a view through my own eyes

Earlier today whilst going through my mail I figured that it was time to clear out my spam folder. My spam folder is based on spam scores that the mail system at Uni gives the email and works rather well. On average I now get around half a dozen spams in my inbox the rest gets filed under spam. I had not cleared it for just over three weeks and found 12317 spams files away nice and safe and cleared it out.

Since I am on leave from today until the 10th of December I figured it would be a good idea to play guess how many spam emails I get filed under spam.

So guess away, entries via comments please.

The closest guess wins a prize which I am keeping stumn about for now.

Tim: since I know you read this: no underhand looking by misusing your privileges.

Great Parking, originally uploaded by benc.

This was spotted and photographed by Ben, but deserves to be added to the collection of awfull parking pictures.

Hampton Court Palace, originally uploaded by paosborneuk.

Took this at Hampton Court Palace the other week – it was a test with a polarizing filter, in a similar way that this is a test for the Flickr -> WordPress interface.

Today as indicated yesterday was a trip back to the corneal clinic.

The clinic was running around forty minutes late but I had a book (the Now Reading thingy is out of date) so I wasn’t fussed. The consultant apologised and explained that it was due to a complete lack of nurses this afternoon and that he had no idea why there were no nurses for the clinic. So he was having to do everything himself today hence the delays.

I explained that I had to go to A&E a couple of weeks back due to pain in the eye caused by inflammation but the eye drops appeared to have sorted that.

Once again we did the read the letters off the board, one line unaided and five lines with the pinhole. Then out came the slit lamp and a good look round and was advised that there were no signs of rejection which was a good thing. It looked as though one stitch was working loose and another was a bit tight.

Next it was off to the Orbiscan for a corneal topography to see how things are looking, at which point “the damned machine has packed up, oh well. We will give that a miss then. Lets see what the prescription machine makes of the eye”. So we moved over to a different machine where I had to look at a black target on an organge background, the machine whirred the target went in and out of focus but was never quite right.

Then we were back to the snellen chart, and tried a lens or two and managed to get to five lines – which was what we managed with the pinhole.

Back to the slit lamp and another look round. It was then announced that since the “bloody machine isn’t working properly that we will pull two stitches today which obviously need doing, any subtle adjustments will have to wait but we should be able to make some difference to the astigmatism”.

“Do you mind if I change my underpants?” I replied. I have to confess I have been worried about the stitch pulling, really really worried.

“Don’t worry about it, I have done this before and I promise you will barely feel anything. What I will do is put some anaesthetic drops in, cut a couple of stitches and then pull them out, all you have to do is sit very still and don’t blink. All you will feel is a gentle tug.”

So I sat still, the drops went in and my eye went numb. I fixed my vision on a filing tray and sat still and the consultant held my eye open with one hand.

“Right OK have a rest, thats the cutting done.”

“That it?”

“Yes, we just need to pull them out now with some small tweezers. So same thing again, sit still and don’t blink”.

All I felt was a slight tug and nothing more.

Phew.

“Right I want you to up the eye drops, antibiotics three times a day for a week and steroids twice a day until I see you in a months time.”

“Bloody hell.”

“Are you alright?”

“Um I have just read five lines off the chart without glasses or pinhole!”

“Ah thats good, I thought we may get a slight improvement!”

I am stunned absolutely stunned.

Then I am told that I need to come back in a month, the consultant is away on the 21st of December so we will go for the 28th. The form is filled and signed off.

“Oh when you hand that in at the desk there may a receptionist explosion as I am overbooking that clinic!”

Fantastic.

Indeed there was an explosion: “I am not going to be working on the 28th now – he is always overbooking his clinics, they can get someone else to do it, I have had enough”.

I smiled sweetly and noticed that my prescription hadn’t been signed.

“Oh just bang on the door and tell him to sign it.”

So I knock on the door and wander in, explained the problem, get a sheepish grin and the prescription signed, followed by:

“The technician has just arrived to fix the broken machine, do you mind hanging around so we can test it works? Besides I ideally need a scan of you eyes anyway?”

The technician waggled, prodded, pulled, poked and tapped away on the computer that controls the machine. I had numerous scans and then eventually it worked and I left clutching more corneal scan printouts for my collection.

At the moment I am absolutely delighted with the vision, I really think this is the best I have known it to be in my left eye, at last I now know its worth the effort of me trying to use it and the work thats being done. This is already better than I ever expected it to be.

[a bit later in the evening]
At the moment the anaesthetic is starting to wear off and the eye is starting to ache a tad but I don’t care as I am so happy with it.

Well the consultant returned from his holiday on Monday, so giving him chance to read his email and have Tuesday for private work I phoned his secretary today.

It seems that my dulcet tones either fill the poor lass with glee or dread as once again she recognised my voice, I am still not certain whether thats a good or bad thing.

Anyway she had seen Mr DeCock who confirmed that he wants to see me at the next cornea clinic that I can get to. Apparently a note had been placed on my file and I can either wait for the appointments people to pull the finger out and book me an appointment or I can be put through to them to encourage them to make the appointment sooner rather than later.

The latter of the two options seemed the best and so I was put through. At which point I am told that there is no note on the computerised version of the file (bastards) and that perhaps it was an emailed note in which case it had not been dealt with yet (sigh). Anyway they checked to find out when the next corneal clinic is and lo and behold its tomorrow (I already knew that as his clinics are always on Thursdays – but didn’t let on that I knew), and so was asked if tomorrow would be inconvienient? Au contraire I intimated, that would be perfectly acceptable. I did agree that I would not need a letter confirming the appointment, but that was mainly on the grounds that it would probably arrive sometime after tomorrow – at which point we started discussing the merits (or lack of) of Royal Mail, and how despite the Christmas madness due to start soon that bills always arrive on time if not earlier.

So appointment is booked for tomorrow.

Yay \o/

So this weeks tale of woe continues.

Yesterday I went to see my GP, if only to sanity check the amount of eye drops that I am taking at present. Three times a day until it stops aching is reasonable in the shortish term.

I then mentioned what happened about this weeks appointment (or lack of) with the consultant. She was horrified “I am horrified, thats terrible” she said. Promptly announcing that she would send off an angry fax.

Today a letter arrived informing me that my appointment had been cancelled and that they could fit me in in January. Due to timing this must have been because of the chat with the secretary on Monday.

So I decided to phone the “NHS Outpatients Hotline”, who said that the clinics were fully booked and that was the best that they can do. They then explained that if the consultant puts in a request for an overbook for me then that is fine. Which makes some sense.

Next I phone the consultant’s secretary and explain what I had just been told. She recognised my voice and my name which is slightly disconcerting and tells me that she had let the appointments people know over a month ago that this weeks clinic would need to be rebooked due to the consultant’s annual leave, and that when I phoned on Monday it was only then that it became apparent that her letter for rebooking had been ignored. Consequently the shit had hit the fan as the appointments people had not rescheduled any of this weeks appointments and that there is going to be a severe shouting session happening at some point.

I explained that I had been offered an appointment in January which in itself isn’t a major problem and what did concern me is that when I am told to come back mid November by the medically qualified consultant I don’t expect the appointments person to give me an appointment in January. She saw my point and said that she will see Mr DeCock on Monday and find out if he wants to overbook an appointment sooner to look at my eye or whether he is happy to let it wait until January.

I feel better about the situation now to be honest. As at least this way the decision is now in the hands of a medically qualified specialist rather than in the hands of someone filling in the gaps in a timetable.

This morning I figured it would be a good idea to let the eye consultant know that I had had pain and been into A&E. So I phoned his secretary and explained what happened and should I worry since I was seeing him on Thursday anyway.

At this point she checked on the computer and said that I should not have an appointment for this week as he is on holiday until the 20th of November! She then explained that I should never have been given an appointment for that date. Either way she would check things out and get back to me.

Bastards.

I get home this evening and there is a message on the answerphone saying that there should not have been an appointment and a new one would be issued in the next few days.

So at the moment I am mighty pissed off:
1. my eye still hurts a bit though not as badly as it did, but having been to A&E and had some reassurance a wait until thursday did not seem to bad.
2. how many drops should I take? I was told three a day until thursday – but that was dependant on the consultant being there.
3. I don’t know how long it will be until I next get an appointment – will they squeeze me in next week, or do I have to wait bloody ages?

So at the moment I am a bit bloody pissed off.

The consultant being on leave I do not have an issue with, however someone knew that he would be on leave. Did it not occur to them to reschedule any appointments? I would not have known if I had not been suffering with pain and phoned in. So Thursday I would have strolled into the clinic and been told that it had been cancelled.

Useless bastards.

Tomorrows job then is to phone the clinic and get another appointment sorted for asap. I may also need to see my GP to find out what to do about the eye drops – though since its so specialised (hence the consultant) I suspect that they may not know either and thats not the GPs fault.

When I had my cornea transplant, I was instructed by the consultant to remember RSVP (Redness, Sensitivity to light, Vision changes, Pain). If any of those happen during normal working hours to phone his secretary and if its out of hours to go straight to A&E at Ashford.

When I woke up on wednesday morning which at around 6 is not obviously in normal hours my eye was really rather painfull. Mrspao and I hotfooted it over to Ashford A&E and waited and waited.

After around half an hour I saw the triage nurse who decided that reactions to cornea transplants were not a good thing and she would pass me on.

After another half hour or so I saw the nurse quacktitioner (see: nhsblogdoc), who followed protocol and made me try and read the eye chart (I couldn’t since I have no prescribed lens) and follow the end of a waved pen (which I could). Since I couldn’t read the eye chart I clearly had an eye problem and needed to see an opthalmic Dr, but I would have to wait.

So I waited.

Whilst I waited we were joined by Jane who was around thirteen and broken her arm for the eighth time and then by Johnny who had done something to his kneecap and could “barely walk” so I figure the pain was making me hallucinate as I cannot have seen him run to the chocolate machine to get a Kit kat.

After an hour I was bored and enquired as to whether I had been forgotten about. Five minutes later I am sent to opthalmology where “they are very busy” and I may have to wait “quite some time”. So I trotted down the corridor to the main entrance area to the hospital and tried to find the reception desk to get directions to the opthalmology suite. In the main entrance area there is: patient transport (inter rather than intra hospital sadly), a flowershop, a newsagent, a chapel, the league of friends, a cafe and a travel agent. At this point I was losing the will to live and found a map – sorted.

Five minutes later I am at opthalmology, where it has to be said had a rather long corridor with rather a lot of people waiting, it was tempting to just phone the consultants secretary at that point as I was now within normal working hours. Though it turned out thats the wait was just long enough to consume a sustaining almond croissant and hot chocolate that mrspao produced from somewhere, when I was called in to see the duty Dr.

The duty Dr takes a good look at the eye with the slit lamp, asks about the transplant and when I am seeing the consultant next (Thursday 16th Nov), he then advises me that there is some inflamation and that I should rest it for a few days, not to go swimming (which I won’t do anyway these days) and to up the steroid drops to four times a day until the end of the week and then to three times a day until I see the consultant. If it gets worse then shout!

I am then advised that if its out of hours to not just come to A&E as the opthalmology suite is only open 9-5ish and to phone A&E and get them to get the on call eye Dr to call me as I may be told to go to Canterbury if its easier and also I miss the truiage nurse and the quacktitioner who don’t know what they don’t know (as a friend who is a GP put it).

Then I am asked if a couple of medical students can take a look at the eye as a cornea transplant isn’t that common and the students don’t often get a chance to see them first hand, so I said yes as long as mrspao can take a look as well. Ten minutes in front of a slit lamp is not at all funny, to try this yourself sit in front a normal lamp, place your eye around six inches away and turn it on. Its not quite as bright as a slit lamp but you will soon get the idea.

On the way out of the hospital we went back through the main entrance area and found the reception desk – tucked in a little lobby to one side of the main door – no wonder I couldn’t find it coming in from the side entrance.

So now its Sunday and the eye although still a bit painfull is bothing like as bad as it was. Hurrah!

In the meantime mrspao noticed that the two callout eye Drs this week are the opthamologist that I use (who spotted I had keratoconus) and the consultant who did the operation and still see moderately frequently. So I feel that I am in safe hands.

So how do I feel? Well at the moment (Sunday) I feel fairly happy as the pain is easing and things are improving. Wednesday to be honest I was shitting myself that I would lose the cornea and being almost eight months post op that is not something that I really want to think about.

Roll on thursday when at the last meeting with the consultant he casually mentioned that its going to be suture adjustment time, whether that is still the case in light of the inflammation I will have to wait and see.

As I type I have the laptop on my knees, the radiator on and a broken catch on the bathroom door. I am trapped I tell you, a prisoner in my own home.

mrspao has tried valiant attempts at releasing me by forcing the catch from the outside, sadly (or perhaps happily) her skills at breaking and entering are minimal. Despite instructions muttered through the door its not working. I am incarcerated in the kharzi.

Mrspao passed me the laptop through the window (good job we have a downstairs bathroom really), and through the power of IRC I have friends incoming. So I should be free soon.

07:11 < pao> ummmm I feel a bit Tannerish at the moment
07:11 < pao> am trapped in the bathroom
07:11 < pao> and mrspaos skills at forcing door catches is ummmm minimal
07:11 < pao> yooohoooo us anyone there????
07:12 < pao> heelllppppp mmmmeeeeeeeeeeee
07:12 < typo> i’m here
07:12 < typo> doo you want someone to ring your phone?
07:12 < pao> no I want someone to let me out of the bathroom!
07:12 < typo> lol
07:12 < typo> too far away i’m afraid
07:13 < Atuin> pao: why do you have a computer in the bathroom?
07:13 < ben|work> pao: seriously?
07:13 < pao> hopefully mrspao will listen to what I am saying
07:13 < pao> ben|work: yes
07:13 < pao> Atuin: cos mrspao passed me laptop through window
07:13 < typo> bummer
07:13 < Atuin> pao: rofl
07:14 < pao> ben|work: you/lizzie busy?
07:14 < ben|work> pao: erk, hang on
07:14 < pao> thanks
07:14 < pao> at least I have IRC and a magazine
07:15 < pao> typo: seeya
07:17 < Atuin> brrrrr, it’s cold
07:18 < pao> “at least you have something to read in there, and have stuff on the laptop”
07:18 < Atuin> I *really* need to get a new storage heater
07:18 * pao ponders having a bath
07:18 < ben|work> pao: on way
07:18 < pao> ben|work: thanks!
07:19 < Atuin> best not get in the bath then
07:19 < pao> o/~ rescue meeeeeeeeee
07:19 < pao> Atuin: I wouldnt care!
07:19 < Atuin> no, but ben might
07:19 < pao> well he could wash my back
07:20 < pao> I feel like a prisoner in my own home

Yay! Ben and Lizzie have arrived.

o/~Freedom, Freeedom, Freeedommmmmmmm

I spent some time painting the front of the house today – it needed doing and now looks a lot better. However I did discover that I hate wobbly ladders with a passion. Heights I don’t mind, feeling unstable at height I do. So the last thing I needed whilst at the top of the ladder finishing the top of the wall by the soffit boards was our neighbour who I call the Black Widow (she is a care worker for the elderly and keeps telling us about the old dears that have passed away) yelling at me “Yoo hoo, painting are you?”. Replying “shitting myself actually” did not seem appropriate, instead I politely suggested to her that frightening the life out of me whilst at the top of a wobbly ladder was going to lead to another death (hers or mine more likely) was not a good idea: “Don’t you ever do that again” was the exact phrase, though “Bugger off” did also cross my mind.

Anyway this evening I took a peek at the pictures I took on campus yesterday, heres the better ones – although quite noisy due to an ISO of 1600 which was needed as they were taken hand held – a tripod would have allowed me a lower ISO setting and so a slightly longer exposure, they do capture the mood quite nicely – so I am happy. As always click to enlarge.