear answer: not a surprising conclusion I guess.

Anyway, I had called BUPA this morning, and made contact with the private Spencer Wing at QEQM, and been referred to an arm specialist:: we just had a call from his secretary to invite us for a consultation at the Spencer wing at 5pm tonight.

Met the orthopaedic consultant: Mr. Smith, nice guy! and we saw the x-ray from Friday: total snap right through. So he is going to speak to the oncologists, work out the drug/medication requirements, book theatres and anaesthetists etc. with a view to pinning the bones next Monday evening. His secretary will confirm details tomorrow, and that will give us 10 days after the pinning before the next cycle of chemo.

I have to say I am much much more comfortable doing it through this guy than the NHS who have already screwed this totally and who are still procrastinating about when it will be done. Add to that the the consultant for the NHS is the guy who said it wouldn't break: don't think so matey!