"Trying to get a diagnosis for my Son"

My son got up in the morning with pins and needles all the way down his right side, from head to toe. Which was worrying so I rang 111 and gave them the relevant details. They rang back and suggested that I ring his G.P surgery. I spoke to a receptionist who said I will need to get the GP to ring you after surgery. I waited for him to ring back and then when he did the GP said ring 999 and get an ambulance.

When I rang for the ambulance, we were told we would have to wait for one. Then they phoned back again and asked us to explain his symptoms again, before being told that we are 3rd in line for the ambulance, so I told them to cancel the ambulance and I drove him to A&E instead at Maidstone Hospital. With all the hold ups and the 30 minutes it took for us to get to hospital it had been almost 3 hours since we called 111 by the time we arrived in A&E. 

We explained everything to the receptionist and were told to sit down, 45 mins later we saw the triage nurse, then were told to sit down again. Then we saw a doctor who we explained the symptoms to, then they did an examination and then they said he needs 300 mg of aspirin. We were told to wait for a CT scan and I had some aspirin in my bag, so I gave it to him but then I realised maybe I shouldn’t have and I was so worried I might have made things worse he may have had a bleed on his brain. As at that time we were not aware of a prognosis. They didn’t give him any other medication. Then we were called to the CT scan area, sat and waited again, then he had the scan. Then a the doctor came and got us and commented that my son was dragging his foot a bit then he started to slur too. I asked my son to repeat himself 4 times at one point, but my son was convinced that he wasn’t slurring and didnt tell the doctor this. This is common for stroke victims not to realise.

We sat in the waiting area again untill we were led to a room on the side of the stroke ward. He had another examination and then we were taken into the stroke ward and a doctor came in and asked for some specific tests to be done. He did a swallow test and then another different doctor came in and recommended two of the same tests as the one before (blood and ECG) but not an Xray which the previous doctor did request. Then the doctor left and said I’ll see you in my clinic, but we had no idea when that would be. They also said they would want a MRI but this was fully booked at the time and said that they would let us know when an appointment was avaliable. A nurse told us we can go, but then a man came with a wheelchair and said I’m here to take you for your X-ray, he said he needed a nurse to go with him because it was after 5pm but a member of staff said they didn’t have anyone that could go with him. I suggested that the other tests be done while we waited and they said that they didnt have anything else written down about any tests, I insisted that both the ECG and blood tests should be done as both doctors had verbally said that my son should have them. After myself being insistant, they agreed to do both tests, also they managed to find a nurse to go down to X-ray with us. On return from the X-ray department to the ward, a blood test was done and a memeber of staff brought an ECG machine, but didnt seem to know how to start it. We suggested plugging it in which made it work, then when it was done they walked off with the machine, seemingly forgetting that it was plugged in because the plug came shooting out of the socket ( we managing to catch it before it damaged anyone or anything.)

They then said we can go home. I was surprised that he wasn’t kept in for observation. The appointment for the MRI scan didnt happened until nearly a month after the incident. Then his appointment came through to go to the clinic two weeks after that. He was seen by a Doctor.

We saw that Dr and they put the disc into the computer which had the MRI scan on it. The doctor had a look then went to another room to show a different doctor the disc. When my son had the MRI done the radiologists who checked it said that everything looked okay. But after the two doctors had looked at the MRI image the doctor came back in the room and showed it to us on the screen and pointed out a white mark that we could see, and explained that it could be a stoke but they couldn’t diagnose it. At this appointment (6 weeks on form the incident) my son still had pins and needles. The doctor said he wanted him to have a 24-hour heart monitor, bloods and an ultrasound scan on both sides of his neck to look at his arteries and check for blockages. Before we left the doctor said they would not be seeing my son for 3-4 months, we then left the clinic and went to get his bloods done. He got an appointment to have his 24hr heart monitor, then he had the scan, we haven’t heard anything since. We’ve had no results, and no physio organised or anything. I feel like this has basically been neglect and that there has been no proper care for my son.

Because of this delay in continuing, my sons care at the clinic I have had to pay £10 to get a copy of the disc with his MRI scan on and go to see a private doctor which was a lot of unnecessary money spent if my son had been seen earlier by Maidstone hospital, instead of having to wait 3-4 months longer. The private doctor has sent a report back, but I don’t think we should have had to pay for a private diagnosis. We still haven’t heard anything from Maidstone hospital about any physio therapy to improve on my sons condition, his hand is now stiffening up and his elbow will lock into a closed position and he is having difficulty getting his arm to straighten out again. There is still no appointment been sent to my son for the follow up at the clinic, which should have been between the second week in December to the second week in January according to the clinic doctor. I have no confidence that someone cares enough to see us in December and fear that the appointment may streatch out even longer then the doctor anticipated. I tried to talk to PALs about it but their phone number is always on answer phone. They do reply but there are several days to wait inbetween each phone call I have made.