3 days after rupture Friday 21st March:

Saw the NHS Fracture clinic and first doctor I saw wanted to confirm if I ruptured my tendon or not, so removed my entire cast, and said yes it definitely was a rupture (DUH). He said there is no difference in the 2 treatments and don’t understand why anyone would go for the operation.
I had already done my homework, read up a bit and definitely knew in my head I wanted a surgery so nothing he said will change my mind. I mentioned that I wanted to go private, so i just need a referral letter. Immediately he referred me to doctor 2 ( i am guessing he’s more senior) to talk to me. As soon as I said I want to go private, doctor 2 added on to say ‘ you should go for surgery as it reduces the risk of re-rupturing by 7-14%). Oh great, as soon as doc 2 said that , doc 1 then added, yah surgery is better. I was like, just because I said I wanted to go private????

Lesson learnt: get your referral letter the moment you see the doctor at NHS A&E if you can, so you can save waiting these 3 days to get the same thing done. Also get him to give you an open referral letter i.e. mention in the letter that they recommend you going to private without specifically naming a orthopaedic surgeon as you’d need an approval from your private insurance for any surgeon, so just in case the one they mentioned isn’t covered by your insurance)

So I got my referral letter for this private surgeon that I could only get an appointment 1 week later. Ive already wasted 3 days and i really don’t want to waste any more time waiting to see the surgeon, and then rescheduling for an ultrasound scan and then reschedule for an operation. So over the weekend, I looked up online for orthopaedic surgeons that specialise in achilles tendon rupture and ankle problems. I still wasn’t sure about them but provisionally booked for the referred surgeon then told myself that I’d go for anyone that could do anytime earlier. The earliest I’ve managed to find was for Tuesday, great, but on Monday I was still unsure. I know a lot of celebrities and famous footballer go to London Foot and Ankle clinic but I was not keen as it wasn’t close to where I lived. However, my friend’s boyfriend worked at that hospital and said that he’d go to Dr M Davies without a doubt, and with that statement, I then called up London Foot and Ankle Clinic.
Guess what? I secured a 9am appointment on Tuesday when I called up on Monday , and said that I need to prepare myself that if Dr Davies can operate on me the next day too so just keep the whole day free. I was beaming with joy! What efficiency especially in the UK!
So i was so excited, then berated myself for not going to him earlier! I could have saved myself a week’s time!

Leave a Reply

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.
Anti-Spam Image

Powered by WP Hashcash